Lisa's dream bird

This morning I got to sleep in a little bit as Rosie and Youri kindly opened the nets at Kabeltromlen. Christina and I joined for the first round, and so did Simon. The first round had a fun surprise, a dipper (vandstær)! This is the first one ever ringed at Kabeltromlen. They are not often seen around Grenen, but this one must have been feeding in the mud puddles around the nets. It was extremely cute and round, and amazed us all with his bright white nictating membrane when he blinked.

Dipper blinking

Dippers hunt for aquatic invertebrates by swimming with their wings, unlike most passerines. They also have a unique adaptation—they can walk along the bottom of riverbeds underwater, with the help of their solid bones, the only solid bones among flying birds. While taking our measurements we could also see the incredibly dense downy feathers that aid in waterproofing the bird underwater.

Later on in the ringing, we were also very lucky to catch a waxwing (Silkehale)! After seeing them flying around close to the nets, we decided to add one net very close to the berry bushes. The whole flock of 40 or so came over and they could clearly see the net, as they were flying around it and many were landing on the poles and the strings that hold it up. But, one clueless individual flew into a pocket so we got to ring him, admire him, and send him back to his cleverer friends. Lisa left her lunch to come see the silkehale, which is her dream bird. 

Meanwhile at the count, Louis-Marie, Leon and Mio went to World’s End III. Early in the morning, they got to see a Great Northern Loon (Islom) migrating. The rest of the day they saw a nice selection of ducks including Havlit, Hvindand, and Stor Skallesluger. Jorgen went by himself to Nordstrand but didn’t see anything that he wanted to share.

In the evening, our guest Jorgen cooked us a nourishing soup, and now we will try again for night catching, both with the hand nets and the owl nets.

Highlights from World’s End III

Islom

Nødkrige

Havlit

Stor Skallesluger

Laværling

People: Mio Brix, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Leon Pedersen, Youri Van der Horst, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Lars Bo Sigaard Jacobsen, Michael Ancher, Dr Lisa Vergin, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, William Aarestrup, Peter Jürgensen og Thorkild Duch

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