In the early morning, we went out for ringing at Grenen again. We saw huge flocks of siskins, finches and tits migrating during this morning. However, a flock of Coal Tits (Sortmejse) has flown into our nets, so we ringed more den 30 of them. Jørgen, his wife and their lovely dog Igor visited us at the ringing spot and told us, that there`s a Yellow Browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) around the area, but we weren’t lucky enough to catch it.

Simon spent the morning with a 3 hour guided tour about Gannets (Sule). The Gannets were very close so it was nice to watch them while they were fishing. Cecile also joined the tour and drove home afterwards.

In the afternoon, there was another guided tour for a church group of Frederikshavn and Simon told them a lot about the history of the lighthouse, birds and some science projects.

After a nice dinner, we had a moult lesson with Simon and he explained us a lot about different moult strategies based on pictures we took from birds we ringed during the last days.

In the evening, the weather was quite rainy and windy – perfect conditions for night catching. Therefore, Daniel and I got dressed warm and (more or less) rainproof and went out to catch some birds and we didn`t come home empty-handed. We caught two Common Terns (Fjordterne) – the first ones who`ve been ringed here at the Bird Observatory! It wasn`t that easy to caught them and our wellies were full with water (so running/walking wasn`t that much fun…) but eventually we succeeded.

Birds we ringed this morning: 34 Coal Tits (Sortmejse), 9 Robins (Rødhals), 4 Reed Buntings (Rørspurv), 3 Chiffchaffs (Gransanger), 2 Blackcaps (Munk), 2 Redstarts (Rødstjert), 2 Great Tits (Musvit), 1 Chaffinch (Bogfinke), 1 Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper), 1 Reed Warbler (Rørsanger), 1 Meadow Pipit (Engpiber), 1 Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger), 1 Garden Warbler (Havesanger), 1 Goldcrest (Fuglekonge), 1 Willow Warbler (Løvsanger), 1 Dunnock (Jernspurv)

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Cecilie Kimose Feggé Dufresne, Sasha Munters, Molly Brown, Daniel Bloche and Lisa Vergin

Despite the weather’s attempt to deter us, Sasha and I are determined to ring as much as possible, so we set alarms and awoke at 5:20 to rain and wind. However, after carefully studying the weather forecast we went and opened the nets at Grenen. We quickly became soaked, but the sky cleared by about 7:30 and we got a steady flow of birds at every round from then on. This is brilliant for really studying each bird we process and taking pictures we can use to do moult cards later and so then when it’s later on in the season we can still age birds that don’t have features which indicate an age so easily. At 9:00 Simon appeared telling us there was a Barred Warbler (Høgesanger) quite nearby on the road to Nordstrand so we left Simon in charge and went on a quick hunt. We saw a quick flash of a large warbler we were quite sure could have been the Barred Warbler and then returned to the nets as Simon needed to leave to greet his friend Cecilie. On our way back to Simon the path took us on a net round so when we saw 3 birds in a net we stopped to extract them, at which point Sasha sent me running up to what appeared to be a very loosely caught large Garden Warbler which was close to escaping, after extracting it I then realised it was juvenile Barred Warbler! What a treat! (I think Sasha identified it straight away- she’s witnessed 5 in the hand already this year!)

Simon then let me ring it as he sent a message out to all the local birders, turns out this was the third Barred Warbler sighted this morning, all juvenile. Also heard this morning was Penduline Tit (Pungmejse) and Nutcracker (Nøddekrige)- although they weren’t sighted. While Sasha and I were out bird ringing Daniel went out with Knud and the highlights included Fulmars (Mallemuk) , Great Skua ( Storkjove), Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove), Little Stint (Dværgryle) and White bellied Brent Goose (Knortegås).

Daniel, Knud, Lisa and all the other nearby local birders then joined us to see the Barred Warbler just before we released it- it’s amazing how quickly everyone arrived!

In the evening Daniel and Lisa used a super human effort to enter all the data from ringing this summer with the BTO’s Constant Effort Site- about 3 hours worth of work! Then they cooked a delicious meal of halloumi, bread and salad! Simon and Cecilie then joined us for an ultimate Shuffle Ball tournament, in which Simon thrashed us all!

