Her et par uger efter Ragnar tog hjem og inden forårets første assistent (Lucas) ankommer senere i denne uge, så jeg lige et snit til at skrive en sjælden dagbog fra min hånd.

Vintermånederne er den stille periode på fuglestationen normalt vis. Ikke fordi der ingen fugle er – det er der altid. Der kan f.eks. tjekkes måger og ænder eller tælles alkefugle og gæs. Man kan opsøge vadefugle som Stenvendere og Sortgrå Ryle i havnene og i haverne måske Silkehaler. Det er en stille periode på stationen, fordi der ikke er så mange logerende, og der er en pause i det meste feltarbejde, da trækket i vintermånederne trods alt er begrænset. Bag kulissen sker der dog stadig en del, særligt ved skrivebordet. Bestyrelsesmedlemmer og andre skriver flittigt til årsskriftet (udkommer hvert år omkring maj), fuglefestivalen og andre arrangementer planlægges, årets projekter i felten forberedes, der søges eksterne midler og ikke mindst bliver der lagt en vigtig indsats i at skaffe et godt hold af assistenter til sæsonen gennem at læse ansøgninger, lave interviews og lege med kalendergymnastik. Endnu en ting jeg fandt plads til denne vinter, var at give denne hjemmeside en ordentlig opdatering, så der nu er opdaterede tekster og billeder på de fleste af siderne.

Vinterperioden giver dog også mulighed for at reflektere over mange ting, som man måske ikke altid når i den travle tid. For 15 år siden i februar sad jeg på Ottenby Fågelstation i Sverige, hvor jeg var frivillig assistent. Dengang var jeg også ved at forberede den kommende sæson. Om aftenerne sprang jeg på isflager i mørket og ringmærkede Sortgrå Ryle, Skarv, Bjergand og Stor Skallesluger, men jeg læste også lidt. Bl.a. læste jeg de første dagbøger som blevet skrevet i Ottenby Fågelstations historie – de var dateret tilbage til 1946. Det var inspirerende at læse om opstarten af en fuglestation. De praktiske udfordringer, de innovative forsøg med ringmærkning og ikke mindst historierne om miljøet og folkene på stationen. Jeg sad derfor og drømte om hvor spændende det måtte være, at være med til at starte en fuglestation op fra grunden og se den vokse.

Dengang var det ikke noget jeg troede ville blive en realistisk mulighed. Der var mere tendens til at fuglestationer lukkede, ikke at nye åbnede. Men i 2017 kom der en chance, og så endda nær min fødeby (Aalborg). DOF indgik aftale med Naturstyrelsen om at drive en fuglestation i Det Grå Fyrs lokaler. Jeg blev ansat som naturvejleder og forstander af Skagen Fuglestation med nøglerne til nogle tomme lokaler den vinter. Ubeskriveligt meget er sket sidenhen. 2258 dagbøger er skrevet siden da, og fuglestationen står nu på tærsklen til dets niende sæson.

Ni år efter samme sæsonprægede koncept. Hvad kan en leder mon glæde sig til når ”endnu” en sæson står for døren?

Jeg glæder mig til der kommer en Ådselgrib. Den vil jeg gerne se i Skagen. Det er ikke umuligt, men det er også langt fra sikkert. Seneste (og eneste gang) der var en Ådselgrib i Skagen var i 1993. Hvis den ikke kommer i år, gør det dog ikke så meget, for jeg ved at jeg med sikkerhed vil opleve andre sjældne fugle og opleve høje forekomster for nogle arter – andre ikke. Sæsonens uforudsigelighed er spændende, ikke at vide hvilke arter og oplevelser der vil indprente sig i ens bevidsthed når året engang er slut. En vis forudsigelighed er der dog heldigvis også. Jeg glæder mig hvert år til at byde de almindelige langdistancetrækfugle velkommen - en for en når de ankommer i foråret. Jeg glæder mig også til at udvikle på de forskelligartede feltprojekter vi gennemfører med videnskabelige partnere. Det kan være meget udfordrende at arbejde med nye metoder og teknologi, men også meget tilfredsstillende når man ser resultaterne.

