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Black Redstart and Long-legged Buzzard

mandag 8. juni 2026
af Julian Helbig

Today I had the pleasure of sleeping about thirty minutes longer than usual, since I have been lacking a lot of sleep the days before. I joined Alvin and Olga at Kabeltromlen from the second round on, whilst János was out counting at World’s End 3, and Dylan slept in to say goodbye to his family later, who took the plane back to Scotland today. For the ringing, the conditions were almost perfect, with overcast and almost no wind at least in the beginning, but still we didn’t catch as many birds, ten in total. One of them however was a species we haven’t caught yet this spring: An adult female Black Redstart (Husrødstjert). Dylan immediately came to see it after we called him, it was a new species for him to see in hand, since they are rather rare in Scotland.

260608 Black Redstart profile

Adult female Black Redstart (Husrødstjert).

260608 Black Redstart tail

Beautiful red tail feathers.


On his way to the observations, János flushed a Lapwing (Vibe) that was resting on the Sandormtracks. During the count, he also had a Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Mage), five Caspian Gulls (Kaspisk Måge) and a Little Gull (Dværgmåge) resting on the beach. Among the many Fulmars (Mallemuk) out at sea today, he picked out two of the darker (“blue”) morph. Knud joined him a bit later. The biggest highlight came after the count though, when a Long-legged Buzzard (Ørnevåge) was called out approaching Grenen. Our observers had very nice views of the bird as it went straight overhead on a migration attempt and then turned south again. We at the ringing just were on closing round and for some reason didn’t receive the Zello messages. Because of that, we got the information a bit too late to see the Buzzard on its first attempt. But luckily for us, the Long-legged Buzzard (Ørnevåge) came up north again and this time we did manage to see it, just like Dylan who saw it from around the lighthouse. It was a lifer both for Dylan and for Alvin. Within the following hours, the buzzard was seen again and again many times.

260608 Long legged

Long-legged Buzzard (Ørnevåge)!


Back at the station, Alvin opened the net in the lighthouse garden mainly because we saw the Swallows (Landsvale & Bysvale) flying very low today. We didn’t get one of these unfortunately, but Alvin had a recaptured male Great Tit (Musvit) and realised that the female it’s breeding with in one of the nest boxes was ringed with the very next subsequent ring number on the same day some time ago. It seems like they have been sticking to each other for a while now :)
After some of the station work and much needed napping, we all went out to town to meet Simon at the ice cream shop. He lost a bet the other day when he promised us that there would come a rare raptor, and if there wouldn’t, he’d get us all an ice cream – so here we are, happy that the Long-legged Buzzard (Ørnevåge) turned up today and not before. So we got the ice cream and went to the harbour to enjoy it there. After that, we went to a nice little restaurant, where we had fries, and beer, and nice chats, while the rain pelted on the roof to make it even more cozy. In the end, Simon said goodbye to Olga and Dylan; he’ll go to Iceland with Lisa tomorrow morning to do some field work there, and won’t be here when the two of them leave. After having had so much food in the evening, we didn’t feel like any dinner was needed, so we just went to the supermarket to buy some stuff we need and then headed back to the station. We were all a bit surprised when we realised how late it was already. János spent the rest of the evening re-counting birds in pictures he took during his time in Georgia; he just sat in a chair for a long time clicking black dots on his computer screen. It was very tiring for him, but definitely with it, because the precise numbers were even higher than his previous estimate.

Highlights from the observations:
Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Måge) - 1
Little Gull (Dværgmåge) - 1
Long-legged Buzzard (Ørnevåge) - 1
 
Ringing (Kabeltromlen)
Gærdesanger - 1
Gærdesmutte - 1
Sivsanger - 1
Rørsanger - 1
Gulbug - 1
Husrødstjert - 1
Kærsanger - 1
Tornsanger - 1
Munk - 2
Total: 10
 

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen

The spotted crake (Plettet Rørvagtel) and the Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet skråpe)

søndag 7. juni 2026
af Olga Fernández

Yesterday evening, we thought of trying to catch some birds like barn swallows (Landsvale) and quails (Vagtel). However, it looked that we were not going to be very successful, so most of us came back to sleep. On the contrary. Alvin was more persistent and decided to stay awake the whole night to try night catching. He could hear a spotted crake (Plettet Rørvagtel) singing the whole night, so decided to give it a try. He walked very slowly, closer and closer, but when there were just five meters left between them, it stopped to sing. He thought it was gone, but then it started to sing again. He turned the light on and approached very slowly. It was moving to the weeds and then he moved very quickly to catch it in the net. It took him a while to believe what had just happened, that he had just caught a spotted crake!

He took it to the lab and woke us up. We all were so excited to see the bird, it was just gorgeous.

Spotted crake 1

Spotted crake face

Spotted crake wing 1Spotted crake wing 2Spotted crake tail

The beautiful Spotted Crake that we ringed tonight

After ringing, photolabing and just enjoying the beautiful bird, Alvin and Julian released it. They also saw two quails and for a moment, they thought of trying to catch them, but they were far away, so they decided to close the nets and come back home. Trying to sleep was no longer worth it, so instead, they celebrated the catching with a big coffee, some biscuits and a big smile. Soon, it was time to open the nets. Alvin, János, Dylan and I joined the ringing today. It was a very nice day, with quite a lot of birds, especially Black caps (Munk) and Marsh Warblers (Kærsanger). We also caught a Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger). Besides, we could also see a Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet skråpe) and some orcas (Spækhugger) from Kabeltromlen.

Dylan’s family left Skagen today and went back home, and so did Kirsten and Alfred. On the other hand, a new intern arrived. Her name is Mathilde, she is from Skagen and started to be interested in ringing since she visited the station with her school some time ago. Welcome!

Meanwhile, Julian was at the migration count. The first hours he was alone, and then Knud joined him. The also saw the orcas, which were one male and two females, and the shearwater, in addition to several Arctic skuas (Almindelig Kjove), two-second-calendar-year terns (Terne), a Mediterranean gull (Sorthovedet Måge) and many velvet scouters (Fløjlsand).

Shearwater 1Shearwater 2

Sooty Shearwater

After the ringing and the counting, Julian went with Alfred to Grenen and saw some Mediterranean gulls, a Kittiwake (Ride) and could ring some rings from the birds.

In the afternoon, Simon appeared with a pigeon (Due) on his hands. Julian and him brought it to Knud’s home as he has a place for pigeons and one of his was missing. They left the pigeon home, where it could eat.

Pigeon in the carPigeon at its home

The pigeon back home

Highlights of the migration:
Rødstrubet lom
Mallemuk
Sodfarvet skråpe
Almindelig Kjove
Sorthovedet Måge
Ringing (Kabeltromlen):
Gransanger - 2
Kærsanger - 11
Gærdesanger - 3
Gulbug - 1
Sivsanger - 1
Rørsanger - 1
Munk - 16
Havesanger - 1
Tornsanger - 1
Bogfinke - 2

Total: 39

Ringing (Det Grå Fyr):
Plettet Rørvagtel - 1

Total: 1

Link to today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Alfred Godsk Geckler, Kirsten Bregn, Lisa Vergin, Knud, Mathilde

 

Night Sounds and Morning Surprises

lørdag 6. juni 2026
af Alvin Johansson

Yesterday evening's Nightjar tour had eight Nightjars (Natravn) in the plantation, and they also heard a Spotted Crake (Plettet Rørvagt). In addition, us from the station also heard a Spotted Crake (Plettet Rørvagt) singing from the lighthouse.

The Spotted Crake (Plettet Rørvagt) was still singing during the first ringing round this morning. Ringing at Kabeltromlen was busy today, with many visitors present. Dylan's family came to visit, and his siblings joined us for the ringing rounds. It was great to have them there and they were lovely company and very enthusiastic.

2026 06 06 Blog pics 3Ringing at Kabeltromlen

We also caught a Northern Bullfinch (Stor Dompap), which is quite unusual for this time of year in Denmark. In addition, we heard a singing Common Rosefinch (Karmindompap), which is always a pleasure.

There was some raptor movement today as well, so Julian and Alfred went to Saftvandsbakken, where they found a 2K male Montagu's Harrier (Hedehøg).

2026 06 06 Blog pics 12K Male Montagu's Harrier (Hedehøg)

During the morning observations, János and Olga had a good session at "World's End 3", where many gulls were resting close at the beach. Among them were six Caspian Gulls (Kaspisk Måge).

2026 06 06 Blog pics 2In the afternoon, Simon, Lisa and Jørgen Kabel went out looking for butterflies.

2026 06 06 Blog pics 5In the evening we set up a net to try and catch Barnswallows (Landsvale) around Ellekrattet. Although there were a few around none of them flew into the net.

2026 06 06 Blog pics 4We also set up a low net to try and catch Common Quail (Vagtel). We heard a few singing but none of them came close to the net either.

Highlights from the observations:
Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) - 6
Spotted Crake (Plettet Rørvagt) - 1
Common Quail (Vagtel) - 2

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)
Gærdesanger - 2
Kærsanger - 9
Gulbug - 4
Rørsanger - 2
Munk - 7
Dompap, Stor - 1
Gransanger - 2
Total: 27

Link to today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Alfred Godsk Geckler, Kirsten Bregn, Lisa Vergin, Jørgen Kabel

 

Double ringing

fredag 5. juni 2026
af János Schadl

We had two ringing teams this morning. Dylan and I went to Skarvsøen for the CES ringing, and the rest of the team (Alvin, Olga, Julian and Kirsten) did the standardized ringing at Kabeltromlen. This was only possible because Jørgen Hulbek took over the migration count for us, so thanks again!

When we biked out to Skarvsøen, I decided to bike all the way to the ringing site. This worked quite well since I had the mountain bike, and it meant that i arrived about 10 minutes earlier than Dylan. Apparently just in time to hear a few calls of a Spotted Crake (Plettet Rørvagtel) from the reedbeds of the lake. The same bird was also heard by Alvin earlier in the morning from Kabeltromlen.

 

Singing Spotted Crake (Plettet Rørvagtel)

The ringing was rather calm at both sites, but we caught many Reed Warblers (Rørsanger) and a Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger) was one of the nicer birds at Skarvsöen. Simon also came over for a few hours, and he later walked to Grenen. Our highlight was probably the very cute Red-necked Grebe chicks, and also the Mute Swans (Knobsvane) had a successful breeding season.

 260605 skarv

Ringing at Skarvsøen

 260605 red

Red-necked Grebes with chicks

At Grenen, Alvin spotted a Great-northern Diver (Islom) and a Golden Oriol (Pirol). They also had a Rosefinch (Karmindompap) singing at Kabeltromlen, a Bittern (Rørdrum ) overhead, as well as two Spotted Redshanks (Sortklire) and a very late Bramblin (Kværkerfinke). With only few birds in the nets, Julian had time to look for his much missed favorite stick and managed to find it just a bit down the hill.

 260605 bram

Brambling (Kværkerfinke) at Kabeltromlen

After the ringing, Alvin joined Knud and Jørgen who were gulling at WE3. The gull roost was rather close, which allowed them to read over 20 color rings. They also saw the Mediterranean Gulls (Sorthovedet Måge) from yesterday again and two resting Black Terns (Sodfarvet terne )

 260605 Med

Mediterranean Gulls (Sorthovedet Måge)

The afternoon was spent entering the data, napping, and going on small walks. In the evening Alfred arrived, who will stay with us for the next two days, and also Dylans family arrived in the late evening.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):
Gærdesanger - 4
Kærsanger - 2
Rørsanger - 1
Munk - 3
Sangdrossel - 1
Solsort - 1
Total: 12

Ringing (Skarvsøen):
Gransanger - 2
Rørsanger - 9
Kærsanger - 1
Gærdesanger - 1
Sivsanger - 1
Munk - 2
Solsort - 1
Total: 17

Link to today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Kirsten Bregn, Alfred Godsk Geckler

Mediterranean Gulls in the rain!

torsdag 4. juni 2026
af Dylan Daunt

This morning Kirsten, Olga, Alvin and I were at the standardised ringing. Given the recent weather conditions, we have hoped to have been catching lots of birds in the recent days. But the last days or so have been a lot quieter around the nets and today it remained that way. When we catch less birds, we do get to have longer looks at each bird we catch which can help us learn a lot more about each individual. I can also imagine how tired we would be if we caught lots of birds every morning!

