Hej!

After my alarm clock woke me up today at 04:50 I immediatly checked the weather radar to see if the rainy forecast from yesterday evening was still up to date. It was and also a quick check outside the window by Chris confirmed that. So we went back to sleep for another hour in the hopes that the rain would stop eventually. It did, but only after 11 am. So this mornig we all stayed inside and rested. We of course also did some productive work for example the quality check of the DOF-Basen entries and the ringing data. Around noon Simon came by with some cake, so we had a nice and "healthy" lunch.

Nordjysk brunsviger

After that we went on a little sightseeing tour to some spots around Skagen to look for a Pied Wagtail (Sortrygget Hvidvipstjert). We found some normal White Wagtails (Hvidvipstjert), a Sparrowhawk (Spurvehøg) and some Mistle Thrushes (Misteldrossel). We also saw a flock of 35 Skylarks (Sanglærke), quite the number! On the Scoccer field we saw a huge flock of starlings (Stær) systematically foraging the field for snacks. On our way back we popped into a bakery to buy some nice fresh bread and had a quick stop at Simons house so we could look at his pet chickens.

Back to the car!

Once we got home we all sat together to have a proper lunch and ate almost all of the fresh bread we bought earlier. Janna gave some of us a lesson in Skat, Cora won - I think by accident - and now we are ready to loose some BirdLife Denmark funds in a game of Skat!

After our pizza dinner, Simon picked us up to try and cath some Woodcocks (Skovsneppe) on a horse field. The first challenge was to cross the electric fence, but that was no problem for us with a well excecuted secret-agent roll underneath. Our secret-agent skills apparently weren't enough to sneak up on the woodcocks because they flew away before we could reach them. Back to training school i guess, agent 007!

Highlights from the observation:

Sanglærke - 35

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

no ringing due to rain

Link to todays observations in Dofbasen from the Skagen area

People: Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Mara Glane, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy

Halløj derude

Jeg var igen til morgen en del af observationsholdet på Nordstrand, som i dag bestod af Cora, Janna, Knud og mig. Vi mødtes på Nordstrand klokken lidt i 06.00, og begyndte med det samme at tælle. Der var rigtig mange finker og siskener i luften, sortænder over havet og spurvehøge i klitrækkerne, så der var nok at gå i gang med. Dagens store overraskelser blev en mørk Alm. Kjove der kom tæt forbi mod øst og 19 topskarver, som vi kunne se fra Nordstrand, efter at Alex Sand Frich meldte dem fra Grenen

Efter en god morgen på Nordstrand, besluttede jeg mig for at tage en tur op på Kapgadagung, i håbet om store vingefang. Janna og Cora syntes også at det lød som en god ide, så de kom efter at de havde spist frokost. På Kapgadagung så vi over 100 musvåger, 2 fjeldvåger, havørn og meget mere, så det var godkendt:)

Der bliver talt musvåger på Kapgadagung

Ringmærkningen havde været god i dag, med omkring 20 fugle fanget. Der var en del dårlige runder, men også et par gode, med bla. 5 fuglekonger i et net. Årets første Dompap fandt også vej til nettet, til stor glæde for Mara og Christopher. 

Klokken 15.00 blev vi hentet af Knud. Christopher, Cora og jeg, havde nemlig sagt ja til at hjælpe Knud med at skære tagrør og pilebuske ned, ude ved Skarvsøen, De er nemlig begyndt at tage alt udsynet ved de to udsigtspunkter. Vi blev hurtigt sat ind i opgaven, og alt gik da også forrygende, indtil min fod sidder fast i en gammel rod på bunden, og jeg laver en maveplasker ude i søen. Jeg fik omkring 2 liter vand ned i mine waders, og jeg var gennemblødt fra top til tå. Det hjalp dog på humøret at Knud havde taget en fanta med til os hver, som vi kunne nyde i solskinnet med udkig over Skarvsøen:)

Mine bukser efter en tur i Skarvsøen

I morgen bliver det regnvejr, men vi håber på at vi kan komme ud alligevel!

Nu skal vi spise aftensmad og jeg glæder mig!