Assistenter og gæster sidste år efter en vandring på stranden i søgen efter ilanddrevne fugle 

Mest af alt glæder jeg mig dog til det sociale aspekt i at birde og opleve fuglene med gæstende og lokale fuglekiggere – og ikke mindst at arbejde med de frivillige assistenter der kommer til at bo på fuglestationen. Fem assistenter var der i løbet af et år i 2017. Det er med tiden vokset til over tyve - og vi har vokseværk. Der arbejdes derfor på at finde løsninger på at udvide antallet af værelser til overnatning, hvilket forhåbentligt vil ske inden for en overskuelig fremtid.

Man kan lære meget af dem som har set på fugle i en menneskealder, men har her de første otte år også lært at der er rigtig meget at hente fra de unge som bor her. De imponerer mig hvert år med deres ihærdighed, videbegærlighed og pligtopfyldelse. De er seriøse men samtidig utrolig rare og søde bekendtskaber. Det tegner rigtig godt for den kultur denne generation af fuglekiggere kommer til at tegne i fremtiden herhjemme og i udlandet. De vil gerne dygtiggøre sig selv fagligt, nørde ID og metoder og de er gode til at argumentere. De er aldrig selvhøjtidelige og er typisk heller ikke bange for at tage fejl. En rigtig vigtig egenskab er også, at de er meget imødekomne overfor andre. Det er alt sammen ting jeg har lært meget af, og så er det også bare med til at give mig selv energi og lyst til at stå tidligt op og gå på arbejde, uanset de mangeartede udfordringer dagene kan byde på. De unge kommer med forskellige baggrunde, og det samme gør gæsterne i lejligheden. Det overrasker mig hvert år hvor godt det går i spænd og at relationerne fungerer selvom pladsen kan være trang og privatsfæren lille. Man kan åbenbart komme meget langt med at være fælles om fugleinteressen.

Ringmærkere i ly fra regn under Kabeltromlen

I en verden der kan synes dyster og pessimistisk hvis man følger nyhedsstrømmen, er det rart at være et sted der er det helt modsatte. På fuglestationen insisterer vi på den gode stemning, alt andet bliver man træt af. En god stemning er heldigvis ikke svær at opretholde med det miljø der kendetegner fuglestationen i dag.

En risiko som altid findes på alle fuglestationer, er dog at de kan lukke sig for meget om sig selv (samme gælder sådan set også på et personligt plan for os enkelte fuglekiggere). Det er vigtigt at have for øje at håndtere gennem kommunikation og relationer udadtil, og kan nemt glemmes i hverdagens trummerum.

De bærende søjler for os er fugle, oplevelser, viden og fællesskab. Værdier der måske kan synes lidt vidtløftige, men ikke desto mindre giver os en retning og et holdepunkt i det daglige. Et arbejdsfællesskab og en social tilgang til arbejdet tror jeg på er det mest inspirerende og genererer bedre resultater. Ud over at vi fylder fuglestationen med engagerede folk vil vi derfor meget gerne have inputs fra andre udefra der har lyst til f.eks. at holde et oplæg til de unge på fuglestationen, tælle med os på obsposten eller være med i ringmærkningen.

Foredrag på stationen sidste år i maj om lydoptagelser og bestemmelse af trækkald

Jeg har fra start af ønsket at arbejde undersøgende og eksperimenterende og håber det udefra også kan ses. Vi laver ikke nye ting bare for at lave nyt, men fordi vi tror på det har værdi på sigt og fordi vi vil holde os relevante overfor vores interessenter og tiltrække folk der synes det er spændende.

Du kan følge årets gang her på fuglestationen gennem dagbøgerne her på hjemmesiden, men vi glæder os selvfølgelig også til at møde mange af jer i felten heroppe. Husk at det også er muligt som DOF-medlem at booke et ophold i vores lejlighed, hvor der stadig er ledige i uger tilbage - også i marts. Klik her for at se de ledige uger.

