50 shades of grey

After my fascination for the young Pallid Harrier (Steppehøg) we saw yesterday (they are so pretty!) the others were making jokes about me seeing “50 shades of brown” in its plumage. Today’s theme was 50 shades of grey. The morning started with low hanging whitish fog and grey clouds over KAB. Finally, the first Common Whitethroats (Tornsanger) in the nets brought some warm colours in the day. When Willow Warblers (Løvsanger) showed up, the colours got even brighter and warmer and the sun warmed our faces.

Walking a net check in the morning sun.

The rather strong southerly winds reasoned the low number of birds this morning, so the company of Odin and Igor (Simon’s and Jørgen’s dogs) was very welcome. Igor stole Odins toy and proudly presented it to Jørgen. At the meanwhile, Odin seemed unimpressed by this theft and rather tried to play with his old friend.

We were happy to see an adult (2K+) Willow Warblers (Løvsanger) after catching many young ones the past days.

Adult Willow Warbler (Løvsanger). The white belly with distinct yellow streaking differs to young birds that are more washed yellowish.

Wing of the old Willow Warbler (Løvsanger). The moult limit in the secondaries shows that this bird suspended its complete moult. A clear sign for adults of this species, which does two complete moults every year.

Mio and James started their day at World’s End 3 and were later accompanied by Knud. The counters enjoyed the four Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove) passing by. As yesterday, several Ducks, mostly Common Scoter (Sortand) but also some Teals (Krikand) and one Shoveler (Skeand) decided that it’s finally autumn and a good idea to migrate. Suddenly, 5 Pale-bellied Brent Geese (Lysbugget Knortegås) headed southeast. The first ones of the season and the first ones of this subspecies for Mio!

Saturday is cleaning day and we used the opportunity of Simon giving us a lift to buy groceries at the shop. This enabled Mio to continue his passion for eating chocolate wraps. Jule’s new passion is cricket. I don’t know what James did to her, but she mentioned this sport all day and was very upset, when the game was interrupted due to rain.

Mio doing deep cleaning.

It was another day of delicious dinner, handmade by James. It already looked amazing and the taste convinced me as well. He made burgers, put Hummus and Jam on the Bread Rolls, a mushroom patty filled with onions and some Halloumi on top. Can someone hire him as the stations chief,
please? Please!?

Pauline presenting James’s delicious dinner.

With lucky stomaches we prepared to drive down to Støvring to try to ring Great Snipes (Trædekker). We are very excited, but you - dear friends of the blog - have to wait for tomorrow’s post to see if we succeeded. Spoiler: the night was awesome!

Since I leave the station on Monday, I don’t want to miss this last opportunity to say one more time thank you to the volunteers, Simon Sr., the guests and locals for the great company. It felt so familiar to be back here the fourth year in a row and this stay was one more special experience with great birds and people. I know that the autumn team will continue doing a great job and enjoy great autumn birds. I can’t wait to read the next blog posts. Do you feel the same?

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Chiffchaff (Gransanger) - 1

Garden Warbler (Havesanger) - 1

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) - 2

Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger) - 1

Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) - 3

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

People: Mio Brix, Simon Kiesé, Pauline Nähring, Jule Tappe, James Wareing, Páll Vang Kjærbo, Henrik Møller Thomsen, Simon S. Christiansen.