Highlights from the observation:

Almindelig Kjove

Topskarv (19)

Atlingand (2)

Grønspætte

Bogfinke (7128)

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):

Link to todays observations in Dofbasen from the Skagen area

People: Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Mara Glane, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Knud Pedersen

Because of the windy weather, the ringing team decided to keep the nets closed today. With wind gusts up to 63 km/h the prospect for catching birds was very low. Nevertheless, the observation team headed motivated and with tailwind to Nordstrand. We chose this obs locality because we expected the strong eastwinds to push all the birds out to the west. However, we did not presume any passerine migration. This was already on our way to Nordstrand proved wrong- we saw several flocks with finches, fighting above our heads with the wind. Im contrast to the finches the geese and swans were intimidated by the wind and occurred in very low numbers.

The first hour went over with a high number of common scoters (sortand)- 1500 of them were migrating east. In general, the majority of todays birds was migrating east. Continuing yesterday’s trend we saw many goosanders (stor skallesluger). A highlight of the seabirds was a pair of garganeys (atlingand) migrating close to the shore. They were the first for the season and compared to other years very early. It was only the fourth March record for Skagen, the earliest one here is from the 17th of March 1973.

It was not that cold, but with the wind we were all happy that we brought handwarmers with us. During the count we also made some ten-second walks to warm our feet. Then the observation went on again. In general, we are here very exposed to the weather. Luckily it was often sunny during the last weeks. In today´s sun we could watch many of the birds very beautifully. One highlight were two hen harriers (blå kærhøg). We saw an adult and a young male flying around and showing up every now and then in the sun. Especially the adult, grey-black male was a sight for sore eyes.

Close above our heads- sometimes on eye level- there were finches over finches. It was impressive to see so many of them so close. The finches flew over in small flocks, however they added up to several thousand.

When we came back, Chris and Mara were waiting for us with hot cocoa. Lucas had meanwhile left. He is now for a week in the south, searching for wheatears and bustards. In the afternoon Mara, Cora and I went on a walk to overhaul the electricity fence around a radar tower. That was a nice walk and we were able to see a common snipe (dobbeltbekkasin) and several frogs.

At the radar tower

After sunset we tried to catch some plovers. Since the fox was already on the beach before us, the plovers were all well hidden. Therefore, we did not found any plover. It was still nice to be outside, listen to all the night noises and watch the stars.

Hope to catch a Snipe

Highlights from the observation

• 2 very early Garganeys (Aatlingand)
• 10 migrating Kestrels (Tårnfalk)
• 3300 Chaffinches (Bogifnke)
• 7 Red Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb)
• 2110 Siskins (Grønsisken)

Link to todays observations in Dofbasen from the Skagen area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Mara Glane, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Knud Pedersen

I woke up at 4:20 today and could hear the wind howling outside our room. I was doubtful we’d have a good morning ringing but Mara, Janna, and I went out and set up the nets. We could only set up 9 out of 22 due to the high winds. Despite this it ended up being a fairly good morning! We caught 10 birds including recaptures, the majority were Blackbirds (Solsort) and Robins (Rødhals). We also got our first Great Tits (Musvit) – a male/female pair that decided to take a romantic trip into the net together.

A wren getting his new jewelery

Lucas, Cora, and Rasmus headed to Nordstrand to do the morning migration count. The morning started out fairly busy and then petered out as the day continued on. They got some high passerine numbers - 6000 Chaffinches (Bogfinke),  and a few hundred Brambling (Kvækerfinke). Also some interesting raptors with 3 Rough-legged Buzzards (Fjeldvåge) and a Peregrine Falcon (Vandrefalk).

In the afternoon I went on a walk to the beach and learned that there are starfish here!!!! That was very exciting. I came back and walked in on the Germans listening to 99 luftballoons on full blast, I’m assuming this is something that happens every day in Germany. We took the rest of the afternoon to clean the house and organize a few things.

Starfish!

The weather looks very windy for tomorrow so we aren’t expecting to do any ringing but hopefully the observations will be nice!

Observation Highlights

Chaffinches (Bogifnke) – 6000

Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge) – 3

Peregrine Falcon (Vandrefalk) – 1

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Gærdesmutte – 1

Rødhals – 2

Solsort – 2

Gransanger – 1

Total – 6

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Mara Glane, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Henrik Møller Thompson

Link to todays observations in Dofbasen from the Skagen area

Today Mara and Christopher went out to Kabeltrommeln to open the nets at 5:10.It was frozen this night so they had to walk through the ice to open the nests. There was not so much going on at the ringing. 