Jeg vil slutte denne dagbog af med at ønske alle læsere end god sæson med fuglene - hvad enten det er her i Skagen eller ude i den store verden. På trods af de mange konflikter og tosserier i medierne vil jeg desuden opmuntre med det faktum at der globalt set er flere mennesker der i dag har det bedre end nogensinde før målt på f.eks. levealder, antal mennesker i fattigdom og hvor mange der går i skole – og det er jo rart at vide.

I have now left the bird observatory for good after spending 206 days here. I started on 15/7 and have on 7/2 left for Zealand. Been an exciting 7 months and quite the unique experience. To be able to follow the cycle of season on all levels from high summer and 25 degrees to -5 degrees and 5 hours of sun and following the change of flora and fauna so intimately is an experience I can only recommend.

480 hours have I spent doing standardized migration counting at Worlds End 3 in great company, variable weather, but the birds were always amazing (When aren’t they?). It is almost impossible to choose between the best birds, but the highlights must definitely be the Brown Booby (Brun Sule), the third record for Denmark, two species of storm petrels (Stormsvaler) and my first Sabine’s Gull (Sabinemåge)! But again the highlights are many and if you asked me a different day I would give a different answer.

The social life at the Bird Observatory has also been amazing. To meet so many different people from so many backgrounds has been a precious experience that I probably won’t forget, it made my very long stay feel like a vacation. To be in company with so many people and hyper focus on birds is a liberating feeling and if you are a young birdwatcher, that alone is reason enough for you to be a volunteer at a bird observatory, even more so in Skagen.

Thanks to everyone who I have met in Skagen for adding in to make it as a great experience as it has been and thanks for reading.

See you againSwallowtail (Svalehale) 1/8, One of my many non-avian highlights and a stark contrasts to what is expected in Skagen here at the end of my stay

Summer and pizza with some of the early season volunteers (from left to right: Lucas, Rosa, Andrew, Joe and Ragnar)

Bird of the year: Brown Booby!

The quintenssential autumn visitor: Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger), a rare visitor, though we found 7-8 individuals!

King Eider (Kongeederfugl) in Skagen Harbour!

The last few days have been eventful with plenty of good birds and the weather hasn’t been too bad. The two King Eiders (Kongeederfugl) are still hanging around and the Caspian gulls (Kaspisk Måge) are keeping me company out at Grenen along with Knud. But yesterday and today were quite good days!

Yesterday (25/01-2025) started out at Worlds End 3, were me and Knud sat in somewhat strong winds and watched Little Gulls (Dværgmåge) passing by, in Skagen they usually only show up during strong winds, you could call the harbingers of storm. With all the wind, remnants of the hurricane hitting the UK, we are crossing fingers for something rare and exotic from the arctic. Yesterday we had a very nice Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) 1k roosting shortly at the sandworm track and among all the gulls we counted atleast 9 caspian gulls, one with a yellow colourring, probably from Poland and a hybrid between Herring Gull and Caspian Gull.

 Going to be exciting to find where its from!

After the obs at WE3 I went back to lighthouse to eat and relax, before I jumped on the bike and went to the eastern pier. On my way I saw a large flock of gulls and while scanning, I noticed a smaller, pale gull – Jackpot! I put up the scope and it was indeed an Iceland Gull /Hvidvinget Måge) 2k, much paler than the one that has been in Skagen since December. Along with the Iceland gull I found five Caspian gulls and a “Viking Gull”, hybrid between herring gull and glaucous gull. It has also been here since November. The Iceland gull was twitched by Karsten Klausen, who coincidently was also at the eastern pier

Iceland Gull 2k, paler than the one that has been hanging around in Skagen!

After documenting the gull and making sure I wasn’t missing anything else in the flock, I went to the tip of the pier and started checking rocks. And after some time I found another Iceland Gull! This time an adult that has been in Skagen for some time now. To see two Iceland Gulls and a Glaucous Gull in one day is crazy anywhere in Denmark! With birds like this I had high hopes for today, and today delivered.

