Twitches

This morning we went out ringing as usual and since yesterday was so good now with less wind and a nicer weather we assumed that we would have a good amount of birds but then without the rain so it promised to be a really nice day. And the day was nice but the birds were lacking for a big part. Interestingly, after several days of mainly migrants and very few whitethroats (tornsanger) today we had a lot of whitethroats again. Several of them had been ringed by us before, showing that they are here breeding. One male was actually ringed in 2019 in late August. It was an adult then so very likely already migrating from a breeding site further north. On his way down south he discovered this beautiful sport of land in Skagen and decided to come back this year to found a family here. We think that this is a very reasonable decision. Also, of course, he is in good company with all the other whitethroats that are singing everywhere around our nets.

Other than whitethroats, gardenwarblers and reed warblers we also had one rather special catch today: A hawfinch (kernebider). Hawfinches have really strong beaks in order to crack nuts. Frederik who took him out of the net also  learned that they can crack the skin of your fingers if you are not careful. Because of the strong beaks hawfinches receive steel rings because they could open an aluminium ring with their beak and thereby hurt their legs. Despite everything they are very pretty birds.

In the afternoon me and Fanny went out to try and catch a cuckoo with a tape lure. Unfortunately we were not lucky enough to catch one but we had a nice picknick in the dunes and did some relaxed bird watching so that was still a nice afternoon.

Frederik “I don’t really twitch any more” on the other hand, opted for the less relaxed version of the afternoon and drove all the way down to Horsens with a colleague in order to see a mourning dove reported this morning. In 2008 was the last record for Denmark of this species here in Skagen. How they get here is another question, since the bird is native only to North America. Every few years one seems to get very lost on their migration and ends up being seen on the western shores of the British Isles or even here in Denmark.

Ringing (Kabeltrommlen):

Bogfinke - Chaffinch      2  

Havesanger – Garden warbler       1 

Munk – Blackcap        2

Gransanger – Chiffchaff          2

Løvsanger – Willow warbler        1

Gærdesanger – Lesser white-throat        1                                                  

Tornsanger – Whitethroat      6

Kernebider – Hawfinch     1

Rørsanger – Reed warbler      2           

Sum: 18

People: Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Frederik R. Johansen, Martina Hillbrand, and Fanny Rey

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen