Although the forecast showed rain for most of this morning, we no longer truly believe it, and so we decided to brave the outdoors and try out both ringing and observing. Often the best birds come in the least pleasant and most unpredictable weather!

The rainy showers didn’t dampen our spirits and the observers (Lise, Florian, Anton, Jørgen and I) were all super excited to head out to World’s End 3 today. It was busy from the moment we arrived with lots of divers in the first few minutes, including two Great Northern Divers (Islom) and many Red Throated Divers (Rødstrubet Lom). However, the highlight for us today has to be the spectacular, mind-blowing views we had of a resting Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe). As soon as we heard a Zello from other observers at Nordstrand that it was travelling east towards us, we all scanned the sea furiously until we spotted it. They have such a unique and cool flight, dipping up and down, above and below the horizon, dodging the waves with ease; they really are the kings of migration. This individual seemed to have settled in the area and spent the morning zigzagging between the tip of Grenen and Nordstrand, and coming in right over the strandline.

We also really enjoyed watching the many Little Gulls (Dværgmåge) flying by today, with several groups made up of both adults and first calendar year birds. The juvenile Little Gulls can sometimes be confused with juvenile Kittiwakes (Ride) because of the similar black markings on the wing, but Little Gulls are much smaller, daintier, with quick wingbeats and a more erratic flight. A personal highlight for me was a pair of Oystercatchers which landed at the tip soon after we arrived. Whilst they’re a common species, they are the first we’ve seen on migration count and also remind me of my home in Cornwall in the UK where I see and hear them almost daily. The Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) from yesterday was also spotted again amongst the big gull flock; I wonder how much longer it will hang out here with us.

Meanwhile, the ringers (Mara and Miles) were having a slow start to the morning after opening nets slightly later than usual because of the rain, until the inevitable happened and one of the many Blue Tit (Blåmejse) flocks flew into the nets. I was called in from observations to help extract and ring the birds in time to dodge the rain showers. As well as the 71 Blue Tits, we also had a recapture Firecrest (Rødtoppet fuglekonge) from last week and a Great Tit (Musvit) which was first ringed by Michael Ancher at Jennes Sø last year.

In the afternoon, Anton went on a walk around Ellekrattet where he saw two Hen Harriers (Blå Kærhøg) fighting, flushed a Woodcock (Skovsneppe) and almost got attacked by an Adder (hugorm)! Florian stayed down at the beach by World’s End 3 and got an even closer look at the Sooty Shearwater, and I headed down to the beach again after lunch and briefly joined Knud for some “gulling”. I hoped I might see the Glaucous Gull but it had flown elsewhere, so instead I enjoyed the lovely Caspian Gulls (Kaspisk Måge) of various ages and spotted a few colour ringed gulls too.

I arrived home to the delicious smell of baking Banana Bread which Mara had made for us all, and then we all gathered for a session from Simon about the ethical considerations needed for bird ringing and had a quick quiz on identifying rare Phylloscopus warblers. This evening, we also welcomed János from Germany who will be spending the rest of the Autumn season with us and is the final volunteer to arrive this year!

Link to today’s observations from the area

People: Mara Glane, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Lise Mastrup, Anton Møbjerg Toft, Simon S. Christiansen, János Schadl and our guest Jørgen Hulbæk.

Hej!

The weather in Grenen today made us feel like we were swallowd by a cloud. The sun was gone the whole day and the air was full of tiny water droplets, covering everything in moisture. Nevertheless Miles, Amira and I went out to open the nets, only to closes them half an hour later, for a rainshower that was predicted by the radar. We opened again after that, to catch 6 birds in total and then decided it was getting too wet and the rain was too unpredictable to keep going. We still had a nice time out, because it is always nice to hang out with my co-volunteers! 

Miles and Amira ringing in the tent 

The observers had a great time at Worlds End 3. Through the mist they were able to see a Great Northern Diver (Islom) and even a White-billed Diver (Hvidnæbbet Lom). They also had the best views (front-row seats basically) on a Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe). It flew very close to the shore and they were all able to see it graciously flying. Anton even predicted it 10 minutes before it showed up, so maybe it was a wish come true. Florian also had a good instinc, when he decided to check on the gulls resting. He spotted a first year plumage Glaucous Gull  (Gråmåge). It took a bath in the pools on the beach and Miles was also able to swing by on the bike to see it (some may call that twitching). 