I arrived at WE3 around 9, with Knud already been from 0825 and having seen an Great Northern Diver (Islom), it felt like I was lagging behind. Shortly after we were joined by a young birder called Axel and when asked which species he wanted to see, he said Iceland Gull and King Eider with no hesitation, perfect! Though no King Eider at WE3 he got four European Shags (Topskarv) migrating NW, which is a true Skagen Spring-speciality. Sometime after I saw a familiar sight; a smaller, pale gull flying in from the sea, bingo Iceland Gull! It landed at the sandworm track, Knud and Axel went down to get a closer look, where they could reveal that it was a 3k! A new bird for the area and we have had five Iceland Gulls in Skagen since October which is a nice number for a rare gull like this. After some time and with plenty birds on the Knud left and shortly after Axel, which of course means that im going to find something rare, which I of course did. 3 European Shags going SE, probably 3 of the 4 from earlier and a Great Northern Diver resting on the water far out in Kattegat!

After that I went to the observatory where I was going to meet up with Simon for some harbour birding. We went for a short detour to check a bushy area that has held a late lesser whitethroat and Siberian chiffchaff in the autumn, but sadly nothing was to be found. At the harbour we feed some gulls which resulted in a nice Caspian gull 2k, one that has been lingering in the harbour for some time now.

 Such a cool looking Herring Gull, with a primary pattern reminiscent of a Thayer's Gull 

After that we went to eastern pier and immediately out the window I spot a Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Øresvin) heading towards the harbour mouth, we run out to see it even better and unsuccessfully get some photos. While standing we manage to see the long-staying young male king eider and I manage to find a European Shag, a new self-found tick!

 European Shag, what a cool bird!

It went behind the rocks and we didn’t see if it landed or where it landed. With nothing new happening we decided to do a last check at the cruise ship pier. What a great idea that was! There we found the dolphin playing a blue bottle at some fishing poles out in the water! Some of the most insane views I have gotten of a dolphin in Denmark (I swam with wild dolphins in Israel, kinda hard to beat that), I’ll link the video. Two exciting days with exciting birds and animals.

But out of all the rare gulls, divers and ducks, and exotics from everywhere in the world, the rarest bird seen in the last few days was two bewick’s swans (Pibesvane) migrating E with some Whooper Swans (Sangsvane). It is barely annual with almost all records march when they migrate back to the breeding grounds. To put it in perspective, I have seen just as many Bewick’s Swans in Skagen as I have seen puffins (Lunde) and until today I had seen more Pine Grosbeaks (Krognæb) in Skagen than Bewick’s Swans! Its all about perspective, because if you travel 30 minutes south you can easily 20-30 of them.

Highlights from the last few days:

Iceland Gull – Hvidvinget Måge: 3, 1 2k, 1 3k, 1 adult. Five records is a good number!

Glaucous Gull – Gråmåge 1 2k, fourth record since November

King Eider – Kongeederfugl 2, both long-staying birds

Great Northern Diver - Islom 2, expected but still rare

European Shag – Topskarv 4, first of hopefully many this coming season

Bewick’s Swan – Pibesvane 2, rarest bird in the last few days, rare spring migrant and very rare autumn migrant.

Link to the last seven days observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Knud Pedersen

Im back from vacation! I returned from three weeks of holiday on Zealand, and with no time wasted I immediately started birding on the 14/1, which resulted in a two Iceland Gulls (Hvidvinget Måge), an 1^st winter and an adult. Both have probably been in Skagen since start December, but spent the time out at sea feeding, which results in the sporadic sightings we are treated to. The 1^st winter I saw at the sandworm track and then again flying towards the harbour at sunset. The adult I also saw flying towards the harbour.

An adult Iceland Gull I swear, documented with my phone as it went past the lighthouse.

