Today was the birthday of the Grey Lighthouse. It has now 161 years as it is working since 1858.

Our day started with Christian and Judith opening the nets. A bit later, I joined them in the ringing at Kabeltrommelkrattet. Esben went for observations at Verdens Ende 1 and he met Rolf there.
We had to go back and forth from the ringing place to the observatory (hvad du ikke har i hovedet må du have i benene) because of some forgotten stuff (but we managed to get all we needed in time!)
The ringing was really slow so we closed early but before doing that, Simon got interviewed on the TV.

Judith's family visit us in the ringing site and after that, they went for a warm-up walking towards Nordbeach.

The observations from the ringing site and Verdens Ende 1 were more interesting than the ringing today so in between of the rounds, we were doing some observations (also while ringing because one of us was able to look at the birds while the others were ringing). The invasion of Pine Grosbeaks (Krognæb) is still noticed in the area but we have seen some common birds like Eurasian Siskin (Grønsisken) and Brambling (Kvækerfinke) among others.
Michael Ancher was ringing at Jenes Sø as well and he got an Arctic Redpoll (Hvidsisken) in the net!!!

After closing the nets, Judith and I went to Sardinkrattet to sew some nets and also put them down when we finished the repairs.

At the same time, Christian went back to the Observatory and was standing in the laboratory talking and showing our work at the bird observatory (they were some tourists today!). Also, a kindergarten group came by and the kids were petting the birds that Christian showed them (not alive birds).

Later in the morning, Esben joined us at Sardinkrattet. We managed to put down 3 nets! There are 7 more to go but we had to stop due to the wind that was getting stronger. So we head up to the Observatory and eat lunch. We cleaned a bit the kitchen and put all the stuff in order.

After lunch, Judith and her family went to Råbjerg Mile and spent the afternoon there. They walked around the area and they went to the two lakes in order to do some observations. They saw some Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) and after that, they went back to the Observatory.

Meanwhile, Esben and I were entering the ringing data and afterwards, we played some card games and talk to some visitors.
Christian came to eat lunch quiet late and started to enter the observations data. After that, he started to cook our dinner (it smells really good!).
At the same time, Judith came back from the little trip and with Esben are checking rings' data until dinner time.

Simon also is heading to Blåvand to attend a meeting so we had a lot of tasks to go through before he cames back.

After dinner, Vegard (a friend of Christian) came to spend a few days with us.

Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommelkrattet, Sardinkrattet & Jenes Sø):

Musvit - 7

Gærdesmutte - 2

Fuglekonge - 1

Blåmejse - 1

Rødhals - 1

Nordlig Gråsisken - 4

Lille Gråsisken - 19

Hvidsisken - 1

Total: 36

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Hansen, Michael Ancher, Knud Pedersen, Lene Kappelborg, Chrystel & Flemming, Rie Voetmann, Friend Kurt, Farmand, Weatherman
Alois, Franz & Johannes Kloibhofer, Vegard Stürzinger

I dag var det min og Laia´s tur til at åbne nettene, vi sprang på cyklerne  06.15 og trillede ud til Ellekrattet. Nettene var åbne en halv time før solopgang, og vi sad spændte og ventede på hvad dagen skulle bringe. Ligefør vi begyndte første rundte kom resten af stationen. Judidth er igen blevet rask, oven på en omgang feber, så det var dejligt med hendes selskab i felten igen. Chris stod for træktællingen, mens Judia Laia og jeg tog fuglene ud af nettene. Ringmærkingen skete under opsyn af Simons kyndige øjne. Dagens mest spændene fugl var en massiv havesanger, som i stedet for at rejse syd på til Afrika, havde spist sig tyk i havtorn. Selv om vejret ikke kunne være bedre, var der ikke fugle i de sidste rundter. Så vi lukkede nettene ned og tog hjem for at spise frokost.

Highlights fra morgen obs.  6 Krognæb 67 sangsvaner I formation trækkende sydpå. 1 søkonge set af mester fuglekigger Knud.

Efter frokost kom stationes praktikant Stine. Vi opdelte os i hold, Chris intastede dagens træktællling mens  Laia og Judith indtastede ringmærknings dataen. Stine og jeg gik en tur i ellekrattet på en times tid, før vi vendte tilbage til station til en omgang teori. Simon underviste os i de forskellige underarter af gråsiskner. Og hvilke strategier forskellige fugle bruger når de skal udskifte deres fjerdragt.