They ringed two Robins (Rødhals), a Wren (Gædesmutte) and a Goldcrest (Fuglekonge). A Highlight was the recapture of a Blackbird with a transmitter which was ringed last year they named it Nugget. 

Blackbird "Nugget" with transmitter

The rest of us went out to World's End 3 early to start the migration count even before the sunrise.In the first hour there were many Gannets (Sule) migrating and we saw three Shags (Topskarv).

In the second hour the migration on the sea slowed down so more of us could observe the inland migration. There were many Chaffinches (Bogfinke) migrating today finally around 3600!

While the migration on sea was slow we found the two King Eiders (Kongederfugle) again hanging around together. We could even observe the adult male flying a few metres, that was really nice. Moreover we saw a resting Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) and a Black-Guillemot (Tejst).

The numbers of raptors were not that high today but we saw again a beautiful adult male Hen Harrier (Blå Kerhøg), a Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge) and the first Marsh Harrier (Rørhhøg) of the season. 

On our way back to the station we saw six beautiful Bearded Reedlings (Skægmejse).

When we came back after the migration count Simon picked us up to take the bikes from the mechanic. But first we went to the harbour to check the Gulls. Then Simon bougt us some Hotdogs and a Kradser (Hotdog without sausage). Afterwards we picked up the bikes and Simon bought a nice new orange Mountain bike for the station.

Lucas's Hotdog

We had a chilled afternoon, we enjoyed the nice sun and took a little walk.

Tonight our guests Anne-Mette and  Katrine cooked dinner for us. It was very delicious!

Highlights from the observations:

Shag (Topsarv) 3

King Eiders (Kongederfugle) 2

first Marsh Harrier (Rørhhøg) of the season. 

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gærdesmutte -1

Rødhals - 2

Fuglekonge - 1

Total: 4

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

Sum of the Raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen.

Hej!

The days with enough sleep have finally come to an end, because ringing at Kabeltromlen started again. Excited for today we set our alarms on 04:45 this morning so we could open the nets before sunrise. After opening all 22 nets we were rewarded with a nice sunrise over Kabeltromlen. The observers out of course had the same sunrise, promising a very good migration day.

Promising sunrise

The first bird in our nets at Kabeltromlen was a beautiful female Blackbird (Solsort) and it was followed by some Wrens (Gærdesmutte) and Robins (Rødhals). So this means, that Lucas won our little bet on whats the first bird of the season would be - my guess on Wren was pretty close though, we had them alsmost at the same time. While controlling the nets in the reed we stumbled across a pair of Bearded Reedlings that we could get pretty close to and observe very well. It's always nice to observe those cute little birds - hopes are high to catch some in the future.

Female Blackbird (Solsort) - first bird of KAB spring ringing season 2025

While ringing we were not aware of how busy the observers were out at World's End 3 until we heard an excited Rasmus calling out a flock of Shags (Topskarv) on Zello. Quickly we looked out to the sea and saw a huge flock of them migrating. 31 individuals in one flock - it's the biggest flock that was seen in Skagen and Denmark until now! In total 34 shags where found today by the observers, almost beating the record of 35 individuals in one day! In general migration was really good today, with 1060 Wigeons (Pibeand) and 178 Reed Buntings (Rørspurv) migrating in huge numbers among many others. In numbers 12725 individuals from 82 species were noted down by the observers today.

After lunch we went on a trip to the harbour to see an adult Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge) that Simon found on his lunch break. It was a nice adult bird, sleeping amongst other gulls. After that Janna, Cora and Christopher were dropped of at Gammel Skagen to start the 10 km Fulmar (Mallemuk) survey, while Lucas, Rasmus and I went to the shop to buy some groceries. The fulmar survey did not result in any fulmars (or more shags) but they did find a dead Greater Black-backed Gull (Svartbag) and a gull with a norwegian colour ring. It was ringed last summer and sadly did not survive the winter.

Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge)

Observing the Icelandic gull in the harbour

The evening was spent with the data entry of the very busy migration day, a "Kartoffelsalat" (Potatosalad) for dinner and fitting german music about said dinner. Now we are all looking forward for an even better migration day - especially for raptors - tomorrow.