15/1 the wind died down and the sun came out, so I went out to Worlds End 3 to do some migration counting and, on the way, out I heard a zello message about a King Eider (Kongeederfugl) adult male migrating NW! I went up and sat with Knud and Frede and started looking for it as it had been seen landing quite far west of the sandworm track. Luckily I refound it as it took off and flew SE and landed right out in front off the dune we were sitting on! Awesome observation and it’s crazy to see two different King Eiders in the span of less than a month. This is my third King Eider in Denmark and the third I have seen in Skagen. But otherwise the “best” bird of the day was actually four Greater White-fronted Geese (Blisgås) migrating SW, these are the first ones I have seen the last six months!

King Eider adult male! Looked much better live

Now, today 16/1 I once again sat in cover of the fence here at the lighthouse and checked all the gulls heading for the harbour for their night roost. It resulted in three different Caspian gulls (Kaspisk Måge) and a crazy observation of Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Øresvin)!

Bottlenose Dolphin breaching the waves

A short and quick overview of the last few days, characterized by short outings and good birds. Tomorrow me and Simon are heading south to twitch the White-throated Sparrow (Hvidstrubet Spurv) that is currently near Hjørring along with Lisa and a friend of hers.

My new favourite gull-watching spot, you get them at close range while they are head to their night roost

Highlights from the last few days:

Iceland Gull – Hvidvinget Måge, 2 individuals

King Eider – Kongeederfugl, 1 adult male is the twelfth record for Skagen! The young male is still hanging out in the harbour.

Common Bottlenose Dolphin – Øresvin, rare visitor, though increasing in numbers. Second I have seen in the last six months.

Caspian Gull – Kaspisk Måge, 5 individuals minim.

Link to last few day's observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Simon Sigaard Christiansen + guests

With the wind blowing and the wet cold clawing its way through clothes like a knife through butter, it certainly doesn’t entice anyone to go out to the tip to do migration count, so instead me and Simon once again went to the harbour to do some gulling. Simon had picked up some bread, but when we arrived at the harbour it started raining so we went to Simon’s second favourite spot in Skagen after the observatory: The fishmonger. We picked up some sandwiches, but while waiting it was fun to see some of the fish on display, it brought up some memories from when I was younger and used to fish with my grandfather on Faroe Islands.

Goofy-looking Common Ling (Lange)

After the rain passed we went straight to the eastern pier where we checked the harbour mouth and the roosting gulls, quickly we found a Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) 1k, but rather fast we refound the King Eider (Kongeederfugl) 1k male that has taken up residence in the harbour. From here we could see that it was quite close to the western pier so we hurried back to the car and drove down there, which was a smart decision! There we could see at relatively close range (300 meters) and get a good look at this rare bird showing an even rarer plumage.

Close enough for the 300mm lens, what a cool bird. King Eider (Kongeederfugl)

The King Eider joined an assemblé of Common Scoters (Sortand) and a Black Guillemot (Tejst) 1k

After a few minutes we were joined by Karsten Klausen and as he was putting up the scope, the bird took flight and flew further away from us. With plenty of birds in the bassine, we decided to go to central pier to feed some gulls, to see if we could pull another rabbit out of the hat, preferably in shape of an Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge) or something rarer. Instead we were treated to close views of the aforementioned Caspian Gull.

Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) with the hundreds of herring gulls (sølvmåge)

But as the weather turned for the worse we went to Skagen Bryghus to grab a beer, before doing a last stop at Højen Fyr. Højen Fyr turned out to be a bust with not that many birds, so we went back to the observatory to relax. Tomorrow I will be leaving for Sjælland to celebrate Christmas and new years eve, before returning in start January, as I will be staying till end January/start February.

A beer named "Ragnar" strong, pale and dry - which is essentially just a description of me

So happy Christmas and happy new years eve from Ragnar and Skagen Bird Observatory.

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Simon S. Christiansen

Another day has passed at Skagen Bird Observatory, im still here, but I am only updating the blog when something exciting has happened, today was one of those days. Me and Simon went to the harbour to feed the gulls and even though there were no Iceland Gulls (Hvidvinget Måge) or Caspian Gulls (Kaspisk Måge), we still managed to find a pristine Lesser Black-backed Gull (Sildemåge) 1k that could be a good candidate for a Baltic Gull/ssp. Fuscus (Baltisk Sildemåge) and a very nice American herring gull-lookalike, which managed to induce some excitement.