People: Molly Brown, Sasha Munters, Daniel Bloche, Lisa Vergin, Simon S. Christiansen, Cecilie Kimose Feggé Dufresne, Knud Pedersen and local Skagen birders.

Birds rung: Great tit (Musvit) 1, Barred Warbler (Høgesanger) 1, Redstart (Rødstjert) 3, Dunnock (Jernspurv) 6, Robin (Rødhals) 4, Coal tit (Sortmejse) 3, Siskin (Grønsiskin) 1, Blackcap (Munk) 7, Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) 1 and Chiffchaff (Gransanger) 2

Today was my second day of ringing at Grenen and I was eager to get out there after a day of many captures yesterday. Lisa, Daniel, Molly, Lars Mortensen and I set out at first light and we had another great day, despite some rain early on. It is wonderful to have Danish birders who are very familiar with the bird life of Skagen join us for ringing, as they help us to also identify birds migrating overhead by sight and sound. One of the observation highlights for me was Lars pointing out a migrating Common Ringed Plover (Stor Præstekrave) calling overhead and we were able to catch a glimpse of it flying south.

We are continuing to catch relatively common passerine species at the station, but I am enjoying studying molt limits and other aging techniques for so many new (to me!) species. I was particularly excited today because I rung a new bird species for the first time! I had observed two Bullfinches (Dompap) around the nets early in the day and was very excited when I met Molly on a net round and she told me she had a gift for me. After ringing the molting 1cy Bullfinch, it took a few moments for it to fly from my hand and you can see how excited Molly’s ringing “gift,” made me.

We missed Simon during ringing this morning, but he was doing important work meeting with Skagen Fuglestation’s board members. They came to the observatory to discuss future research initiatives and to prepare next year’s report (and to bring us cake ?). He rejoined the crew for dinner though as Lisa and Daniel had made us delicious vegetarian pizzas that we all enjoyed very much!

Altogether we ringed 37 birds today: 2 Yellowhammer (Gulspurv), 3 Great Tits (Musvit), 8 Robins (Rødhals), 7 Dunnocks (Jernspurv), 1 Redstart (Rødstjert), 2 Reed Warbler (Rørsanger), 1 Coal Tit (Sortmejse), 1 Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger), 2 Blackcap (Munk), 1 Garden Warbler (Havesanger), 2 Chiffchaffs (Gransanger), 5 Reed Bunting (Rørspurv), 1 Bullfinch (Dompap), 1 Chaffinch (Bogfinke).

People: Simon S. Christiansen, the Skagen Fuglestation Board members, Lisa Vergin, Molly Brown, Sasha Munters, Daniel Bloche, Lars Mortensen

The alarm clock went off early today, because we went out to catch some passerines at Grenen. To get up early was worth it. We had very successful 5 1/2 Hours of catching birds. Totally we had 66 birds in our nets. Unfortunately for our fingers, we trapped many tits, especially coal tits (Sortmejse). I never would have guessed that it could be so painful to get bitten by such a little bird, but it is. Besides this we learned much about ringing birds. We spend a lot of time teaching each other to sex and age the different species. Sometimes two birds for good comparison. You can see one of these moments on our live video at Facebook.

Picture: Great tit (Musvit)

In the evening when we were finished with ringing and digitizing the data, we had a great dinner by Sasha. She cooked Enchiladas for us and it was very delicious. Furthermore, Mark gave us some insights into the radar technologies. Here in Skagen we have a new radar system available for identifying migrating birds even at night. It was really interesting to see how it works and which opportunities it provides. It is planned, that visitors can get insights into this technology in the exhibition, too. Moreover, you should save the date of the 16th September when it is the Day of Gannets with a guided tour at 09:00 (meeting point: big parking lot at Grenen, Skagen).

Birds we ringed this morning: 1 Great tit (Musvit), 2 Yellowhammer (Gulspurv), 7 Dunnock (Jernspurv), 5 Robin (Rødhals), 3 Redstart (Rødstjert), 1 Reedwarbler (Rørsanger), 25 Coal tit (Sortmejse), 2 Blue tit (Blåmejse), 5 Blackcap (Munk), 1 Whitethroat (Tornsanger), 1 Whillow warbler (Løvsanger), Reedbunting (Rørspurv)

People: Lisa Vergin, Molly Brown, Sasha Munters, Morten Christansen, Daniel Bloche, Mark Desholm