To brighten the grey rainy day, we went to the bakery in Skagen fo coffee and cake. The town, shops and also the bakery are already decorated for christmas, which made everything even more hygge. We went on a big shopping trip to the supermarket after and Simon had to pick us up with his car, because we bought food for days. 

Coffee and cake - well earned as always

After we got back, I had the honour of presenting some photos, ringing numbers and insights on another bird ringing station I have been to - the Greifswalder Oie. We will be out nightcatiching tonight, so stay tuned for some Jack Snipes (Enkeltbekassin) or Woodcocks (Skovsneppe). There is an ongoing discussion on which bird is cooler - will we ever find an answer?

Me, presenting another great ringing station located on an island in Germany

Update: Simon and Lise caught the coolest of those two!

Jack Snipe (Enkeltbekassin)

People: Mara Glane, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Lise Mastrup, Anton Møbjerg Toft, Simon S. Christiansen, and our guest Jørgen Hulbæk

Dagens morgenobservation blev varetaget af Miles, Florian, Anton og Jørgen på Verdens Ende 3. Det blev en stille morgen, hvor aktiviteten dalede op ad formiddagen, men allerede tidligt dukkede der dog en islom (great northern diver) op. Denne var til stor glæde for observatørerne, da den gav sig til at raste tæt på kysten i et stykke tid, hvor de kunne betragte den. Derudover så de en del lommer, især rødstrubede lommer (red throated divers) samt flere flokke af grønsiskener (siskins) og blåmejser (blue tits), der enten træk eller gjorde forsøget.

Sidstnævnte lagde i den grad også vejen forbi nettene ved Kabeltromlen. På trods af to første runder, hvor der henholdsvis var 2 og 6 fugle i nettene, viste det sig snart at blive en travl dag. På tredje runde ankom Mara og jeg (Lise) til de første net i rørskoven og blev mødt af net, der var fuldstændigt proppede med blåmejser! Vi tog en dyb indånding og herefter gik de næste tre timer for vores vedkommende med at pille fugle ud af nettene uden stop. Der blev heldigvis hurtigt kaldt på forstærkning fra Simon, Miles, Florian og Anton, så vi tilsammen havde en chance for at holde trit med både ekstrahering og ringmærkning af alle mejserne. Da vi endelig var i mål og herhjemme havde genvundet noget nyt energi, kunne vi tælle til præcis 200 blåmejser, som havde fået nye ringe på i dag.

Udover blåmejserne, havde vi desuden glæden af nogle skægmejser (bearded reedlings), som altid ser meget fornemme og elegante ud. Især hannerne der, som navnet antyder ligner, at de har lange overskæg.

Om morgenen havde Simon desuden kaldt to rødtoppede fuglekonger (firecrests) ud på Zello (walkie-talkie app) nær Kabeltromlen, som han kunne se begge havde ring på. Ikke lang tid efter dukkede de minsandten også begge op i to af vores net. Dermed kunne vi også tælle dem blandt dagens genfangede fugle, og de er da også en kæmpe fornøjelse at se i hånden med deres skarpe øjenstribe og hannernes nærmest knaldrøde krone.

En af dagens to genfangede rødtoppede fuglekonger (firecrest). Foto af Mara.

Der blev desuden set både bjergpiber (water pipit) og ringdrossel (ring ouzel) ude ved Grenen. Ringdroslen var endda så venlig at dukke op, mens Simon viste en gruppe pædagogstuderende rundt i området.

Således endnu en begivenhedsrig dag her i Skagen. Nu ser vi frem til den aftensmad, som Miles netop er ved at lave til os og forhåbentligt (sandsynligvis) endnu en spændende dag i morgen. God aften herfra.

Dagens observationer fra Grenen kan ses her.

People: Mara Glane, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Lise Mastrup, Anton Møbjerg Toft, Simon S. Christiansen, og vores gæst Jørgen Hulbæk

This morning, Amira, Anton and I opened the nets at the ringing. Mara joined for first round, after a much deserved lie in. Mara is always at the ringing and always helping open, so we were happy to give her a little extra sleep today! There were many birds flying overhead and in the bushes, with large flocks of siskens (grøninsken) and fieldfares (sjagger). We had good numbers of birds in the nets, including a flock of long-tailed tits (halemejse) and a bearded reedling (Skægmejse). There was rain forecasted for mid-morning, so we knew it was coming, but of course we had several large flocks of blue tits (blåmejse) just as we were trying to close. It seems like we always catch the most birds when it is raining! We were still able to close nets and get the birds ringed in a timely fashion, which we were pleased with.

