A lesson about gannets

  This morning started quite unfortunately. I managed to forget my phone at the station as I was leaving for observation and since the key was inside, I could not retrieve it. Even though we don’t really use our phones during counting anyways, it is still great to have it nearby in case we need to use Cello or look at the time. Luckily Mio had his phone, so all was good and, in all honesty, it was great to distance myself from that device for 4 hours.

 

Gorgeous sunrise at 7 am. Photo by Mio Brix

 

We were also joined by Celine and her father. It was quite a slow day, there wasn’t much activity, but we still encountered great skuas (Storkjove) and long tailed skuas (Lille kjove). Me and Mio counted the resting gannets (Sule) and I only counted 10 birds less than him! I consider it a huge win since those birds flew around in large flocks and some were quite far out.

Mio also taught me about the aging of gannets. Did you know it takes about 6 years for them to get their adult plumage? We saw birds of various ages, and a 1k, which we love to see! Compared to the beautiful white adults, the 1k juveniles are darker brown with no white in sight. The wind has picked up again, but the sun kept us warm and it felt so cozy.

The wind might not bother us, but over at Kabeltromlen the ringing had to be cut short. The nets were closed earlier but the team still had a few lovely birds to ring.

 

2 lovely female bullfinches (Dompap). Photo by Anja Gorbunova

 

Shortly before Me and Mio came back, we had to say goodbye to Anja. It was great getting to know her and working with her. Right after that we said hello to our new volunteer, Luis! I hope you have a wonderful time and expand your knowledge well! :))

 

We are working on a new recorder project, Simon is preparing. Photo by Mio Brix

 

Pauline baked us a delicious blueberry pie at noon which i unfortunately do not have a photo of, but believe me, i already miss that cake. 

During the afternoon it was quite calm, we cleaned the station and took our naps. Mio, Jule and Luis spent some time playing a bird ID game on the laptop. They only got one incorrect haha. I spent the time writing a postcard to the bird observatory I’m from: Vaibla Bird Observatory. It is considered a tradition to Vaibla that the volunteers send postcards from countries we travel to, this will be my first one.

 

Postcard bought from the gifts shop!

 

People: Jule Tappe, Pauline Nähring, Mio Brix, Laura Tamminen, Luis Q. Langfeld, Anja Gorbunova, Simon S. Christiansen, Celine and Thomas Giver, Birgit and Michael Andersen