This morning, Sasha, Molly and Morten went out with Knud for birding. They were very successful and saw a Great Northern diver (Islom), a Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge), an Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove), a Rock Pipit (Skærpiber), migrating Siskins (Grønsisken) and were able to read 15 color rings of Gulls and Terns. Even it was a very stormy and sometimes rainy morning (Mortens umbrella didn`t survived it…), they learned a lot from Knud and his knowledge about aging and identify birds.
Daniel and I stayed at the Observatory to help Simon with all in all 130 school children, who visited the Fuglestation as part of the “Kulturcykeltur”. They played a game, where they learned something about breeding success by playing Willow Warbler vs. Goshawk vs. Magpie. But we started a bit later than the other volunteers, so we were luckier with the weather and Daniel made a lot of good pictures – from the schoolchildren event and birds.

Later at the day, I had to do a bit of unpleasant work, because there were a few ringing protocols which weren`t the way they supposed to be, so I had to copy all of them… But the work was definitely worth it! At the evening meeting Simon gave me a little present for this – so in retrospect the work was just fantastic :-)

Then in the evening, there was a lecture about the Golden Jackal (Guldjakal) by Dorthe Schmidt in Birders Club. Even it was in Danish and we couldn`t understand everything, it was very nice and all seats were occupied.
During the session Mark Desholm arrived, who is the head of the Dansk Ornitologisk Forening (DOF) Nature Department .He`s a biologist and made a great contribute to the bird observatories in Denmark. He`s also very qualified for ringing and radar data.

Again, we tried our luck with night catching but it wasn`t cloudy enough so the birds could see us very well and we weren`t able to catch one.
Nevertheless, it was a great day at Skagen Fuglestation again.

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Mark Desholm, Dorthe Schmidt, Morten Christensen, Sasha Munters, Molly Brown, Daniel Bloche, Lisa Vergin and people from our little friend society, who visited Dorthes lecture.

We started the day optimistic as we woke at 0630 and opened all the nets in the lighthouse garden, however two hours later we only had 3 Robins (Rødhals) to show for our efforts, which was good to show some Canadians from Toronto, but we had higher hopes when we set our alarms the night before.

The relentless rain and wind meant we then shut the nets and tackled the indoors equipped with vacuum and mop! With five of us cleaning it didn’t take very long so we decided to go on a group shopping trip into Skagen in Daniel and Lisa’s car. After a successful trip some of us decided to venture into the outdoors despite the torrential downpour. Morten and Daniel went out and saw two new birds for Daniel- Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) and Velvet Scoter (Fløjlsand). I also headed out into the deluge but didn’t get very far before I was soaked, and the rain was so heavy I couldn’t use the telescope, so I returned with only having seen Wheatears (Stenpikker), Eider (Ederfugl) and Common Scoters (Sortand).

In the evening we had a lovely meal cooked by Daniel and after many games of Mikado, Morten and Daniel had another more prosperous attempt at Wader catching and returned with an Oystercatcher (Strandskade).

People: Molly Brown, Sasha Munters, Lisa Vergin, Daniel Bloche, Morten Christensen and Simon S. Christiansen

Today was my first full day at Skagen Bird Observatory. Although i was with yesterday evening with exciting wader night-catching, this morning was pretty quiet. Wind and rain prevented us from ringing at Grenen, so my crew showed me the garden nets close to the lighthouse and we opened them for a few hours in the morning. We re-captured a Blackcap and because she was actively molting her flight feathers we knew she was an adult. One of the nice things about being a North American ringer in Europe for the first time is that even common birds are still quite exciting to me!

Simon had a meeting with Kurt Rasmussen and Niels Eriksen about how to increase visitors to the observatory and the exhibition here at Skagen. They brought us delicious cake, which we enjoyed while taking cover from the rainy weather and entering data.

When the weather cleared in the afternoon, I ventured with a spotting scope up to the point at Grenen to see the “Kattegat,” where the North and Baltic seas meet. It was thrilling to see numerous Gannets diving just offshore. I have never seen them quite so close and I am loving viewing familiar birds in novel circumstances and also getting to know European species. There were hundreds of Common Scoters offshore, with some Velvet Scoters mixed in. On the sand at the point I also saw a number of Red Knots, Sanderling, Dunlin, and one passing Bar-tailed Godwit.

