A duck just like me

Another sunrise, another day of birdwatching and -ringing. But that’s not totally true, since the bird observatory never really sleeps. As you might know from yesterday’s blog, we tried to catch storm petrels (Lille Stormsvale) last night on the beach and Nightjars (Natravn) in the old lighthouse garden. Unfortunately, only one of those goals was reached and we caught two first-year Nightjahrs before midnight. This number the 21st and 22nd Nightjar of the season which is a new station’s record! The elusive ghosts of the sea, the storm petrels, did not visit us though. All of us had been really hopeful because one more bird would have been the tenth of the season, but we had no luck. Also, this might have been the last night of setting up nets on the beach so our last chance is now gone. But there is no reason to be disappointed! The season has already been great for Storm Petrels and Pauline’s night shift was not withouth events. At around 2 am, an adult male Common Redstart (Rødstjert) was caught in the Nightjar net. This was one of several more to come for the day.

 

One of the Nightjars (Natravn) caught on the evening of the 31st of August. Foto: Jule Tappe.

In the morning, I opened the nets at Kabeltromlen while Mio and Pauline took down the nets on the beach. I was met by Oluf for the first round; the two of us took care of the ringing together today. Jørgen Kabel and our guests Grethe and Stig Frederiksen were very nice company in between rounds. Actually though, we didn’t have so much time to chat and quite some birds to ring with several Robins (Rødhals), Blackcaps (Munk), Garden Warblers (Havesanger) and the already mentioned Redstarts (Rødstjert). There was even a beautiful Tree Pipit (Skovpiber) and the first Coal Tit (Sortmejse) of the autumn season.

A very pretty Coal Tit (Sortmejse) at Kabeltromlen. Hopefully the first of many. Foto: Jule Tappe.

Mio had everything under control and World’s End 3 doing the migration count. He saw some Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove), a Cuckoo (Gøg) and a Hen Harrier (Blå Kærhøg). One highlight were four Orcas (Spækhugger), one male and three females, that he spotted in the sea. However, this was not the most exciting thing that swam on the waters of Grenen. Knud was on his way to birdwatch at Skarvsøen when he looked over the sea at Nordstrand to search for the Orcas. While he was unsuccesull in finding them, he found something else instead: In a flock of Common Scoters (Sortand), he found a male Surf Scoter (Brilleand). Just like me, it looks like it’s wearing glasses due to the white spots on its head (except for the fact that my glasses are real and not white spots). It is a vagrant duck from North America and a pretty one too! After the count, Mio walked to Nordstrand to also see it and he was later joined by Oluf and me, who was so kind to take me with him in his car. There, we good views of its striking white nape and base of beak as it went up and down with the waves.

A male Surf Scoter (Brilleand) in a flock of Common Scoters (Sortand) at Nordstrand. Foto: Mio Brix.

After this exciting morning, we all came back to the lighthouse and continued our daily routines: Taking a nap and entering data. One time-consuming task today was also updating the picture archive. Because all of the nice pictures that you see here naturally have to be transfered, sorted and named.

In the late afternoon, I took a walk to Kabeltromlen to pick up my bike that I left there earlier. On my way there, I checked all the White Wagtails (Hvid Vipstjert) in the parking lot of Grenen for ones with rings since we caught quite a few of them last month. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any. Back at the station, we enjoyed a delicious dinner cooked by Mio and shared funny stories of our stays at different bird observatories.

Now, it has become quiet at the station. Everyone is tired from the past days of nightcatching and has to regain energy for the next days. There is one person, however, who apparently has no need for sleep: Simon is trying to catch Great Snipes (Tredækker) again and we are all hoping to wake up tomorrow to new photos of these amazing birds in the group chat. If you haven’t seen a Great Snipe yet, you should check out our blog post from 30th of August.

 

Total: 22

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

People: Mio Brix, Knud Pedersen, Pauline Nährung, Oluf Lou, Simon S. Christiansen, Grethe and Stig Frederiksen