The Sooty Redemption

Today was a day full of observing birds. That comes to no surprise, since this is a bird observatory. But today was also a day of many very nice obsverations, so be prepared!

World’s End 3 was a busy and popular spot today, with Knud, Florian, Jan, Cora and Mio counting, and Johanna being there at the start and later switching with Amira from the ringing at Kabeltromlen. And it was a very good count indeed! There were Arctic and Great Skuas (Almindelig Kjove, Stor Kjove), a second year Great Northern Diver (Islom) flew closely past the observers and two Horned Grebes with one mostly in breeding plumage (Nordisk Lappedyker) resting by the tip. By the third hour, the counters noticed that an increasing number of fulmars were migrating along the horizon. And then, finally after a rather Shearwater-less August so far, a Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe) appeared. It mostly flew under the horizon and flew some arches, but it was so fast that it was really only a short observation. Let’s hope it will be the first of many!

The ringing team at Kabeltromlen consisted of Simon K., Páll and Amira who opened nets early and were rewarded with nice birds: five Common Redstarts (Rødstjert) and three Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) in addition to a Tree Pipit (Skovpiber) and a Bullfinch (Dompap) created a lovely morning. Amira later switched with Johanna.

Tree Pipit (Skovpiper, Foto by Simon Kiesé).

Bullfinch (Dompap, Foto by Simon Kiesé).

Meanwhile, James had a cool experience of migrating passerines around the bushes of Grenen with many Willow Warblers (Løvsanger), Crested Tits (Topmejse) and Great Tits (Musvit) flying over him for about five minutes. After this, it was silent again. Migration really is fascinating!

Then we said goodbye to our guests Jan and Kristine. We hope you have a safe travel back home!

After I spend most of the morning cleaning, I decided to go birdwatching in the afternoon to Skarvsøen where I met Florian and Amira who had had the same idea as me. Besides the sunshine, I was joined by many cormorants (Skarv) but also some nice waders including a Little Stint (Dværgryle), two Temminck’s Stints (Temmincksryle) and a Curlew Sandpiper (Krumnæbbet Ryle).

After this successful trip, I came back to a busy station with everyone being productive on their laptops. Meanwhile, Florian and Amira were preparing dinner which we then all enjoyed.

But even after evening meeting, we hadn’t seen enough birds yet: James, Johanna, Mio and Simon K. went out for some evening observations around the lighthouse and from World’s End 3. I later joined them.

Amira, Florian and Johanna set up the storm petrel (Lille Stormsvale) nets on the beach and the nightjar net, so let’s wait until tomorrow’s blog post to see if we were successful seeing birds even during the night!

Link to today's observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area. 

People: Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Jule Tappe, Simon Kiesé, Johanna Ventjeer, Magnus Houen Lauritsen, Amira Nuseibeh, Florian Hatt, Simon S. Christiansen, Jan Hjort Christensen, Kristine Kleffel, Knud Pedersen, James Wareing, Páll Vang Kjærbo, Runa Vang Kjærbo, Sophie Booker.