I have finally realized why envy is considered a sin. We could not do any ringing today as the wind was really owning the stage. That meant half the team went to do some observations while the rest could sleep in. I Was not one of the sleepers.

Me and Jule started our count at 7 am this morning. I was a few minutes late so Jule counted the scoters (Sortand) til I arrived. She had already counted over 300 scoters by the time I got there… in total there were 5 times more and in the middle of those flocks we spotted 2 velvet scoters (Fløjlsand) as well! Whilst common scoters are basically completely black, the velvet scoters have a bright white patch on their wings so it’s easy to tell them apart.

It has been less than an hour at the migration count... Photo: Laura Tamminen

Yesterday the ponds formed by the extreme winds and rain were huge, like a sea of its own. By this morning, they had dried up a bit, but it still gave us an opportunity to spot all kinds of waders (vadefugle) up close. The seals had also turned up, sunbathing on shore. They were completely unbothered by the tourists and tractors.

a photo done through the scope. Resting seals. Photo: Laura Tamminen

I was quite surprised but very pleased to see 3 great skuas (Storkjove) flying around today. During my stay we have usually only spot 1 per day. The long-tailed skuas (Lille kjove) and arctic skuas (Almindelig kjove) didn’t hide either!

After returning to the station Anja and Pauline had woken up too and we all got some well-earned breakfast. The rest of the day has been quite slow, but since the weather is lovely with the sun shining bright, Jule and Anja decided to go for a walk. Jule spotted a long-tailed duck (havlit) in Kattegat!

We are expecting Mio, who will arrive later this evening!

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

People: Anja Gorbunova, Pauline Nähring, Laura Tamminen, Jule Tappe, Jeppe Madsen, Simon S. Christiansen, Birgit and Michael 

Yesterday evening, we all headed out for another nightcatching session. We were lucky enough to catch another Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle), which was a great highlight and a nice ending for our volunteer Alfred. There were noticeably fewer waders along the beach this time, but it was still a successful night for us!

1k Red Knott                         Picture: Pauline N.

This morning, Anna and I opened the nets at Kabeltromlen. Simon and Alfred joined us for the first check at 7:00. I have to say, I’ve really learned to appreciate the Chiffchaffs (Gransanger) we get here. Today, we caught seven of them and they are great practice for me when it comes to finding moult limits! We also saw a flock of Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb) flying above Kabeltromlen! Fingers crossed for next week.

Hey, Anja is here again!

I won’t keep you waiting, so I’ll start with the most important part of the previous day — the night catching.

A couple of days ago, we were already discussing the possibility of going out for a night catch, but for different reasons it didn’t work out. Yesterday, however, we were brave and determined. Jule, Alfred and I had been looking forward to the evening since the morning, although we were also a little worried that once again nothing would happen because of the weather. The forecast was quite uncertain and it was a shower all the time. For Alfred and me, it was our first experience with night catching. Armed with a  hand net, thermal binocular and flashlights, we headed towards the point. We expected to see some waders along the way, but the beach was completely empty. Only when we reached World's End 3 did we finally start seeing birds. The first few attempts were not very successful. We were trying to approach the birds too quickly, but once we changed our tactics and started moving more slowly, we finally caught our first bird. We couldn’t have been happier when we realised it was a Bar-tailed Godwit (Lille Kobbersneppe)! They are not particularly difficult to see here, but this was the first Bar-tailed Godwit ever caught and ringed at the station. After taking some photos and ringing the bird, we released it back into the wild. Wet, tired, but very happy, we finally went to bed.

Our first Bar-tailed Godwit. Photo by Pauline Nähring

In the morning, it was raining, so we opened the nets an hour later than usual. We weren’t sure they would stay open for long, because the forecast showed a good chance of rain and wind. In reality, the weather turned out to be much better than expected. In the end, we managed to do the full four hours of ringing. The day turned out to be quite productive. The first few rounds were calm and steady, and Laura and I had time to practise ageing the birds. But then, after a short shower, a flock of Blue Tits (Blåmejse) and Chiffchaffs (Gransanger) suddenly appeared in the nets. We barely had enough bags for all of them. And once again, there was one interesting Chiffchaff among them. It was a bird with a moult limit in the primaries, meaning that it had an arrested moult.

Chiffchaff with arrested moult. Photo by Pauline Nähring

Meanwhile, Jule and Alfred went out for the daily migration count. Today they saw three Long-tailed Skuas (Lille Kjove), three Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove), a Black Tern (Sortterne) and a Rock Pipit (Skærpiber). One of the highlights was a Fulmar (Mallemuk) that flew quite close and gave us a really good chance to have a proper look at it. Since our ringing started later today, the others had enough time after the migration count to come back and join us for some ringing as well.

After that, we went home to rest. Everyone except Pauline, who went shopping with Kirsten, something we were very grateful for, because the fridge was almost completely empty.After a short rest, Alfred went for a long walk and took some more amazing photos. I managed to get a little bit of work done, Jule also spent some time outside, walking and relaxing by the coast, while Laura and Pauline stayed at home and continued recovering after the busy morning.
And you’ve probably noticed that Mio isn’t mentioned in the morning activities. No, we haven’t forgotten about him — he just went away for the weekend and will be back with us on Monday.
(Mio, I know you’ll read this, we’re already really looking forward to having you back!)
Kittywake with the yellow ring. Photo by Alfred Godsk Geckler.

We ended the day with a delicious dinner made by Alfred and some good conversations around the table, remembering the highlights of the day. I’ll share one of my highlights with you, it’s in the photo below.

This rainbow is my personal hightlight of the day. Photo by Anja Gorbunova.


Ringing (Kabeltromlen):
Rødhals: 8
Jernspurv: 5
Munk: 2
Gærdesmutte: 1
Tornsanger: 1
Havesanger: 1
Gransanger: 11
Blåmejse: 13
Musvit:1
Total: 43

Ringing Jennes Sø (Michael Ancher):
Blåmejser 2
Topmejse 1
Lille gråsisken 4
Jernspurv 2
Musvit 1
Rødhals 1
Total: 11

Highlights from the observations:
Lille Kjove: 3
Almindelig Kjove: 3
Mallemuk: 3
Sortterne: 1
Skærpiber: 2

Link to todays observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People:  Anja Gorbunova, Pauline Nähring, Jule Tappe, Laura Tamminen, Simon S. Christiansen, Kirsten Bregn, Alfred Godsk Geckler.

  I slept in for 10 minutes this morning. Despite my sore neck I was tucked in so comfortably I almost considered falling asleep again. Just kidding, I was excited to go ringing after a few days doing observation. I did not have high hopes as the previous days had been a bit poor, but every day can surprise us.

Me, Mio and Pauline opened the nets this morning, though I was mostly still learning. We were later joined by Kirsten and Simon. We got 4 robins (Rødhals) on our first round. It was a great opportunity for me and Kirsten to ring them, because it is a bit easier to determine the age of those plump birds. During our ringing hours, we spotted several interesting birds that flew over us: Goshawk (Duehøg), mistle trush (Misteldrossel), a flock of starlings (Stær) and redpolls (Gråsisken). The others say the weather was cold this morning but as the master of temperature sensitivity I confidently say that it was a lovely warm weather today. Or maybe i just moved around enough to keep myself warm..

Fun fact! In Estonia we have a nickname for people who get cold very quickly, we call them “ külmavares “ which in direct translation means „ cold crow “.

Pauline ringing a chiffchaff (Gransanger). Photo by Laura Tamminen

Jule, Alfred and Anja report that their day at the migration count went well. They were also accompanied by Knut. They counted a total of 9 skuas (Kjove) which will be listed below. They also registered over 1400 common scoters (Sortand)!! Kudos to Jule for counting them all wow.

After our daily ringing and obs we had a small rest back at the station. Later on Alfred went out to Skagen Havn to search for and photograph some mediterranean gulls (Sorthovedet måge) and he found 13 gulls! They are considered to be scarce visitors in Denmark, so it is great to see more than a dozen of them in Skagen.

One of many mediterranean gulls in Skagen. Photo by Alfred Godsk Geckler

Having great motivation, he and Mio also took a small visit to Ellekrattet and found a magnificent little bird, a firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge)!! This bird is quite uncommon in many areas, especially on the Northern parts of Europe. I have only seen this bird once in my life before. Alongside goldcrests (fuglekonge) they are the smallest birds in Europe.