Pristine, crisp Lesser Black-backed Gull in almost full juvenile plumage, which could indicate ssp. fuscus, but we will probably never know

American Herring-gull lookalike - note the almost black tail and dark unpatterned underpart and greyish brown colour. But the devil is in the details, the barring on the uppertail coverts and undertails coverts is not dense enough

After emptying the bread reserves into the harbour for the sake of the gulls, we went to eastern pier to check the harbour mouth and rocks flanking the harbour bassin for any funny birds, and in the not too strong wind, there were a good handful of eiders (Ederfugl) and Common Scoters (Sortand) on the water and plenty of gulls on the rocks. But as I looked into the bottom of the harbour bassin with scope I saw a familiar sight of a dark duck, slightly bigger than a scoter with a pale head and breast, and a pinkish orange bill – BOOM 1k male King Eider (Kongeederfugl)! Crazy to refind it in the harbour after no sightings of it for a week at Grenen. We got into the car and drove to the southern end of the harbour to get better light and a closer look for the awesome bird. When we arrived, Erik Christophersen had just arrived and it didn’t take many seconds before it was refound and everyone got to see it much better. It was so good to see it this well after mostly seeing at a huge distance under somewhat unfavorable conditions at Grenen, Skagen.

Erik Christophersen on the left and Simon on the right

King Eider 1cy male, probably the best, if not only photos of a King Eider in this plumage taken in Denmark. Erik Christophersen took this awesome photo. Check his flickr here

After a few minutes Knud Pedersen arrived with the rest of the Christmas Dinner guests and they all got a good look at this rare visitor. Satisfied with this round of harbour checking, Simon took me to Lidl were I did some shopping and then I was dropped of at the lighthouse. Now I have made pizza, that should last me for a few days. The next few days of strong winds could possibly bring some cool birds.

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

People at the Station: Ragnar Smith, Simon S. Christiansen

Finally the wind quiet down to still stand, which meant it was finally time to go outside. I packed all my equipment and went for a walk along the shore, checking the sea for any interesting birds. After checking Kattegat with nothing to show for I finally arrived at Worlds End 3, first time I had been there since we closed down the standardised counting, as the weather had turned against us. Though I had hoped for some gulls roosting on the beach, to my disappointment there were none at all, so I turned my attention towards Skagerrak, where to my surprise roosted hundreds of melanittas and several eiders! For the seasoned sea birdwatcher, a sea full of melanitta-ducks is always fun as they can hold many fun species such as White-winged Scoter (Sibirisk/Amerikansk Fløjlsand), Surf Scoter (Brilleand) and Black Scoter (Amerikansk Sortand), so I started the process of slowly going through the many black and brown ducks bobbing around in the minimal waves the quiet weather offered.

It was nice as there for the first time immemorial the sun was shining and I could feel it warm me up a bit. But panning left and right along the shore offered nothing surprising, except aprox 200-300 Velvet Scoters (Fløjlsand), which is quite a high number for Skagen. After spending aproximately 1 1/2 hours at Worlds End 3, with nothing to show for, and seeing many more ducks deserving to be looked at further up the coast, I moved my OP on top of a tall dune west of the sandworm track, where you a nice vantage point towards NW. This particular dune is my prefered gull-checking dune as many of the gulls usually roost right in front of it, so you can sit down and relax while "gulling". Short after I had sat down, gulls started arriving and landing in front of the dune and suddenly a very nice adult Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge) turned up! What a beaut. It landed near a small pond, where I tried to get some photos, but other gulls were constantly blocking it and before I knew it, they were flushed by two tourist, damnit.