Efter vores lektion tog mig og Chris ud til Micheal ved Jennesø, for at udskifte spejlnet og opsætte nogle nye. Det gjorde vi i håbet om at fange nogle af de krognæb som er observeret de sidste dage.

En  MEGA uhyggelig aften!?!

Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Robin - Rødhals - 3
Goldcrest – Fuglekonge 1
Blackcap - Munk - 1
Dompap ssp. europaea - Lille Dompap - 2
Redwing – Vindrossel 1

Total: 8

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Hansen, Knud Pedersen, Michael ancher, Jørgen kabel og  Stine.

Today we splitted up, Laia was with Knud out at Verdensende 3 doing sea bird countings and Chris, Esben and Simon were ringing at Kabeltrommelkrattet.

The ringing started with a busy first round with a Common Snipe as a highlight. We see them regularly in the area of the ringing side but having one in the net is very rare. With this good start also the rest of the ringing was quiet divers and had as some specials: Fieldfare (Sjagger), Common Treecreeper (Træløber), Siskins (Grønsisken) and many more. An adult Bullfinch (Dompap) was also very interesting to see. Next to the ringing they also had some good observations! The whole team managed to see the rarity-highlights of the last days – the Pine Grosbeaks (Krogsnæb). There are more and more around in the area every day. Today, there were more than 30 seen around Grenen.  Furthermore, a Woodlark (Hedelærke), two Barn Swallows (Landsvale), Waxwings (Bombycilla) and some flocks of Bearded Tits (Skægmejse) was overflying the ringing side.

The sea bird observations had mostly common species, like many Razorbills (Alk) and Guillemots (Lomvie), Red-breasted Merganser (Toppet skallesluger) and Red-throated Divers (Rødstrubet lom). Very nice was also a big flock of over 80 Snow Buntings (Snespurv) coming very close to their observation point. After the observations Laia joined the others at Kabeltrommelkrattet and they went together to Sardinkrattet. There they took some nets down to start the shutting down of this ‘old’ ringing side.

After the observations Knud went to Skagen to find the Pine Grosbeaks (Krognæb) and he was more than lucky and found them very close.

Picture by Knud Pedersen

Coming back to the station Chris decided to use the little sunshine to go swimming. Laia and me just joined out to the beach. Then we had a good lunch with many sandwiches to be ready for the weakly cleaning-day. After the cleaning was finished we enjoyed the shiny apartment during our daily meeting. Now Esben is preparing dinner and it smells already delicious out of the kitchen.

Ringing (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Common Snipe - Doppeltbekassin - 1
Wren - Gærdesmutte - 3
Robin - Rødhals - 3
Fieldfare - Sjagger - 1
Song Trush - Sangdrossel - 2
Blackcap - Munk - 1
Blue Tit - Blåmejse - 4
European Treecreeper - Nordlig Træløber (ssp. familiaris) - 1
Siskins - Grønsisken - 2
Lesser Redpolls - Lille Gråsisken - 3
Bullfinch - Dompap - 3
Dompap ssp. europaea - Lille Dompap - 3
Reed Bunting - Rørspurv - 1

Total: 28

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Hansen, Knud Pedersen.

Today Esben, Christian and I went to open the nets at Kabeltrommelkrattet. There was a beautiful sunrise that preceded a really good ringing morning with a lot of variety.

It was nice to see 3 cute Treecreepers (Nordlig Træløber).

Not much later, Oluf joined us and we started the journey pending if his boots will be flooded or not during the ringing due to the rising water level at the ringing site after those rainy days. Unfortunately, the one that got wet was Esben.

After that, Simon joined us with a group of students from University College attending a guided tour. They were learning about bird ringing and afterwards, they played some games at the beach.

Meanwhile, Asger was observing at Verdens Ende 1 (seabirds and land birds). Also, Knud was at Verdens Ende 3 observing (mostly seabirds). All the observers in the field had a busy morning.
Some of the highlights of today were 12 Pine Grosbeaks (Krognæb), Pomarine Skua (Mellemkjove), Little Auk (Søkonge), a lot of flocks of Geese (Gæs) and Swans (Savner) and two Orcas (Spækhugger)!
Simon managed to see the Pine Grosbeaks (Krognœb) while we were taking the birds from the nets. He was really excited about it!  During the last days, he was talking about spotting them every now and then during the days.
During all this time, Judith was working with the radar with help of Asger and Christian while they were on the field. After that, she was working mostly indoors.

Then, all of us went back to the Observatory and had lunch before we went out again this time to Sardinekrattet in order to sew the nets before the closing of the site. We managed to repair up to 5 nets so far.

We collected some berries for tomorrow at the ringing site and then we returned back to the Observatory again.

We were doing indoor tasks (mostly on the computer).

Asger also went home during the afternoon.

Then Simon made dinner for us! It tasted really good!

And after that an evening radar session at Birders' Club.

To finish the day, Simon and Christian went out for a short night catch to Fyrhaven where yesterday Esben and I found a rusting Short-eared owl (Mosehornugle) that we saw flying away from us.


Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Sibirisk Gransanger - 1
Nordlig Træløber - 3
Fuglekonge - 3
Lille Dompap - 2
Rørspurv - 2
Blåmejse - 2
Munk - 7
Sortmejse - 2
Lille Gråsisken - 9
Gærdesmutte - 8
Rødhals - 5
Musvit - 1
Sangdrossel - 1

Total: 46

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, Esben Hansen, Rolf Christensen, Alex Sand Frich, Oluf Lou, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Kabel & Igor

Sunrise today: 07:20 – due to the time change one hour earlier than the last days. However, it doesn’t really make a difference for us as our daily schedule is based on sunrise and not on the clock. So, Chris and Laia’s body clock was still working well and they woke up without an alarm. That’s definitely not working for me, so I woke up when my alarm was ringing. Unfortunately I didn’t feel so well and decided to stay in bed to nurse the cold. Chris and Laia opened the nets for the ringing in Kabeltrommelkrattet and Asger headed out to Verdensende 1 to do the migrating countings.

The highlights in the ringing were four Lesser Redpolls (Lille Gråsisken). Out in Kabeltrommekrattet they are not very common in the nets. So it was very interesting to see them and to train ourselves with ageing a not every-day species. Furthermore a Blackcap (Munk) made some difficulties with finding out the age. The feathergroups showed for sure different generations, so it should be a juvenile as the adults are doing a complete moult in summer. However, this individuum forgot that “rule” and left some old feathers back. That’s why the moult contrast is so obvious – the forgotten feathers are older than one year!

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken)

Blackcap (Munk) - second Alula and outermost medium and lesser coverts more than one year old

From Verdensende 1 many thrushes, e.g. Redwing (Vindrossel), Fieldfare (Sjagger) and one Ring Ouzel (Ringdrossel) were seen. Also many finches, Woodlarks (Hedelærke), some Waxwings (Bombycilla) and Water Pipits (Bjergpiber) were around. The migration of geese is also getting more and more in the last days. But all these observations were topped by one other species – the Pine Grosbeak (Krognæb) finally arrived Skagen. First two of them were seen by Erik coming from Sønderstrand to Batteriskogen in the morning. Later, Alex and Asger went to Ellekrattet to search for them. After they just arrived there they could already hear the melodious call of the Pine Grosbeaks and 4 individuum just landed approximately 5 meters away from them, jumping around in the trees and eating some berries. Congratulations to Asger for finding a new species for him! This highlight will make him happy for the next weeks. Hopefully there will be more around the next days that we also get the opportunity to see them.

Pine Grosbeak (Krognæb), Picture by Alex Sand Frich

Also my stay back at the Grey Lighthouse (Det Grå Fyr) was not boring. After Oluf found the Bottlenose Dolphins (Øresvin) from yesterday again at Sønderstrand I headed out with the telescope to find them. Some tourists, Flemming and me were searching for them but couldn’t find them in the beginning. But then Lene arrived and saw them immediately! They were still next to Sønderstrand and were swimming north in our direction. And exactly at the moment when they passed the Lighthouse they came really close, maybe 5 or 10 meters away from the rocks – it was amazing to see them! And one of the small ones was even jumping completely out of the water as you only know it from movies. Then they continued to swim north and the people doing observations from Verdensende also had the opportunity to see them again.

The afternoon was filled with some office work and Asger went shopping with the bicycle to get all the ingredients he needed to prepare a delicious pumpkin-soup. After dinner a new volunteer, Esben, arrived and he will stay with us for at least one week. Welcome to Skagen Bird Observatory Esben!

In the night Laia and Esben went out for nightcatching, hoping to find an owl and some berries. The berries will be placed at Kabeltrommekrattet next to the nets to be ready for the Pine Grosbeak-invasion. Would be amazing to catch one of them!

Ringing:

Dunnock – Jernspurv – 1
Robin – Rødhals - 1
Blackbird – Solsort – 1
Blackcap – Munk – 3
Chiffchaff – Gransanger – 1
Goldcrest – Fuglekonge – 3
Blue Tit – Blåmejse – 1
Lesser Redpoll – Lille Gråsisken - 4
Bullfinch – Dompap – 2
Bullfinch ssp. europaea – Lille Dompap – 2

Total: 19

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, Esben Hansen, Rolf Christensen, Alex Sand Frich, Anders Bojesen, Eric Christophersen, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen & Agnete Kabel & Igor, Lars Paaby & Conny Jensen, Lars Grøn

Endnu en begivenhedsrig dag på toppen af Danmark er ved at være slut. Dagen begyndte med, at vi alle lige skulle se vejret an. Det havde regnet og blæst voldsomt hele natten, men heldigvis stoppede regnen lige inden solopgang og vinden lagde sig. Vi havde derfor mulighed for at afvikle dagens aktiviteter, som vi plejer. Laia, Judith og Chris tog ud og åbnede nettene ved Kabeltromlekrattet, mens Gitte og jeg gik ud til Verdens Ende for at lave morgenobs. Simon var også med til i mærkningen samt ude at kigge i området meget af dagen på en af hans få ”fridage" som stationsleder.
Ringmærkningen var en rolig affære med i alt 16 nye fugle, men til gengæld hele 12 genfangster. Dette fortæller os noget om, at den seneste tids blæsende og regnfulde vejr har forhindret de rastende småfugle i at drage videre på deres træk. Dagens mest spændende fangst var en Sjagger, som kun var efterårets anden mærkede fugl. En art, der ses almindeligt på træk, men sjældent lader sig fange i ringmærkernes net. En af de seneste dages Sibiriske Gransangere lod sig også genfange.

Morgenobsen startede stille. De første par timer bød på få fugle i luften, men masser af snak om, hvornår Krognæbbene mon når til Skagen. En Stor Tornskade underholdt os det meste af morgenen, mens den fouragerede langs Sylviastien. Gitte måtte gå tidligt tilbage til stationen, da hende og Jens Peter skulle hjemad i dag. Kort efter kom der gang i sagerne, da Rolf spotter en flok delfiner! De svømmer rundt ud for Sælbunkeren tæt på land, mens de bevæger sig ind mod havnen. Vi tæller mindst fem dyr og tror, at det er er Øresvin. Få minutter senere ser Flemming, Gitte og Jens Peder dem også fra Fyret. En halv time senere er de tilbage lige ud for Verdens Ende, og vi kan nu sikkert bestemme dem til Øresvin. Vi tæller mindst 7 delfiner, der svømmer forbi Grenen, mens de langsomt forsvinder østpå ud i Kattegat. Simon og Knud ser dem også fra spidsen, mens ringmærkerne desværre misser dem. En rigtig stor oplevelse at se disse store dyr, der var markant større end Marsvin og med flotte, lange rygfinner. Øresvin er sjælden i de danske farvarnde og ses langt fra årligt i Skagen. Det er den art, der fra TV er kendt som Flipper, og de kan blive op til fire meter lange. Mens delfinerne stadig sås, kom en fed gammel Islom også trækkende tæt forbi Verdens Ende. Øresvinene var dagens ubetingede højdepunkt, og historien nåede både TV2 Nord og Nordjyske Stiftidende!

Øresvin ud for Det Grå Fyr - Foto: Flemming Quist

Gitte og Jens Peder skulle hjem i dag efter en uges ophold på stationen. Vi takker for deres fine indsats og hjælp til stationen med diverse gøremål og håber I snart kommer igen. Resten af dagen gik med kontorarbejde, ligesom Judith og Chris fortsatte deres ubrudte badestreak med daglig dyp i Kattegat. I skrivende stund er Chris og Laia netop gået på natfangst for at se, om der skulle være nogle fugle at fange i mørket.

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlekrattet)
Rødhals - Robin 5
Sjagger - Fieldfare 1
Sangdrossel – Song Thrush 1
Vindrossel – Redwing 1
Munk - Blackcap 3
Gransanger - Chiffchaff 5

Folk: Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Simon S. Christiansen, Gitte & Jens Peder, Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, Rolf Christensen, Alex Sand Frich, Anders Bojesen, Eric Christophersen, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Kabel, Lars Paaby og Conny Jensen

Once upon a time, an infamous crew of pirates lived at the Grey Lighthouse. They were a furious gang, always eager to find rare and precious birds in the neighbourhood. On Friday, the pirate group lost one seaman, as pirate Koen was taken back to his far away home country by his pirate relatives. The gang hopes that he will at one day return to the Grey Lighthouse and wishes him all the best until then!

Pirate Koen in his ambush dress

Luckily, we already have a replacement. Welcome our new crew member, Eleanor the elephant!

Eleanor working hard to finish an article about the identification of eastern subspecies of lesser whitethroats (gærdesanger)

In the morning the wind was blowing strong from the south and the ringing pirates Laia, Judith, Oluf and Chris decided to try raiding golden birds in Sardinkrattet, while the observer pirate Asger sailed to the end of the world, hoping to observe treasures from there. The ringing pirates had a rather slow morning, as several rain showers prevented a continuous raid. But real pirates are not afraid of water coming from the skies! The little shelter boat in Sardinkrattet was unfortunately leaky at first, but scout pirate Laia overhauled it immediately. In the now dry little shelter boat, the pirates waited patiently until the rain had stopped. Thankfully, red wine (vindrossel - redwing) was captured five times, so the pirates were frolicking throughout the morning. A flock of at least 55 bearded tits (skægmejse), several mistle thrushes (misteldrossel) and goldfinches (stillits) were flying around the pirate ship as well. Later, the pirates started to fix their nets, so that they would be able to catch more treasures in the future, haaarrr!

Ringing pirate in the little shelter boat

A male blackcap (munk) from the morning

The observer pirate at the end of the world had a golden morning and counted many birds. A pomarine skua (mellemkjove), 42 water pipits (bjergpiber), which is a large number, also waxwings (silkehale), wood larks (hedelærke) and in total 80 bearded tits (skægmejse) made his heart beat faster. Awesome treasures indeed! But also on the end of the world, rain showers passed by and without a shelter boat the observer pirate got quite wet. But that did not break his will and after some short rest he sailed out to new endeavours on the afternoon again! This time the North beach (Nordstrand) was his destination and among the gulls resting there he found gold indeed - a young glaucous gull (gråmåge)! 

Juvenile glaucous gull (gråmåge)

The handicraft pirates Gitte and Jens Peder put up new lamps in the pirate's home harbour and finished the brand-new bird guessing game in Birders Club. You should come and see this new cool activity treasure at the Grey Lighthouse!

Guess the bird game - Gæt en fugl

New lamps in the pirate's nest!

After returning from the raid in Sardinkrattet, the ringing pirates took a bath in the ocean to clean themselves. Even pirates have to follow a daily sanitation routine, haaarrr! Fresh from the bath, the pirates Laia and Judith checked the pirate's ring and picture collection. Pirates have to keep good records of their raids!

Pirate Chris visited his pirate parents and they did a tour around Skagen harbour and the Sand-Covered Church (Den Tilsandete Kirke). The treasures they found were several colour-ringed great black-backed gulls (svartbag) and some approachable rock pipits (skærpiber) at Vesterby Strand.

Rock pipit (skærpiber) on red algae

Pirates Gitte and Jens Peder cooked pancakes for the crew in the evening and an eventful pirate day drew to a close with cake, games and laughter of the entire gang!

Ringing (Sardinkrattet):

Eurasian Bullfinch ssp. europea - Lille Dompap - 2
Eurasian Blue Tit – Blåmejse – 1
Eurasian Blackcap - Munk - 3
Eurasian Wren - Gærdesmutte - 1
European Robin - Rødhals - 3
Redwing - Vindrossel - 5

Total: 15

People: Pirate captain Simon S. Christiansen, ringer pirates Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias and Oluf Lou, stringer pirate Koen Stork, observer pirate Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, handicraft pirates Gitte & Jens Peder, pirate parents C+M Stolz, pirate friend Jørgen Kabel + pirate dog Igorrr, dutch pirate family Manon Stassen, Vincent Stork & pirate dog Rattie!