These guys are near impossible to get on camera as they restlessly jump from branch to branch. Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge). Photo by Alfred Godsk Geckler

There is a plan of going night-catching tonight, so definitely look out for tomorrow’s blog!

Unfortunately, the pools around the beach have dried up, but one big one remains, so there is a chance we will catch a few waders (Vadefugl) or terns (Terne).

Dinner will be served very shortly, so I will be off to eat. Til tomorrow, loyal readers!

Hello, im Alfred, I am in school practice here on the station, until Sunday.
I started my day with Mio and Laura at the migration-count. We quickly saw the first Long Tailed Skua (Lille Kjove) and not long after, the Black Tern (Sortterne). We also gota nice observation of a Long-tailed Duck (Havlit) At the end of the observation, a nice Merlin came in from Sweden. 

Long-Tailed Duck (Havlit). Picture by Alfred Godsk Geckler.

While we were having fun at the migration count with some other people, Jule, Anja, Pauline and Simon were ringing at Kabeltromlen. They caught a nice European Siskin (Grønsisken). 

European Siskin (Grønsisken). Foto by Jule Tappe.

Anyways, after the morning obs, we went back to the station, where i got some yoghurt and bread. When I was done eating, Simon drove me, Anja, Pauline and Páll to Højen, from where we should walk back to the station while collecting dead seabirds, like Fulmars (Mallemuk) and Gannets (Sule). At first, we didn't find any birds, but around Grenen, we found the first collectible bird, a Fulmar (Mallemuk). Half an hour after, we had a Long Tailed Skua (Lille Kjove) flying around 3 meter over our heads! After that, we found a Cormorant (Skarv), a Gannet (Sule) and a Mute Swan (Knopsvane). When we came home after 10 km of intense starring at the ground, Simon helped us put the birds in the Freezer, so they can help science.

Pauline, Anja and Me looking at a dead Gannet (Sule)

Later, we entered data from today, and Mio made us very Tasty Spaghetti. We also got the message from Henrik at the rescue center that the young Honey Buzzard (Hvepsevåge) that we ringed there last week was released back into the wild the day after so it can continue it's first journey to the tropical Africa. Right now, I'm writing this on my computer, while Anja is knitting, and the others are in their rooms, getting rest for an exciting day tomorrow.

See you!

People: Mio Brix, Anja Gorbunova, Pauline Nähring, Jule Tappe, Laura Tamminen, Simon S. Christiansen, Kirsten Bregn, Alfred Godsk Geckler, Páll Kjærbo

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

There are two places that I combine directly with Skagen. One is called Kabeltromlen, or in short: KAB, where we are doing scientific bird ringing every day, except when there is rain or very strong wind. Also today, it was very much on the edge of whether we could go out ringing, but it was still okay...

With strong wind, of course, we can’t open all the nets. Some of the nets are just not sheltered enough from the wind, but these nets are then good when we don’t have wind. So there are advantages and disadvantages to them...

But back to the ringing: They didn’t catch many birds today, but they still had some nice ones. Jule always enjoys ringing Blackbirds (Solsort), so she, but also the others, were happy to see this bird. The second highlight must have been the Garden Warbler (Havesanger). This long-distance migrant could already be one of the last ones for the season, because most of them are already on their long way south.

And there is the second place, which comes directly to my mind when I’m thinking about Skagen: It’s Worlds End 3, the place where we are doing the migration count every day. And with the autumn migration, it’s becoming more and more interesting up here. I have to mention quickly our awesome observation of the Sabine’s Gull (Sabinemåge) yesterday again. It was one of the species I’ve wished to see and it already worked! So hopefully there are more of these nice birds coming over the next few days.

One of the now somehow everyday good birds is definitely the Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove), of which we got five again today. Almost all of these birds were more or less stationary today, which allowed Alfred and Knud to get some pictures down at the beach.

1K intermediate Long-tailed Skua. Picture by Alfred Godsk Geckler

As Alfred searched for the Skuas at the beach, he just found a very close swimming Red-throated Diver (Rødstrubet Lom). He then started taking pictures of that bird, and while doing so, he noticed that the bird had a yellow colour ring! How awesome!