Julian was taking part in the migration count this morning. The numbers of birds moving was better than expected with higher number of finches than the previous days. The stars of the show today though we the Canada Geese (Canadagås)! Even though they are not native to Europe they still have an impressive migration past Skagen between every late May and early June in Skagen. Today’s count was 687 birds migrating NE out to sea which is double the previous record count! We all wonder where the birds come from, but we have also seen that Canada Geese (Canadagås) have also been migrating in large numbers further South in places like Germany so we can only assume that they come from that direction.

1280coolsky0406

Atmospsheric morning sky

After the ringing the weather remained rather wet for the rest of the day. That didn’t stop Alvin going out though! He had a really nice to around the tip at Grenen. Seeing a second and a third calendar year Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Måge) and a Quail (Vagtel). Most of us then spent the rest of the day completing some indoor tasks and we enjoyed a very delicious meal prepared by Kirsten. In the late afternoon Simon also found a Turtle Dove (Turtledue) in Skagen By whilst driving home so we all hope that it sticks around. Fingers crossed for some good days to come…

1280medgulls0406

Mediterranean Gulls (Sorthovedet Måge), the left and right hand birds in the close group of four

Highlights from observations:
Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Måge) - 2
Quail (Vagtel) - 1
Turtle Dove (Turtledue) - 1
 
Ringing (Kabeltromlen):
Gransanger - 2
Kærsanger - 4
Gærdesanger - 1
Gulbug - 1
Munk - 8
Bogfinke - 1
Tornsanger - 2
Dompap - 1
Havesanger - 1
Total: 21
 

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Kirsten Bregn

 

Our Lucky Charm Dylan

onsdag 3. juni 2026
af Julian Helbig

Because the past mornings have been rather quiet in terms of bird migration, we have now started to assign this task to only one of us at a time. Today, that person was János, so he went out to Sandormsvinget, and actually had quite a good time there with surprisingly many birds – especially high numbers of Chaffinches (Bogfinke), Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb) and Canada Geese could be observed on migration, as well as a Great Northern Diver (Islom), two Northern Shovelers (Skeand), and a Golden Oriole (Pirol). Since János covered the counting, that meant that Alvin, Dylan Olga, Kirsten and I could all go ringing together.

260603 Redpoll

First bird of the day: Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken).

We didn’t have as many birds today, but still between one and five each round, and among them two good catches: The first one was a Red-spotted Bluethroat (Nordlig Blåhals), a beautiful male which even made Simon and János come to visit us at Kabeltromlen.

260603 Bluethroat

Fantastic male Bluethroat (Nordlig Blåhals).


At some point on the last round in standard time, Dylan said to Alvin: “There will be a jammy bird around the corner”, and when he got closer to see there was a Blackcap (Munk) in the net: “This one will have a cool foreign ring.” — And so it was! The female Blackcap really had a ring from Barcelona around its leg; this is far beyond coincidence, Dylan must be a fortune teller at this point, otherwise I couldn’t explain :) What an interesting recapture!

260603 Spanish Blackcap

Female Blackcap with a ring from Barcelona!


In fact, Dylan has already been very lucky this morning: At around 06:00, János spotted a possible Black-headed Bunting (Hætteværling) perched on an elderflower tree in the distance when looking inland and called it out. Since it must have been quite close to Kabeltromlen, Dylan went to look for it as soon as he could, and actually saw it from only about a 5 meters distance. But it flew off almost instantly, and disappeared into the shrubs never to be seen again by anybody. Anyhow, the evidence we have makes us confident enough to identify it as a female Black-headed Bunting (Hætteværling).