Highlights from the observations:

Topskarv: 34 - A flock of 31 individuals was a new danish "flock record" 

Hvidvinget Måge 1 ad. (at the harbour)

Gråmåge 1 3cy. - still hanging aroung the tip

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gærdesmutte - 3

Jernspurv - 1

Rødhals - 2

Solsort - 4

Gransanger - 2

Fuglekonge - 2

Total: 14

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

Sum of the Raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen.

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Mara Glane, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Guests: Anne-Mette & Katrine

Allerede fra morgenstunden var der fint med fugle i dag. Kort tid inde i obsen, trak en adult Blå Kærhøg han målbevidst ud over Skagerrak tæt på obsposten. Der var også godt gang i allikerne, som jeg igen havde fornøjelsen af at tælle i dag. Vi havde også en sjov oplevelse ved Verdens ende 3, hvor en skovsneppe landede 1.5 meter foran os. Gråmågen var igen at se derude, hvor den hele morgenen patruljerede mellem Grenen, og den lille sø, der er kommet for enden af sandormesporet. På vejen hjem fra morgenobsen så vi en 2k havørn trække retur over Grenen. 

Lucas og jeg havde snakket om at tage til Frederikshavn for at twitche Hvidbrystet Præstekrave i et par dage, og i dag gjorde vi det. Vi tog toget 12.07 fra Skagen, og de næste timer brugte vi i selskab med 41 Rødben, 50 Strandskader, Sortgrå Ryle, Almindelig Ryle, 20 Store Præstekraver og sidst men ikke mindst, den sjældne Hvidbrystet Præstekrave. Ny art for mig!

Hvidbrystet Præstekrave

Imens Lucas og jeg var taget et smut til Frederikshavn, var Cora, Janna, Mara og Christopher taget ud til Kabeltromlen for at sætte vores lille redskabstelt op, så alt er klart til at ringmærkingssæsonen starter i morgen:)

Da alle os frivillige var kommet tilbage til stationen, holdte Simon et spændende oplæg “session” om ringmærkning, med fokus på fældning og aldersbestemmelse af småfugle. Derudover fik vi en gennemgang af de vigtige ting vi skal huske, når vi ringmærker, og når vi indtaster den indsamlede data. 

To glade drenge skåler i Mathilde kakao efter et succesfuldt twitch på Frydenstrand i Frederikshavn:)

Hertil aften bliver ringmærkningstasken pakket for første gang i år, der bliver spillet Wingspan i stuen, og smurt madpakker i køkkenet. Vi er klar til i morgen!

Her er stationens frivilliges bud på den første art vi fanger ved Kabeltromlen i år:

Lucas: Solsort

Cora: Bogfinke

Janna: Rørspurv

Mara: Gærdesmutte

Christopher: Vandrikse

Rasmus: Musvit

Vi ses derude!

Highlights:

Gråmåge

Havørn

Blå Kærhøg

Hvidbrystet Præstekrave (Frederikshavn)

Stor Tornskade (Hulsig Hede) 

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

Sum of the Raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen.

Today´s observation started again with a beautiful sunrise. We started our count with six people. Eventually, more and more people arrived at World´s End 3. In the end we were more than ten. With the many eyes we found the young Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) and far out a Fulmar (Mallemuk). We were also able to see two King Eiders (Kongeederfugl) in one scope view. The adult and the second-year male were sitting directly next to each other! After some days with very low raptor numbers, today we had some more migrating ones. Some species occured in high numbers today. For example several thousand Jackdaws (Allikes) and a thousand Gannets (Sule).

At the Cormorant Lake

In the afternoon Chris went shopping and the rest of us made a small trip to Skarvsoen, a pond with a cormorant colony. Luckily, we could be driven there by car, so it was convenient to reach the pond. The Cormorants (Skarv) were already in breeding mood and occupied the nests from the last year. Sadly, many of them were built with many plastic ropes.

The weather was very warm and sunny and we could watch the cormorants and enjoy their sunlit breeding plumage. The warmth also elicited the adders from their lairs and we were able to watch many of them. On the water swam a Red-Necked-Grebe (Gråstrubet Lappedykker), several Coots (Blishøne), Gulls (Måge), Teals (Krikand)…

A 3-headed adder

Lucas and Rasmus shortly went to Skagen. Mara, Cora and I decided to walk back to the station. On the walk we passed vivid Yellowhammers (Gulspurv) and startled an adult hen harrier male. That was good for applying what we had learned in Roman’s session about harrier identification.