There aren’t many colour-ringing projects for this species, and that bird, which was ringed in a Finnish project, is only one of around 200 birds! And then, what a coincidence that it worked to read that ring on a diver while it was swimming.

Here you can see how he managed to read the ring:

Adult Red-throated Diver (Rødstrubet Lom) close to the shore (you can already see the yellow ring on the right under the water).

And here is the ring with the code!

Caspian Gull 1cy. (Kaspisk Måge 1k). Photo: Alfred Geckler

And now I hope that you all remembered from my last blog post what DLN means, what we are doing after the count and ringing. Yes! You remembered right! It’s Data entry, Lunch and Napping!

But today was also picture archive day, so all of us also spent a bit of time archiving pictures we had taken in the field. But with all these data-entry tasks, you can really feel that your feet are sending you a signal to go out again.

And Jule took this signal seriously and went out to Batteriskoven to look for some passerines. But with the wind, the birds didn’t want to move or call either, so there wasn’t a lot happening.

In the evening, we had our proper evening meeting, and Pauline prepared us a delicious dinner and made cinnamon rolls again for dessert!

And for now, with dinner and cinnamon rolls in our stomachs, it got quieter and quieter at the station. The only thing you can hear here now, apart from the waves outside, is me writing the last sentence of this blog post...

tip, tipp, tipp...

Ringing Kabeltromlen:

Total: 8

Ringing Jennes Sø (Michael Ancher):

Blåmejse 1
Rødhals 1
Lille Gråsisken 26
Musvit 1
Gransanger 2
Jernspurv 1

Highlights from the Observations:

Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove)-4

Colour ringed Red-throated Diver (Rødstrubet Lom)-1

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

People: Mio Brix, Anja Gorbunova, Pauline Nähring, Jule Tappe, Laura Tamminen, Simon S. Christiansen, Kirsten Bregn, Alfred Godsk Geckler, Knud Pedersen

Today my morning started at 6:45 when I cycled to Kabeltromlen (KAB) for ringing. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and we had a surprisingly good variety of birds in the nets. In total, we caught 46 birds.

When I woke up this morning, it was light outside. That’s weird. At least, when you work at a bird observatory and go bird ringing almost every day. But today, we switched our usual order and Mio, Pauline and Anna opened the nets at Kabeltromlen while Laura, Knud and me did the migration count.

Unfortunately for the ringers, the most birds were on the sea today. The first couple of rounds were still quite good, the highlight being to 2k+ Blackcaps (Munk). Then, it slowed down a little. While watching with a scope, it was still possible to see what was flying on the sea.

 Mio and Anna having fun while ringing a Chiffchaff (Gransanger). Foto: Pauline Nähring.

The first thirty minutes of the migration count where quite busy: Once I had written down the nots on Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove), Knud and Anders Bojensen, who also joined us, called out to new ones. In total, we saw 15 Long-tailed (Lille), 8 Arctic (Almindelig) and 2 Great Skuas (Storkjove). There were even more Skuas far out that we couldn’t identify with certainty. While the sun was shining down on us, there were more exciting birds to come. The Black tern (Sortterne) from the day before was still resting around the beach, three Little Gulls (Dværgmåge) and many Gannets (Sule) feeding in Kattegat kept us company, when suddenly, the royalty of migration appeared: A Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe). After it was first spotted pretty far out, it got closer until we got awesome looks. This was one of the best shearwater observations I ever had and it was really exciting. By the fourth hour of the migration count, activity had slowed down so once we were finished, we drove back to the station.

 Jule, Knud and Anders watching Long-tailed Skuas (Lille Kjove) at World's End 3. Foto: Laura Tamminen.

There, our normal routines continued: Data entry, lunch and a nap. But this was not the end of the day! Around 4 pm, we drove down to the Rescure Centre in Jerup with Jørgen and Simon. The rescue had a Common Eider (Ederfugl) and a Honey Buzzard (Hvepsevåge) that were ringed by us before they will be released in the next couple of days. That was very exciting since they are two species which we don’t ring or see from up close often, especially the buzzard. While documenting the Buzzard with photos outside, Mio found a young Pallid Harrier (Steppehøg) in the distance. After landing in a field, it didn’t fly up again unfortunately. Still, it was a surprisingly nice observations. We also looked around the Rescue Centres were a number of different animals stay. This was very interesting to see, so thank you for the opportunity Henrik!

