Punting for snow buntings!

The strong winds from yesterday have died down, and this morning we had a beautiful sunrise with good conditions for counting and ringing. Louis joined Youri, Sophie, Simon and Páll at Kabeltromlen for ringing, while Christina, Sarah, Leon, Mio and I headed to the migration count. Today was a good auk day, with nice numbers of razorbills (alk), and we got great views of a little auk (søkonge), which is the first seen this year! In honor of this sighting, we would like to shout-out Luis Q. Langfeld, who spent a long time in search of ‘the golden snitch’ (nicknamed for its flitty flight pattern).

Another highlight was a vocal Richard’s pipit (storpiber), flying alongside a water pipit (bjergpiber) for a nice comparison. It obligingly circled back, and Leon with his lightning reflexes and great camera got some good photos of it, along with shots of the little auk (søkonge), a pair of long-tailed ducks (havlit) and an arctic redpoll (hvidsisken). I also saw some harbor porpoise (marsvin) close to shore, which is always a nice sight.

Richard’s pipit (storpiber) – this species is distinguishable by its ‘tshrep tshrep’ call and its longer body and tail relative to the water pipit (bjergpiber), which it was flying alongside. Foto: Leon Pedersen.

Throughout the count we kept an eye on a large flock of snow buntings (snevpurv), which have been moving around the sand dunes over the past few days. We were hopeful we could catch some, so we set up a net with some birdseed at one of their regular spots. Our efforts felt like they were going to be in vain as we waited around an hour without them showing any interest in the seed, but just as we went to take the nets down, we flushed one and it went straight into the net! This was a very exciting moment, and everyone enjoyed getting a great view of this beautiful bird.

Snow bunting (snevpurv) in hand – this was a juvenile male, which we could age by the unmoulted greater coverts, which are quite tan with dark centers, and a pointier tail compared to the adults.  Foto: Mio Brix.

The ringing team had a better morning than yesterday, with 29 birds in total – highlights included two meadow pipits (engpiber), two bearded reedlings (Skægmejse) and some more redpoll (gråsisken) starting to come through. Louis, who had sacrificed himself staying at the migration count when everyone else went to see the yellow-browed warbler (hvidbrynet løvsanger) caught several days ago, was rewarded as it was hanging around Kabeltromlen this morning and calling. A journalist also came by to take photos of Sophie doing some ringing for a newspaper, so luckily the birds showed up!

After success with the snow bunting, we headed back for a late lunch and Sarah and I decided to go for a quick sea swim which was quite icy but very fresh! Mio opened the nets in the garden and was successful in catching some mealy redpoll (stor gråsisken), some of which had lovely rosy color on their throat and chest, which is indicative of adult males. Leon also saw a black redstart (husrødstjert) in the garden which unfortunately didn’t go into the net.

After we closed the nets, we cycled to the bakery and I tried a delicious høj snegl pastry while we did some work, and then went shopping, which is quite an endeavor now that there are six of us eating! This evening, we have a busy schedule as Mio, Leon and Youri will go night trapping for woodcock (skovsneppe) while the rest of us continue the attempt to catch a Tengmalm’s owls (perleugle). Hopefully, we won’t come back empty-handed!

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

People: Mio Brix, Simon Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Christiansen, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Leon Pedersen, Youri Van der horst, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Páll Vang Kjærbo og Sophie Booker.