The observers had a nice morning at World’s End 3 with several good birds. Lise and Florian joined Knud and Jørgen and they braved the rain showers to continue counting for the whole morning. They had a Great Northern Diver aka Common Loon (Islom), a Little Auk aka Dovekie (Søkonge), and a Grey Phalarope aka Red Phalarope (Thorshane) just as the count was ending! They also saw a House Martin (Bysvale), which is now very late. The possibility of it being a Siberian House Martin (Sibirisk Bysvale) was mentioned, though this species has never been recorded in the Western Palearctic and it would be very difficult to confirm without a DNA sample.

Lise was excited to visit World’s End 3 for the first time, after we went to Nordstrand the first time she went observing. She said even with the rain it was still very cozy and hygge, being with everyone and bundled up in many layers. They also saw a Short-eared Owl (Mosehornugle), only the third we’ve seen here this fall.

The view from Kap Gadagung this afternoon. Photo by Miles

After the morning’s activities, many of us went out birding. Florian visited Kabeltromlen after the ringing was finished and saw many siskens, as well as some Mistle Thrushes (Misteldrossel), which was quite nice. In the afternoon he went out to Ellekrattet, where we ran into each other. It was nice to be out, and we saw several Bearded Reedlings very close, along the edge of the reed bed. We have taken quite a liking to the woods east of the Grenen stables, and today Amira visited them. She says they may be even better than Batteriskoven!

This evening, Lise cooked us a delicious dinner and afterward Amira and Anton went out night catching woodcocks (skovsneppe) at Bankes Marker next to Batteriskoven. They saw several but unfortunately did not catch any. Anton was quite excited to go out, and I think we will go out with Simon later this week.

Highlights from World’s End 3:

Link to today’s observations from the area.

People: Mara Glane, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Lise Mastrup, Anton Møbjerg Toft, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Michael Ancher and our guest Jørgen Hulbæk

Because of the strong southeasterly winds, almost all of us headed to Northstrand this morning for the migration count, and squeezed into our cozy nook sheltered from the wind. Mara attempted to open a few nets at Kabeltromlen in the hope of demonstrating some bird ringing to a visiting tour group. Unfortunately, two hours later, she had caught a single Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) and had only three nets open, so decided it was best to call it a day.

Meanwhile, at observations, we (Miles, Florian, Lise, Anton and Amira) had an exciting start to the morning with two Great Northern Divers (Islom) in the first few minutes as well as several more later on. It’s always a privilege to see these majestic birds flying past so close and be able to compare them properly to other diver species. We were also super excited by the two Little Auks (Søkonge) which we saw migrating past, particularly the second one which appeared in the last five minutes of the count when we were quite cold and needed a lift in our mood. It was especially nice to see these birds alive after, yesterday, our guest Lone brought us a dead individual she’d found on a nighttime walk on the beach by our lighthouse. Another highlight was a larger than normal number of Goldeneye, and I really enjoyed seeing the piercing golden eyes and glistening square black heads of the males as they flew past us tæt på land (which we’ve finally learnt means ‘close to the shore’ in Danish!).

Afterwards, some of us went home to warm up whilst others went searching for more birds. Miles, Florian and I all went different ways at first but ended up accidentally crossing paths quite a lot; I’m not sure who was following who? The best birds from our efforts were four Lapwings (Vibe) spotted by Miles as he cycled from Northstrand to Batteriskoven, but we all saw lots of other lovely common species too, including noticeably many flocks of Siskin (Grønsisken). I also found one of my favourite fungi, the Inkcaps, which drip a thick black liquid from their gills, historically used as ink for writing important documents, how cool!

Once we were all home, we put in a big effort to get all the cleaning of the apartment and lab done before a fun outing to Simon and Lisa’s house in Skagen. They were hosting an open house to celebrate  Lisa’s birthday which was earlier this week, and so kindly invited us all! Happy Birthday Lisa. It was really nice to gather around the table together and enjoy some delicious pumpkin soup, baked goods and drinks. It felt very autumnal and a really lovely treat after a long day out in the cold and wind. How hygge :)

Link to today’s observations from the area.

People: Mara Glane, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Lise Mastrup, Anton Møbjerg Toft, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Micahel Ancher and our guests Lars and Lone

Hej!