In the night Lucas and Mara went out to catch Bitterns.

Highlights

• Our first Sandwich Terns (Splitterne) for the season
• 1 Bittern (Rørdrum) calling out of the reed
• 2 King Eiders (Kongeederfugl) in one scope
• 1 Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge)
• 6420 migrating Jackdaws (Allike)
• 983 Gannets (Sule)

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

Sum of the Raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen. 

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Mara Glane and Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Knud Pedersen, Sebastian Klein, guests: Anne-Mette & Katrine

Top of the morning! Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! It’s another day in paradise here at Skagen Fuglestation! Waking up at 5:35 AM, we were expecting a cold, windy day at Worlds End 3; however, to our surprise, as we looked out over Kattegat from the apartment windows, it was calm, clear, and beautiful. We rapidly got ready for the day as we needed to be at the count site at 06:15 as sunrise was fast approaching. Rasmus and I ran out the door at 6 AM, and we immediately discussed the possibility of Shag’s (Topskarv) moving out of Kattegat on their way back to the breeding grounds in Norway.

A gorgeous morning overlooking Kattegat. Not pictured: Sean Walsh's presence :(

Arriving 20 minutes before sunrise, we set up and waited. Unlike the previous day, alcid (Alkefugle) numbers were significantly lower, given the lack of wind. Within an hour, we watched as an adult Shag (Topskarv) in breeding plumage cruised by the tip of Grenen headed northwest. This was one of the four lifers Christopher saw today. Over the next several hours we watched as the ocean became less and less dense with birds as the morning activity died down. But with that, we recorded 11 more shag (Topskarv) over a 4 hour period. A high count for this year. The adult male King Eider (Kongeederfugl) was also present today a few hundred meter passed the tip of Grenen. We were also joined for several hours by one of our guests Anne-Mette.

Rasmus infront of Ragnar Smiths favorite shop!

In the afternoon, Rasmus and I took a quick break to relax and get some rest and recovery in before we cycled to town to do some highly needed shopping and to bring our mountain bikes in for repair! While there, Simon blessed us by purchasing a new mountain bike for the station! A much-needed addition after one of our bikes was stolen last autumn. While we were making sure we would have food to eat tonight for dinner, the rest of the team was out at Kabeltromelen setting up the remaining seven nets for the season! We are finally ready to begin ringing. Thursday is going to be a nice day, so hopefully, our hard work will pay off! We are now starting to guess what the first bird of the season will be in the nets. My guess is Great Tit (Musvit). 

And so, another day has passed at Skagen Fuglestation. What will tomorrow bring? We will have to wait and see!

Vi ses i morgen

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

Sum of the Raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen. 

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Mara Glane and Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, guests: Anne-Mette & Katrine

Hello and welcome to my first blog post. Today was my first day at Skagen and there were a lot of first birds for me as well! We started the morning off at World’s End 3 and spent the morning doing a sea-watch. I was just counting Common Eiders (Ederfugl; which was a lifer for me!) but we had lots of highlights. We had a lot of Alcids (Atlantic Puffin - Lunde, Little Auk - Søkonge, Razorbill - Alk, Black Guillemot - Tejst). We also had some other fun birds like King Eider (Kongeederfugl), Woodcock (Skovsneppe), and Great Northern Diver (aka Common Loon (Islom) aka the rightful national bird of Canada). I personally also got some potentially less interesting lifers such as Black-legged Kittiwake (Ride). By the end of the morning watch it was getting very windy so we were happy to head back and warm up.

The best hand-warmer

After a few hours of lunch and relaxing we donned our waders and headed back out to set up mist nets. There were 7 of us so we split into 2 teams and made light work of set-up. We ended up putting up 15 nets out of a possible 22. We also had a few Bitterns (Rørdrum) nearby that were keeping us company with their croaking.

Net set-up

We welcomed two visitors who will be staying with us for the coming week and said goodbye to Roman who was pleased to get his Puffin (Lunde) lifer on his last day. Tomorrow we’re looking forward to set up the rest of the mist-nets so we’ll be ready to start ringing :).

Highlights

Taffeland - 2
Kongeederfugl - 1
Skovsneppe - 1
Lunde - 1
Søkonge - 1
Islom - 1

 Link to todays observations in Dofbasen from the Skagen area

Sum of the Raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen.