Skuas everywhere!

This morning started like most mornings up here. After the very windy day yesterday, we were able to go ringing at KAB again today. Yuhuu! It was still quite windy, which affected the number of birds we caught (9 in total). But with 3 Robins (Rødhals) caught today, it already gives a small impression of the coming autumn ringing season! Especially Pauline was very happy to see a Bullfinch (Dompap) in the hand again. Such pretty birds!

Jule ringing a Robin (Rødhals) with lots of interested people around.

The autumn impression also really showed up at the migration count today. Directly as we started, Knud, who was at Worlds End 3 two minutes before us, had already 2 Long-tailed Skuas (Lille Kjove) in his scope. And as time went by, we got more and more of these super cool Skuas. At the end of the count, we had at least 14 (!) Long-tailed Skuas (Lille Kjove)! An awesome number of such an awesome bird. For all of us, it was so nice to see so many of them and get a lot of experience with their flight style and colouration!

 But these weren't the only Skua species we got that day. In total, we got 12 Great Skuas (Storkjove) as well! Some of them were also flying quite far out, so you really had to scan the horizon precisely! And while doing that and seeing a lot of Fulmars (Mallemuk), we found a Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe) at the beginning of the second hour, and just half an hour later, a second one turned up!

Hannes spotting a Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe)

There is so much more I could tell you about this morning, but then this wouldn't be a blog post, it would turn into a whole book! But of course, we will update you on what will be happening over the next few days!

After our lovely morning, we spent the day cleaning the station, entering data, and doing a net survey to check the quality of the nets in the attic and label the nets correctly.

Net survey!

After our working tasks at the station, Hannes, Jule, and I went out to the Sandormvinget Dune to do some evening observations. There, we saw 3 Long-tailed Skuas (Lille Kjove) and one Great Skua (Storkjove). After this short but great evening outside, we continued the evening inside with a very delicious dinner prepared by Pauline.

So, as you see, autumn in Skagen is here, and we are all looking forward to seeing what the next days will bring!

Highlights of the observations:

Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove)- >14

Great Skua (Storkjove)- >12

Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe)-2

Ringing (Nordstjernevej) from Michael Ancher:

Blue Tit (Blåmejse)- 2
Great Tit (Musvit)-5
Blackcap (Munk)-1
Chaffinch (Bogfinke)-1

Ringing Kabeltromlen:

Total: 9

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

People: Mio Brix, Pauline Nähring, Hannes Schäfer, Jule Tappe, Simon S. Christiansen, Marinanne Mølgaard and Kurt Håkonsson