Another great day at Skagen has come to an end. We can really feel the days getting shorter now and the feet getting colder during our morning duties. Nevertheless we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise this morning, covering Grenen in red orange light.

Orange sunrise at the nets

Amira, Lise, Lone and I had a decent ringing morning with a good variety of species. Including a Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge), of which we caught quite a lot this season and they seem to be everywere in the bushes. Other highlights inlcuded Siskins (Grønsisken), a Goldfinch (Stillits) and Fieldfare (Sjagger). Just after the first net round, a couple of Waxwings (Silkehale) flew right over Kabeltromlen, with one of them sitting right in the sunlit bush next to us, together with a Fieldfare (Sjagger), Yellowhammer (Gulspurv) and a Chaffinch (Bogfinke). Before going back to the station after a productive ringing day, we were just a little more productive by painting the new Kabeldrum with some wood protective paint.

Waxwing (Silkehale)

Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge)

The observers Florian and Miles had good company today, while sitting at Worlds End 3. They had some Siskens (Grønsisken) flying over and spotted at least 8 Little Auks (Søkonge), despite getting colder and colder by the hour. Heated socks are a smart investment for the future morning counts!

Afternoon bird watching walks were conducted individually, with some Crested Tits (Topmejse) and a Woodcock (Skovsneppe) spotted. We also welcomed the DOF ung member Anton today, who will stay with us for one week, hopefully seeing his target species: Søkonge, Mallemuk and Ride. 

After our evening meeting we sat down with Simon to age some difficult to age birds we took pictures of and had a nice pumpkin soup for dinner. The cozy Halloween evening will be completed with a movie night and popcorn.

Ringing Kabeltromlen:

Solsort 2
Sjagger 1
Grønirisk 3
Musvit 2
Grønsisken 3
Gærdesmutte 10
Lille Gråsisken 2
Rødhals 2
Skægmejse 1
Stillits 1
Bogfinke 6
Blåmejse 6
Lille Dompap 6
Stor Dompap 1
Dompap 1
Munk 3
Fuglekonge 3
Rødtoppet Fuglekonge 1
Total 54

Ringing Jennes Sø (Michael Ancher):

Solsort 2
Gransanger 1
Fuglekonge 1
Blåmejse 1
Musvit 2
Grønsisken 2
Lille Gråsisken 8
Stor Dompap 1
Total 18

Ringig Nordstjernevej (Michael Ancher):

Blåmejse 3
Musvit 2
Lille Dompap 1
Total 6

Highlights from the Obs:

Søkonge 8

Islom 1 

Today's observations from the area can be seen here.

People: Mara Glane, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Lise Mastrup, Anton Møbjerg Toft, Simon S. Christiansen, Michael Ancher and our guests Lars and Lone

The weather forecast did not look promising for ringing and observation today. So we decided to sleep in today, which everyone really enjoyed. After this nice start, we didn't want to just hang around being lazy, but wanted to do some useful work. So we checked all the remaining ringing sheets from the previous days for mistakes.
Since we couldn't be at World's End 3 in the cold this morning, Miles and I decided to go out into the cold in the afternoon. We went to Frederikshavn to search for the long-staying Kentish plover (Hvidbrystet Præstekrave). When we arrived, we heard from another birder that many of the waders present had just been flushed far to the north by a dog. Then the waiting began until he would return. Even without the plover, birding was fun there. The longer we waited, the more birds arrived. About 150 Dunlins (Almindelig Ryle), 35 Redshanks (Rødben), 30 Oystercatchers (Strandskade) and some Shore Larks (Bjerglærke) were nice to see. Even though the cold wind made us feel really cold, we stayed there for a long time. Unfortunately, the Kentish plover did not reappear, so we returned to Skagen without having seen it.


Searching the Kentish Plover (Hvidbrystet Præstekrave) in Frederikshavn

Knud had also been outside in the afternoon for some ‘gulling’ at Grenen. He was successful and managed to find a total of seven Caspian Gulls (Kaspisk Måge)! However, the Baltic lesser black-backed gull (Baltisk Sildemåge) seemed to have disappeared.
Miles used the evening to finish an exciting graphic for our big ringing day on 6 October. It shows how many individuals of the different species were ringed at what time of the day. At the same time, Amira prepared a delicious dinner for us and we listened to german banger songs!



No ringing today

Highlights from the observation
Kaspisk Måge (Caspian Gull) 7

Today's observations from the area can be seen here.

