Ending on a bang

Westerly winds shook the lighthouse windows this morning. I woke up to meet Páll at Kabeltromlen and open nets for ringing. Because of the wind, we were quickly finished because about a quarter of our netmeters had to stay closed. For the first round, Simon, Pauline, Sophie, Grethe and Stig arrived. Considering the wind, we actually had a very good day, especially in terms of species: Two Bullfinches (Dompap) and a Red-Backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade) kept us entertained even though the numbers were low.

Simon, Sophie, Pall and me admiring a bird.

A very pretty first year Bullfinch of the subspecies europaea (Lille Dompap). Foto: Pauline Nähring

After closing the nets, I went to work with a hedge cutter. Under the nets, grass and reed had been growing. Now, the nets don’t get tangled anymore!

Freshly cut reeds below the net. It looks chaotic but I swear, it's a clean cut! Foto: Jule Tappe.

In the meantime, Mio and Knud had a very succesfull morning at World’s End 3 during the migration count. In the second hour, there was a Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove) that was later joined by three more! There was also a Great Skua (Stor Kjove), a Little Gull (Dværgmåge) and some migrating Kittiwakes (Ride) around.

After these enjoyable morning activities, we entered data at the station and welcomed Hannes, who will stay at the station for a couple of days. Then, we held a Shuffle Ball tournament. In the game, you have to slide a game piece over the board as far as possible, but not too far. The further you slide, the more points you get.

Mio and Pauline playing the Shuffle Board Game. Foto: Jule Tappe.

At this point, I would really like to present you all the game results and the overall winner, but unfortunately, I can only remember that I lost all games. Maybe we should repeat soon.

In the late afternoon, I went for a walk around Ellekrattet and Storsig, enjoying the nice weather before the rain tomorrow. Highlights were Wheatears (Stenpikker) and a Stonechat (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl). However, a little further North, Mio and Hannes were birdwatching on a different level: While quickly checking Nordstrand for the Surf Scoter (Brilleand), they didn’t only find it: They also got very good views of a Black Tern (Sortterne) two of the Long-tailed Skuas (Lille Kjove) from the morning and even a Manx Shearwater (Almindelig Skråpe)! And all of this in the span of 30 minutes!

After this intense evening, we had a late dinner and are excited about tomorrow. I hope we will still see many birds, even though the westerly winds are increasing. So this is the perfect time to put the endless birder’s optimism to use!

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

People: Sophie Booker, Mio Brix, Simon S. Christiansen, Páll Vang Kjærbo, Pauline Nähring, Hannes Schäfer, Jule Tappe, Grethe and Stig Frederiksen