In the evening we were joined by Lars and Morten for a delicious vegetarian dinner, courtesy of Simon. We followed up dinner with a rousing game of "I'm a migrant," to continue our education of moult and migration strategies of various Western Palearctic birds. After evening festivities, Daniel, Morten and I headed back out to Grenen to try and catch more Red Knots in the night, but alas, we were not successful. There is always tomorrow!

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Molly Brown, Sasha Munters, Daniel Bloche, Lars Mortensen, Morten Christiansen

Although the day started rainy and windy, we went outside into the dunes to observe resting and migrating birds with Knud. We started the observation at 06:35 and ended it at 10:05. It was really successful. We saw many waders, gulls and ducks. I was fascinated particularly of the high number of passing Gannets (Sule). Nearly 500 had been migrating through the coast of Grenen in the few hours. You can find the entire list of observed species on DOFbasen.

Later we opened some nets at the Lighthouse Garden for two hours without success. Furthermore we searched for a Nutcracker (Nøddeknækkeren) unsuccessfully, which was reported by local birders.  But our luck changes in the evening. At 10pm we went out to catch some waders again. We got a Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle), Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle) and an Arctic Tern (Havterne). Due to it was the first catch of a Tern at this season, we all were very excited.

In the afternoon Sasha arrived at Skagen. She is from the US and a new volunteer for this month. Together with Simon we had a meeting about different moult strategies. It was very interesting and we learned how to identify moult limits of different species. It was a good day with observations, successful and unlucky catches.

Birds we ringed together with Simon were the Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle), Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle) and an Arctic Tern (Havterne) we caught at night.

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Lisa Vergin, Molly Brown, Sasha Munters, Daniel Bloche

Today has great potential to become the day with the best catch for this year! This morning, Molly
and I went out to go ringing with Michael Ancher in Jennes Sø. It’s a small catching area with just
6 mistnets, so normally its not very possible to catch a rare bird. But today we caught a Arctic
Warbler (Nordsanger) - thats the first one for Nordjylland and just the 7th that has been seen in
Denmark! And again a new species for Molly and me. When I extracted the Arctic Warbler from
the net, I wouldn’t have anticipate how much attention this little bird would attract. After Simon
announced the good news, the first local birders arrived within minutes to see and photograph the
special bird, so that was a great opportunity to meet the locals.

Later in the day, Simon took us to Stald Grenen, where we saw among others Spotted Flycatchers
(Grå Fluesnapper), Pied Flycatchers (Broget Fluesnapper), Grey Wagtails (Hvid Vipstjert) and
Yellow Wagtails (Gul Vipstjert). After that, we visited Michael and his nice family and celebrated
our exciting ringing morning.

And in the evening Daniel Bloche arrived - a new volunteer who‘s staying til the end of September
just like me. At 10pm we went again at the beach to catch some waders and were successful: we
caught two Dunlins (Almindelig ryle).
All in all you can say it was just an amazing day with great experiences and definitely a day to
remember!

Birds we ringed together with Michael (until we caught the Arctic Warbler): 5 Redpoll (Stor
Gråsisken), 1 Chiffchaff (Gransanger), 1 Wren (Gærdesmute) and of course the Arctic Warbler
(Nordsanger).

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Michael Ancher, Molly Brown, Daniel Bloche, Lisa Vergin and all
local birders.

Today we had a bit more of a lie in, it’s quite windy at the moment so we opened nets here in the lighthouse garden at about 08:00  for the guided tour with the junior rangers, we only caught two birds; a Dunnock (Jernspurv) and Redstart (Rødstjert) but still quite pleasing when you consider the weather. It was also good that we could show the junior rangers extraction and processing of birds and help spark an interest in them and encourage our future generation!

Then the afternoon was quite quiet, we sorted through old pictures and cleared the observatory phone. Then in the evening because it was stormy weather we decided to go out onto the beach to see if there were any seals and to see if we could catch any waders. The trip was very successful, we went out at about 11pm with a net and torch we saw 5 Foxes, 4 Natterjack Toads, 2 Seals and caught and rung a Purple Sandpiper (Sortgrå ryle), another new bird for me! Catching waders requires a lot of stealth, luck and rainy weather and tonight we had all three! It was an excellent end to the day and worth missing a couple of hours of sleep!

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin and Molly Brown