People: Mara Glane, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Lise Mastrup, Simon S. Christiansen and our guests Lars and Lone

Observatørerne havde en stille dag ved Verdens Ende 3 med kun lidt aktivitet over havet. Morgenen bød dog alligevel på rider (kittiwake), nogle få alkefugle (auk) og en søkonge (little auk). Morgenobservationens måske mest bemærkelsesværdige fugl blev dog ikke set, men hørt. Identiteten af denne fugl er vi endnu ikke sikre på, men en lidt uskarp lydoptagelse fortæller, at det muligvis har været en sibirisk vipstjert (eastern yellow wagtail). Forhåbentligt ved vi inden længe, om det er denne eller anden art, som har været forbi. Under morgenobservationen blev der desuden spottet silkehaler (waxwing), som vi også havde glæde af at se nogle af fra Kabeltromlen.

Dagens første netrunde gik relativt stille for sig, men heldigvis i selskab med skønne gæster i form af både fugle og mennesker. Amiras mor og fætter er på besøg i Skagen og sluttede sig til os ved Kabeltromlen, lige inden vi gik afsted på første runde. Da vi vendte tilbage, var det med blandt andet 11 skægmejser (bearded reedling), som vi alle var meget begejstrede for. På anden netrunde fik vi pludselig travlt med mange fugle i nettene og da vi mærkede en smule regn og kunne se radaren lovede mere på vej, måtte vi være effektive. Mens Mara og Lone ringmærkede, gik Amira og jeg (Lise) en runde igen med det samme, hvor vi også lukkede nettene. Dermed havde vi bedre overskud til at ringmærke de fugle, vi allerede havde rigeligt af og risikerede ikke, at nogle blev kolde og våde i nettene. Det gjaldt blandt andet halemejser (long-tailed tit), blåmejser (blue tit) og desuden 3 rødtoppede fuglekonger (firecrest). Dermed fik vi en lidt kortere ringmærkningsdag end forventet, men på trods af dette et godt antal fugle med en fin artsdiversitet.

Tre ringmærkere klar til dagens strabadser. Foto af Amiras mor.

Eftermiddagen gik med dataindtastning, indkøb og andre praktiske opgaver. Mellem regnbygerne gik både Mara og Florian en tur, hvor de hver især så halemejser (long tailed tit). Mara så nogle med ringe, som måske har været dem fra i dag og Florian så nogle uden. Måske vi får besøg af dem i nettene en anden dag.

En anden spændende opdatering herfra er, at vi har fået melding om genfangst af en rødhals (robin), som blev ringmærket ved Kabeltromlen den 1. oktober. Den blev genfanget ved Ketelmeer, nær byen Swifterbant i Holland den 18. oktober. Det må betyde, at den er godt på vej sydpå.

Dagens observationer fra Grenen kan ses her.

Folk på stationen: Mara Glane, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Lise Mastrup, Simon Christiansen, Ole and Anton, and our guests Lars and Lone

Today is my birthday and when I woke up and walked into the kitchen, Florian and Janna sang happy birthday to me and presented me with my birthday card. The ringers had forgotten the paint for the new kabeltromlen, so dropped it off on my way to World’s End 3 and got another birthday serenade! I am told this was not planned. Janna left this morning to return to Germany. Her visit was far too short, but we are always happy to see her!

My birthday card made by the crew with a little auk (søkonge), robin (rødhals), northern long-tailed tit (nordlig halemejse), goldcrest (fuglekonge), and blue tit (blåmejse). Photo by Miles

Florian and I had a great morning at the migration count. Activity was good, with lots of black-legged kittiwakes (ride) and razorbills (alk). We had three little auks (søkonge), not as many as yesterday, but they are always cool to see. So cute and round! While checking the resting gannets (sule) in Kattegat, I spotted a tubenose (stormfugl) flying to the northwest. It was dark with pale patches on the underwings, a sooty shearwater (sodfarvet skråpe)! It was quite close and everyone got good looks, including Anton and Ole, who had just been discussing their interest in seeing one. It is a lovely birthday present to get a visit from the ‘King of Migration’ and I pleased to be the one to call it out. Other highlights were a lesser black-backed gull (sildemåge), that appeared to be of the Baltic subspecies (Larus fuscus fuscus), which is very rare here. Adults of this subspecies have a very dark mantle that blends into the wingtips and especially long wings, which makes them stand out. There are some finer points of the identification, to separate them from the variable intermedius but that is above my pay grade. We also saw a sand martin (digesvale), which I have not seen since 21 September!