260603 Black headed Bunting sc

Distant scope view of the female Black-headed Bunting (Hætteværling).

260603 clouds and reeds

Rain clouds moving in.


After the standard time of five hours was over for the ringing, I went back to the station to get some very much needed rest (I could barely leave my eyes open at the ringing table after having had way too less sleep in the previous nights). Dylan and Olga also left soon after, but Alvin continued ringing by himself for almost three additional hours, during which he was virtually the only person out at Grenen. After closing the nets, he also walked around that area for some birding but didn’t see much. János and Dylan worked on reports for some of the rare birds we’ve had in the past days to submit them to the rarities committee. After that they went out again and observed a few Red-backed Shrikes (Rødrygget Tornskade). Before it began to rain towards the evening, I biked to Kabeltromlen again, equipped with a hedge cutter, to trim the reeds and grasses that have now grown beneath the mistiest and make the ringing site fresh again. After that we had our daily evening, and Olga prepared very delicious potato tortilla for dinner.

Highlights from the observations:
Great Northern Diver (Islom) - 1
Golden Oriole (Pirol) - 1
Black-headed Bunting (Hætteværling) - 1
 
Ringing (Kabeltromlen)
Gransanger - 1
Gråsisken - 1
Rørsanger - 3
Gulbug - 1
Blåhals - 1
Løvsanger - 1
Gærdesanger - 1
Munk - 2
Bogfinke - 3
Total: 14
 

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Kirsten Bregn

Blyth's Reed Warbler and Red-backed Shrikes for Julian's birthday

tirsdag 2. juni 2026
af Olga Fernández

It wasn’t raining when we woke up this morning, but the rain came when we were opening the nets and it stayed for the whole day. Under this situation, we had to go to the rounds more often to prevent the birds to get too wet. So you have just finished one round and you are about to start the next one, which makes bird ringing a nice training for our legs.

Dawn at Kabeltromlen

Dawn at Kabeltromlen before the rain started

We couldn’t ring at Kabeltromlen as usual if we did not want all our material and folder to end up completely wet. Therefore, we turned the tent into a cozy lab for ringing and blood sampling.

Ringing in the tent

Ringing in the tent

We were expecting a good day for birds today. Especially, Julian was very excited because it was his birthday and he wished interesting birds on the nets as a present. And he wasn’t wrong.

The rain gave us satisfactory results: 10 blood samples, 67 ringed birds and nice species. We caught two beautiful males Red-backed Shrikes (Rødrygget Tornskade), one of them had peculiar white spots on the wings.

Males red backed shrikes

The two male Red-backed Shrikes

Dylan had been at the migration counting, but on the contrary, today it wasn’t a very interesting morning for migration. He saw a Temminck’s Stint (Temmincksryle), but not much more interesting. So, he decided to join the ringing afterwards. And when he joined the rounds, he found a Warbler on the nets and immediately noticed it was different from a Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger) and a Reed Warbler (Rørsanger). The colour was more similar to a Marsh Warbler, but the wings were much shorter. He came back to the tent very excited, and after taking the measurements, we could assure it was a Blyth’s Reed Warbler (Buskrørsanger)!

Blyths warbler

Blyths warblers wing

Blyth's Reed Warbler. The wing is shorter than in other Warblers, especially P2.

We also had a Marsh Warbler and a Reed Warbler on the same round, so we could compare the three species and show the differences to the excited public that came to see the new species. We were even able to record the Blyth’s Reed Warbler’s sound.

The three warblers

The three warblers 2

The three Warblers together

Showing Blyths Warbler

Showing the Blyth's Reed Warbler to the public

We ringed for longer today, so we were tired when we arrived home, but very happy.

In the afternoon, Dylan was interviewed by some students that are doing a school project and that are interested in knowing about young birdwatchers in Denmark.

Also, Dylan and I did data entry. It is interesting to mention that yesterday we caught a Reed Warbler that had been ringed in Norway in 2023, and since then it has been recaptured in Skagen once a year.