 Honey Buzzard (Hvepsevåge). Foto: Pauline Nähring

Back at the station, we welcomed our new guest for the week, Kirsten. She has been here many times before, so welcome back! After our daily meeting and planning for the next week, I repaired Anna’s bike while she started cooking dinner.

Sitting in the living room, I can smell the dinner from the kitchen and I’m sure, it will taste very good. We might also have a Klask! (fun board game) tournament tonight. So if we will do this, we will be sure to tell you the results and winner tomorrow!

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

People: Mio Brix, Anna Gorbunova, Pauline Nähring, Jule Tappe, Laura Tamminen, Simon S. Christiansen, Anders Bojesen, Kirsten Bregn, Henrik Christiansen, Jørgen Kabel

And once again, there is a new person on the blog! I’m Anja. I arrived at the station two days ago and I’ll be here for the next two weeks.

Today was my first day ringing here with Jule and Pauline.
I already had some experience checking nets and helping with ringing in Germany, but it still feels like starting from zero every time, because everything is a bit different here. A new route, a different way of handling the nets, new rules for entering the data. And, of course, beautiful new views of the sunset that are impossible to ignore.

Proof of a beautiful view. Photo by Anja Gorbunova.

There weren’t many birds today. The first round was quite busy, but after that there were not many birds in the nets. The weather was really nice, so it was a good day to be outside and enjoy some of the last warm days of autumn.
A few birds made us think a little. We caught three Chiffchaffs (Gransanger), and it was quite difficult to see the moult limit on them. We took some photos to check in the evening.
A Chiffchaff with an unclear moult limit. Photo by Pauline Nähring

At the same time, Mio, Laura and Knud, who joined them for the first hour, were watching birds from World’s End 3 and enjoying the nice weather too. There were fewer birds than yesterday, but they still saw some Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove), a Black Tern (Sortterne), a group of Eurasian Jays (Skovskade) and a Raven (Ravn). They also saw a big flock of Golden Plovers (Hjejle) flying southwest and then back again.

When we got back to the house, we had breakfast (or lunch, who knows), entered the data into the computer and went to rest for a while, because we had some cleaning to do later.
In the afternoon, everyone did their own thing. Jule went for a walk to listen to music and think about life. Mio went birdwatching in the reserve and to the secret lake with the recorder. Pauline took some time to relax, Laura started making dinner, and I had to do a little bit of work even though it was Saturday.
By the evening, the house was quiet and clean. Laura made a really tasty dinner, and after that we just sat around for a while and relaxed after the day.

Tomorrow it’s an early start again and another day of ringing. But for now, it’s time to get some sleep.?

PS. I’m posting this blog one day later, so I can already tell you that there’s a very interesting story coming this evening. Today was definitely not a usual day at the station.

Observation Highlight:
Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove) — 1
Great Skua (Storkjove) — 2
Black Tern (Sortterne) — 1
Grey Plover (Strandhjejle) — 1

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):
Robin (Rødhals) — 2
Reed Warbler (Rørsanger) — 1
Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) — 1
Blackcap (Munk) — 2
Chiffchaff (Gransanger) — 3
Reed Bunting (Rørspurv) — 3

Total: 12

Nordstjernevej (Michael Ancher):
Great Tit (Musvit) — 1
European Robin (Rødhals) — 1
Blackcap (Munk) — 1

Total: 3

Jennes Sø (Michael Ancher):
Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) — 21
Crested Tit (Topmejse) — 1
Spotted Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) — 1
European Robin (Rødhals) — 2
Great Tit (Musvit) — 5
Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) — 2
Blue Tit (Blåmejse) — 1
Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger) — 2

Total: 35

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

People: Mio Brix, Jule Tappe, Simon S. Christiansen, Pauline Nähring, Morten Jenrich Hansens, Laura Tamminen, Anja Gorbunova