A sunny morning at World's End 3 for the migration count. Photo by Miles

Mara, Amira, and Lisa had a good morning at the ringing. It was rather windy, so they were only able to open half the nets yet still managed to catch 63 blue tits (blåmejse) with 88 ringed in total. Despite several busy blue tit rounds (Amira was ringing them nonstop for over an hour!) there were also some quiet rounds when Lone and Anton were able to ring. Today was the first time Anton has ringed, and he started off strong with several blue tits, a bullfinch (dompap), and a goldcrest (fuglekonge). After they closed the nets, 4 waxwings (silkehale) flew over. A nice highlight to end on!

In the afternoon, Florian, Lise, and Lone went out on a fulmar walk and despite having low expectations for what they would find, they had great success. They found 1 guillemot (lomvie), 1 fulmar (mallemuk), and 1 little auk (søkonge)! The fulmars are especially valuable for us to collect, because we are collaborating with Aarhus University to study the accumulation of plastic in fulmar stomachs.

Dead little auk (søkonge) found during the fulmar walk. Photo by Florian

I had a quiet afternoon attempting to catch up on some work. I went for a lovely dip in the sea with Amira before she baked me a birthday cake. Lise cooked us some delicious vegetable soup and we opened up the bottle of blood orange soda we bought to celebrate the Pallas’s Leaf Warbler. This evening, while writing up the blog, I got a call from Gabriel, who sang the Swedish birthday song to me! He has been doing moss, mushroom, and lichen surveys in the mountains in northern Sweden since leaving here a few weeks ago and has been sending some really cool photos. It was so great to hear from him and a lovely end to a fantastisk birthday.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Highlights from World’s End 3:

Today’s observations from the area can be seen here.

People: Mara Glane, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Lise Mastrup, Ole and Anton, and our guests Lars and Lone

It was such a still morning at Kabeltromlen; all we could hear at dawn was bird call and the squeaky sound of our waders as Mara, Lise and I walked around opening up the nets. Mara had a dramatic start to the morning when she spotted a Hen Harrier bounce into the net in the first round, but unfortunately it bounced straight back out again. It made us wonder if we’d even have a big enough metal ring for a bird of that size! Maybe we should be more prepared just in case it stays in the net the next time…

It was Lise’s first morning ringing with us, and I really enjoyed having her as part of the team; her encouragement and offering of warm clothes when it got cold was very much appreciated! We ringed some lovely species including the highest number of Bearded Reedlings (Skægmejse) we’ve had in one day so far this Autumn, 15 in total! We release them all at once because of how social they are, so a highlight was when all of us including our helpers Anton, Ole and Lone, released a Skægmejse each! It was so magical watching them all fly away together calling excitedly!

My own personal highlight was the two Firecrest, including one retrapped bird which we had initially caught and ringed last week. I really love how much energy these birds have despite only weighing around 5g; they’re constantly on the move, flitting through trees in search of insects. A big flock of tits and crests (mostly Blue Tits (Blåmejse)) in the last net round meant it was a long day for us, and we were ringing the last few birds as the sun started to set! But a fun day.

We had our Zello on whilst at Kabeltromlen and were amazed to hear 10 Little Auks (Søkonge) called out passing by World’s End 3. The observers (Miles, Florian and Janna) were having a fantastic morning! They had great views of both a Great Northern Diver (Islom) and a Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) resting not too far away on the calm waters. A highlight was also two flocks of Waxwing (Silkehale) attempting migration out over the tip and then maybe realising the sea looked a bit scary, changing their minds, and heading back inland again. These birds seem to be having a good year compared to last year when there were only a handful over the whole Autumn.

After their standard hours of migration count, Florian and Janna then continued birdwatching around the area for the remaining hours of daylight and found some nice birds. A metal-ringed Kingfisher (Isfugle) at Skarvsøen was probably the same bird we ringed at Kabeltromlen a month ago and keep re-sighting in the past weeks. They also heard a Little Grebe (Lille Lappedykker) and later saw a Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade) too! Miles also had a pleasant visit to his favourite birding patch, the sewage plant behind the salmon farm, which today was filled with Long tailed tits (Halemejse) of both the pure white-headed northern and stripey-headed southern subspecies, how delightful.

Today’s observations from the area can be seen here.

People: Mara Glane, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Janna Ouedraogo, Lise Mastrup, Ole and Anton, and our guests Lars and Lone