Yeah, suboptimal, but the Iceland Gull is behind the young Herring Gull (Sølvmåge)

The gull landed out of view on the beach, so I decided to wait for it move again, while doing so two caspian gulls (Kaspisk Måge) joined the party. Had it been anywhere else in Denmark, an Iceland Gull and two caspian gulls would have been an absolute mindblower of a combo, but this isn't "anywhere else in Denmark", this is Skagen, so it had barely registered on the richter-scale. Though that would change quite quickly. The aforementioned ducks had been moving around a lot, so while the gulls were a nice distraction, my main goal was trying to find a rare duck and after panning through the hundreds of ducks 20-30 times, I started wondering if I should pack my stuff and head down to the Iceland Gull and try get some better photos, and just when I did my last check, I saw a strange duck with dark brown body, pale, mottled breast and brown head, with a yellow-rosa bill! I dove down and very quickly I went through my inner library of birds and the only one that fit was young male King Eider (Kongeederfugl)!

Though I have seen a handful of them on Faroe Islands and one adult male in Skagen before, I had never seen a young male before. It then resurfaced and it looked even more like one. Due to its behaviour it was hard to see anything definitive on, but I slowly piece together the puzzle and I called Simon and asked if had the time to join me as I had a possible King Eider 1k male. Sadly he didn't as he was in the process of painting his staircase, but instead we talked through the different field marks I had seen on the bird and slowly I reached the conclusion that it must be a 1k male King Eider! I called Knud, he said he could be out there in 30 minutes and then I called out my second Zello of the day. The rest of the time I just followed the King Eider while it swam around and foraged, in the process I accidently found a Great Northern Diver, whoopsie. Knud finally joined me and we managed to get some great documentation of this rarity! What a day and what a species, a new self-found tick of the rarest plumage recorded in Denmark.

Now why today post-title? The quick-witted would know that all the highlights of today are birds residing in high arctic/north pole, so let us hope that it will be a recurring theme, with birds from up there will drop by Skagen.

Yes, that is a Great Northern Diver, no I did not try to acquire any better photos

Prince Eider aka King Eider 1k male - a screengrab from Knud Pedersen's video

Highlights at the obs:

Velvet Scoter - Fløjlsand: minim. 200, a quite high count

Iceland Gull - Hvidvinget Måge 1 adult, probably the same one that Knud Pedersen found 8 days ago

Great Northern Diver - Islom 1 1k+, Skagen is the best place for this otherwise scarce species.

King Eider - Kongeederfugl 1 1k male, 11th record for Skagen of this species and fifth record of a king eider in this age/plumage in Denmark.

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Simon S. Christiansen

It has ended, autumn season has ended as Emma boarded the train to Aalborg. Normally it would be mean that the observatory has been closed down and the next you’ll hear from the blog is when the first of the spring team arrives. But I will stay at the observatory till around mid January, still birding in Skagen and taking care of the observatory, which means the blog will be updated semi-regularly depending on what is happening, hopefully some pictures of a nice Ross’s Gull (Rosenmåge) or Ivory Gull (Ismåge) will be featuring on the blog, but we will see.

A group-photo of the team before they all left, except me - Highlander-rules, there can only be one

Today started with Emma going out to Worlds End 3 to see the place for the last time this season, but hopefully not for ever, while I did some obs from the lighthouse, though nothing noteworthy was seen. After that we all went to the station to drop off Emma, so she could catch her train, I did some light shopping. The harbour got a quick once over, to see if we could find the White Wagtail (Hvid Vipstjert) that was seen at the harbour, but no dice. I was then dropped off at the station again, now completely alone at the station for the first time since ever. A little bit of cleaning and washing up and contemplating watching the “The Lighthouse” by Robert Eggers to see what is in store for someone that has to stay at a lighthouse for 1 ½ - 2 months, I heard it’s about two men having a lovely time at a lighthouse with nothing bad happening.

The next coming days the weather will finally be fit for proper birdwatching as the wind is slowly going down and tomorrow the sun might be peaking out from the clouds.

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Simon S. Christiansen, Emma Fabré

This morning Mara left very early. Simon took her to the train station, direction the Germany. Thomas had also his flight this morning, toward the UK.

Ragnar and I woke up late in the morning. The weather was terrible, the wind was strong and it rained all the day, preventing us from going outside. We finished the last tasks before closing the station, like some cleaning and checking a few things.