János and Simon went birding and Alvin and Kirsten went shopping. We have received a donation for the collective from Jan Eske Schmidt and Jørgen Hulbæk. Thank you so much! We appreciate it a lot! This type of donations helps us to improve the station. By the way, the lamp we have in the living room does not work anymore, so if someone has one that doesn’t use it would be well received here.

After finishing the tasks, we celebrated Julian’s birthday eating the delicious chocolate cake that he made. Happy birthday!

Julians birthday

Julian's birthday

 

Highlights from the observations:
Temminck’s Stint (Temmincksryle)

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):
Rødrygget Tornskade - 2
Gulbug - 10
Buskrøsanger - 1
Kærsanger - 11
Rørsanger - 8
Gransanger - 8
Havesanger - 4
Munk - 7
Gærdesanger - 4
Tornsanger - 7
Grå Fluesnapper - 2
Rødhals - 2
Bogfinke - 1
Total = 67

Link to today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Kirsten Bregn

Rain in the early morning, but still no lifers for Simon

mandag 1. juni 2026
af Alvin Johansson

Rain in the early morning or late night usually brings down a lot of birds, and today was no exception. It was a good first morning for Kirsten to join the ringing.

When the ringers went out in the morning, it was still raining a little. The rain stopped soon after thought, and already on the first round they had many birds. The following rounds continued to bring in many birds and the ringing went on even past the standardized time. In total, 93 new birds were ringed, including 18 Ictarine Warblers (Gulbug), which is an unusually high number for Skagen. They are also very nice and cute birds to ring. There was also a March Warbler (Kærsanger) with a dark head that looked quite peculiar and a female Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade), bringing the total numbers of birds caught over 100 including recaptures. Even though the conditions were promising there was still no “lifer” (a species seen for the first time) for Simon haha.

2026 06 01 Ringing pictures 2March Warbler (Kærsanger) with a dark head for unknown reasons 

2026 06 01 Ringing pictures 1Female Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade)

In the meantime, a Rosefinch (Karmindompap) was singing close to the nets, and a Golden Oriole (Grøn Pirol) flew over the ringing site.

On the observations today it was me (Alvin), and it was pretty slow, but the hopes of finding a rare bird kept me going for the four standardised counting hours. The highlights from the observations was the around 500 Common Scoters (Sortand) migrating past in good light.

Instead of joining the migration count in the morning, Julian went birding and saw many Skylarks (Sanglærke), Tree Pipits (Skovpiber) and Stonechats (Sortstrubet bynkefugl).

Highlights from the observations
Golden Oriole (Grøn Pirol) - 1
Rosefinch (Karmindompap) - 1

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)
Rødrygget Tornskade - 1
Gulbug - 18
Sivsanger - 2
Kærsanger - 9
Rørsanger - 5
Løvsanger - 5
Gransanger - 6
Munk - 14
Havesanger - 7
Gærdesanger - 11
Tornsanger - 8
Grå Fluesnapper - 3
Rødhals - 1
Broget Fluesnapper - 2
Bogfinke - 1
Total: 93

Link to today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Kirsten Bregn

Five icecream on a bike

søndag 31. maj 2026
af János Schadl

With only a little wind from the SW, this morning was a bit more exciting than yesterday. And while I had a very calm migration count, the ringing worked quite well with a nice diversity of birds in the nets. Today was the first day for Alvin at the station, after he visited Alix for a week in Blavand. He had an amazing stay there, finding a Woodchat Shrike (Rødhovedet Tornskade) and a Greenish Warbler (Lundsanger) and also seeing Denmark's first record of a Great-tailed Grackle (shipp assisted). We are happy to have him back in Skagen though! Also, his mother visited him today, and he showed her the bird ringing and the Skagen area. We were also joined in the field by Neve today. She is an Australian PhD exchange student from Aarhus University.

It was also the last day for our guests Ole and Annette. We hope they had a good time here!

