From Darkness to Rainbows

Hey, Anja is here again!

I won’t keep you waiting, so I’ll start with the most important part of the previous day — the night catching.

A couple of days ago, we were already discussing the possibility of going out for a night catch, but for different reasons it didn’t work out. Yesterday, however, we were brave and determined. Jule, Alfred and I had been looking forward to the evening since the morning, although we were also a little worried that once again nothing would happen because of the weather. The forecast was quite uncertain and it was a shower all the time. For Alfred and me, it was our first experience with night catching. Armed with a  hand net, thermal binocular and flashlights, we headed towards the point. We expected to see some waders along the way, but the beach was completely empty. Only when we reached World's End 3 did we finally start seeing birds. The first few attempts were not very successful. We were trying to approach the birds too quickly, but once we changed our tactics and started moving more slowly, we finally caught our first bird. We couldn’t have been happier when we realised it was a Bar-tailed Godwit (Lille Kobbersneppe)! They are not particularly difficult to see here, but this was the first Bar-tailed Godwit ever caught and ringed at the station. After taking some photos and ringing the bird, we released it back into the wild. Wet, tired, but very happy, we finally went to bed.

Our first Bar-tailed Godwit. Photo by Pauline Nähring

In the morning, it was raining, so we opened the nets an hour later than usual. We weren’t sure they would stay open for long, because the forecast showed a good chance of rain and wind. In reality, the weather turned out to be much better than expected. In the end, we managed to do the full four hours of ringing. The day turned out to be quite productive. The first few rounds were calm and steady, and Laura and I had time to practise ageing the birds. But then, after a short shower, a flock of Blue Tits (Blåmejse) and Chiffchaffs (Gransanger) suddenly appeared in the nets. We barely had enough bags for all of them. And once again, there was one interesting Chiffchaff among them. It was a bird with a moult limit in the primaries, meaning that it had an arrested moult.

Chiffchaff with arrested moult. Photo by Pauline Nähring

Meanwhile, Jule and Alfred went out for the daily migration count. Today they saw three Long-tailed Skuas (Lille Kjove), three Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove), a Black Tern (Sortterne) and a Rock Pipit (Skærpiber). One of the highlights was a Fulmar (Mallemuk) that flew quite close and gave us a really good chance to have a proper look at it. Since our ringing started later today, the others had enough time after the migration count to come back and join us for some ringing as well.

After that, we went home to rest. Everyone except Pauline, who went shopping with Kirsten, something we were very grateful for, because the fridge was almost completely empty.After a short rest, Alfred went for a long walk and took some more amazing photos. I managed to get a little bit of work done, Jule also spent some time outside, walking and relaxing by the coast, while Laura and Pauline stayed at home and continued recovering after the busy morning.
And you’ve probably noticed that Mio isn’t mentioned in the morning activities. No, we haven’t forgotten about him — he just went away for the weekend and will be back with us on Monday.
(Mio, I know you’ll read this, we’re already really looking forward to having you back!)
Kittywake with the yellow ring. Photo by Alfred Godsk Geckler.

We ended the day with a delicious dinner made by Alfred and some good conversations around the table, remembering the highlights of the day. I’ll share one of my highlights with you, it’s in the photo below.

This rainbow is my personal hightlight of the day. Photo by Anja Gorbunova.


Ringing (Kabeltromlen):
Rødhals: 8
Jernspurv: 5
Munk: 2
Gærdesmutte: 1
Tornsanger: 1
Havesanger: 1
Gransanger: 11
Blåmejse: 13
Musvit:1
Total: 43

Ringing Jennes Sø (Michael Ancher):
Blåmejser 2
Topmejse 1
Lille gråsisken 4
Jernspurv 2
Musvit 1
Rødhals 1
Total: 11

Highlights from the observations:
Lille Kjove: 3
Almindelig Kjove: 3
Mallemuk: 3
Sortterne: 1
Skærpiber: 2

Link to todays observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People:  Anja Gorbunova, Pauline Nähring, Jule Tappe, Laura Tamminen, Simon S. Christiansen, Kirsten Bregn, Alfred Godsk Geckler.