In the afternoon, I climb to the lighthouse for the first and the last time. It was very windy, so I quickly came back down.

Tomorrow I will take the train to Aalborg and then a plane to Bordeaux in France. I have been here since mid-September, three months to the birds observatory. It was a really nice experience! I mostly participated in the migration counts but also started learning bird ringing. I learned lot of about this two activities thanks to the other volunteers and Simon. I see so many amazing birds, Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe), Shore Lark (Bjerglærke), Little Auk (Søkonge), Yellow-browed Warbler (hvidbrynet Løsanger) just to name a few. I had a wonderful time in Skagen! Au revoir, et peut-être à bientôt!

Ringing (Nordstjernvej - Michael Ancher):
Gulspurv - 1
Stillits - 1
Grønirisk - 3

Total; 5

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area

People:  Ragnar Smith, Emma Fabre, Simon Sigaard Christiansen

Hej!

A great last day was ahead of me, when I woke up this morning, I just didn't knew it at that time. A little bit sleepy I got ready and after some office work and packing my stuff, Simon came by to pick us up for a special ringing project. At Batteriskoven a Kingfisher/Isfugl was spotted and together with Michael Ancher we wanted to catch and ring it. The set up was fairly easy, as we just put up a short net across the creek. Thomas volunteered to step through the water, that got dangeroulsy close to flowing inside the boot. After the net was up, Michael walked along the water to get the bird to fly in our direction. It did not even take 5 minutes until we saw the net move and Thomas then jumping into the water to get the blue cristal out of the net. It was a beautiful young female. What a nice bird to see so close and thanks to all for the great teamwork!

Young female Kingfisher/Isfugl

On our way back to the lighthouse we spotted some Crossbills/Lille Korsnæb feeding in the pine trees and Emma was able to take some photos. She wanted to photograph them all season and finally got a good chance.

Emma giving everything for a good photo

Back at the station - dry thanks to a lift from Simon - we had a nice pasta lunch and decided to spent the afternoon going to the harbour to look for some gulls. Just as we where getting ready and putting on our jackets we recieved a Zello message from Knud, and while Ragnar was translating for us, he realised that we have to move quick. So he just yelled: "Guys, you need to go out now, if you want to see an Iceland Gull!". So of course, no questions asked, we put on our shoes and hurried outside. Knud saw an Iceland Gull/Hvidvinget Måge from World's End 3 flying into Kattegat close to the shore. So that was what we where looking for and that is what we saw indeed. All four uf us had really nice views of the Iceland Gull flying amongst other gulls. It flew in the direction of the harbour, turned around and followed the coastline back to Grenen. That was a proper cool last new bird species for me from my stay here!

Niceland Gull/Hvidvinget Måge

The plans to go to the harbour where not off the table yet, even though it already gor dark when Emma, Thomas and I arrived at our gull feeding spot. We had again quite the competition, but managed to attract a small flock of gull for our own. Some Black-headed Gulls/Hættemåge where amongst the Herring Gulls/Sølvmåge. And behind us was a pair of Rock Pipits/Skærpiber socialsing with a White Wagtail/Hvid Vipstjert.

Ships, gulls and the smell of fish

Because we all had some Kroners left in our wallets, we went on a little shopping trip and good some food. After dinner we sadly had to say goodbye to Thomas. He is the first one of us 4 leaving. Have a good trip home, Thomas! The remaining three of us ended the evening with a new card game I bought, Uno - no mercy, and oh boy I should have known that Ragnar takes that literally.

With this being my last day I want to thank everyone I met along my stay for the amazing time. And maybe this is not the last blog I will write on this page. So, vi sees!

Highlights from the observations:

Iceland Gull/Hvidvinget Måge

Ringing (Batteriskoven):

Isfugl - 1

Ringing (Nordstjernvej - Michael Ancher):

Bogfinke - 1

Grønirisk - 1

Totals = 3

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Thomas Weston, Mara Glane, Ragnar Smith, Emma Fabre, Simon Sigaard Christiansen