Since the migration count is starting to become very quiet, and one person counting is enough, Dylan decided to do some birding in the morning instead of the standardized tasks. He went for a long walk with a few good species like a Green Woodpecker (Grønspætte), a Rosefinch (Karmindompap) and a Quail (Vagtel). The highlight was probably a singing Golden Oriol (Pirol) though.

Simon, Lisa, and Neve, as well as a few others, went south of Skagen to Hulsig Hede and another place to look for butterflies in the early afternoon. They saw many, but unfortunately not the goal species. Shortly after they started driving back north, a Black Stork (Sort Stork) was called out at Hulsig Hede.

 260531 Glanville Fritillary

Glanville Fritillary

 260531 butterfly

Group looking for the butterflies

Dylan wanted to see the bird and decided to drive to Flagbakken even though the bird was already going south. As expected, he didn't see the bird but found a singing Greenish Warbler (Lundsanger) there instead and a Crested Tit (Topmejse) nest. He also proved his eating skills, eating five ice lollys on his bikeride from Lidl to Flagbakken. 

The rest of the team spend the afternoon catching up with some office tasks or going for small walks without special sightings. In the evening our new guest Kerstin arrived, and we had a very tasty dinner by Julian topped with a rhubarb crumble cake.

260531 rhubarb crumble

Rhubarb crumble

Highlights from the observations:
Greenish Warbler (Lundsanger) – 1
Golden Oriol (Pirol) – 1
Rosefinch (Karmindompap) - 1
Green Woodbecker (Grønspætte) - 1
Quail (Vagtel) - 1
 
Ringing (Kabeltromlen)
Gransanger - 3
Kærsanger - 1
Jernspurv - 2
Løvsanger - 1
Rødhals - 1
Rørsanger - 1
Gærdesanger - 1
Munk - 4
Bogfinke - 2
Tornsanger - 1
Total = 17

Link to today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Ole & Annette, Kerstin

Slow and windy day

lørdag 30. maj 2026
af Olga Fernández

Julian and I decided to join János on the ringing today, hoping it to be as good for the ringing as it was yesterday, with some interesting species. Unfortunately, we were unlucky. As soon as we left the station, we realized that it was quite windy. We started to open the nets, but the strong wind made them ballon too much, so we had to close them again and cancel the ringing for today. A bit upset, Julian and I went back home to have some more sleep, while János joined Dylan at the migration counting. After a while, he went for a walk for birdwatching and took back the recorder he had left for recording bird songs. Also, Annette and Ole joined the migration after seeing that nobody was at Kabeltromlen today. It was quite a slow day, but they could see some interesting species, like an Arctic skua (Almindelig Kjov), an Ortolan bunting (Hortulan) flying and a blue morph of a Fulmar (Mallemuk).

Lighthouse and flower

Spring day in Skagen

When Julian woke up, he cooked blueberry pancakes for all of us. Then, he fixed two bikes that needed some improvements and had some time to draw.

In the afternoon, Dylan did a guided tour to some people from the US. Among other species, they could see a Black Kite (Sort Glente), a Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper) and some Cranes (Trane).

Glanville Fritillary

Glanville Fritillary (Okkergul pletvinge), seen by Dylan

Annette and Ole took a walk to Grenen and could hear an Icterine Warbler (Gulbug), saw Wagtails (Vipstjert), Gulls (Måge), Ringed Plovers (Stor Præstekrave), Dunlins (Almindelig ryle), Barnacle geese (Bramgås). Later, they went birdwatching with Simon and saw a male, a female and a young Stonechat (Sortstrubet bynkefugl). János did also some birdwatching and put his recorder again. On the other hand, I used the afternoon to visit the bunker museum and walk on the beach.

Lighthouse from the beach

Lighthouse from the beach

In the evening, Alvin arrived after spending one week in Blåvand. Welcome back!

Highlights from the observations:
Ortolan Bunting (Hortulan) - 1
Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove)  - 1
Fulmar (Mallemuk) 
 
Ringing (Kabeltromlen)
-
 
 

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Ole & Annette

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