This morning, I went out for observations with my dad. We went to the Høyen Fyr area. When we arrived, it was very cloudy and dark and there was light, drizzling rain and strong winds. There were very few birds around but we quickly noticed the good migration of Siskins (Grønsisken), we counted almost 1000 birds in just a few hours. We continued birding and managed Waxwing (Silkehale) Woodlark (Hedelærke), two Skylarks (Sanglærke) and a Golden Plover (Hjejle) that were all migrating to their winter quarters. On the ground were not so many birds, to say the least. It was actually very quiet. If your highlights are around 20 Yellowhammers (Gulspurv) and a few Crested Tits (Topmejse), you know it’s not a great morning. However, that changed when we decided to check the nearby industrial area and horse fields. Here, there were more birds around and we managed to find a nice flock of Tree Sparrows (Skovspurv), Black Redstart (Husrødstjert), White Wagtail (Hvid Vipstjert) and a nice mixed flock of finches and buntings. At one point, we heard a group of crossbills coming. They were Parrot Crossbills (Stor Korsnæb), we counted 26 birds and at least most of them were Parrot Crossbills, really nice!

In the meantime, Laia, Judith and Simon were waking up and opened the nets at Fyrhaven to do some ringing for the tour for 75(!) pupils that would start at 09:45. Christian spent the night at the summer house of his parents and joined as well. He, Simon and Gitte were guiding all the children and their teachers. My dad and I stopped by for a brief moment to see some ringing and have a look at how the tour was going, it looked really fun! All the kids were really interested in all the things we do here at the bird observatory. Simon, Chris and Gitte also said that it was a good tour and that the kids really had fun. Always good to see tat there are so many potential nature lovers in the next generation! It’s not always you guide a group of pupils that are all very interested in the research and monitoring we do here.

At the same time all this was happening, Esger was on his own doing observations from World’s End 1. As I said before, conditions were not that   with strong winds and light rain and very dark weather in general. But still he managed to see quite some cool birds. He had really good numbers of Siskins as well, more than 2000! Apart from this, he managed to see Lapland Bunting (Lapværling), Great Skua (Storkjove) and Water Pipits (Bjergpiber). But probably the most rare thing he saw, was the absence of Rolf! Apparently, Rolf was doing observations from a bunker because of the weather condition.

After having a look at the tour, me and my dad decided to some birding at Grenen. As we walked along the tractor track we managed some Bearded Tits (Skægmejse), three more Waxwings and another group of Parrot Crossbills!! This time, we only heard the Parrot Crossbills so we don’t have an exact number but I estimate there were around 5 birds. Then we arrived to the beach and the dunes, we saw a Shorelark (Bjerglærke) and two Snow Buntings (Snespurv). And we saw a group of 6 Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) going south, they came straight in from sea. Visible migration at it’s best! We searched for the Black Scoter (Amerikansk Sortand) since it was a lifer for my dad. Unfortunately we didn’t get lucky. We walked back to the parking and I showed my dad the ringing place a bit, and we managed to find a Siberian Chiffchaff (Sibirisk Gransanger) there! Maybe the bird we caught yesterday and the day before yesterday? During our long walk we also had a few easy new species for my dad’s triplist (he was at Falsterbo last week and is keeping track of his number of species) such as Bullfinch (Dompap), Sanderling (Sandlober) and Red-throated Diver (Rødstrubet Lom).

After that, we got back an the others were back as well. We had lunch and then Stine came to help us with the usual stuff as checking the data in our database on errors. Since I’m leaving tomorrow, I did some packing. Christian had a look at our ‘Dompap-issue’, and we decided to label only birds with wings shorter than 87 mm as ssp europaea and with wings longer than 89 mm as ssp pyrrhula. If the bird has a wing length of 87-89 mm, we don’t assign it to subspecies level.

Esger was still out birding and he called that he found the Black Scoter again! Me, my dad and Gitte rushed out to see it and we succeeded! We were both very happy with this lifer for my dad so we decided to make a weird selfie which is kind of tradition when we find/see a good bird. I included it here, a suiting end to my stay here at Skagen Bird Observatory. It was a really cool opportunity and I would really recommend it to anyone interested in birds and keen to learn more about the subject. Thanks for having me!

Ringing (Fyrhavene)

Solsort: 2

Vindrossel: 3

Fuglekonge: 2

Gærdesmutte: 1

Total: 8

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, Gitte & Jens Peder, Knud Pedersen, C+M Stolz, Manon Stassen, Vincent Stork, Rattie

Så blev det vores tur til at skrive dagbog fra Skagen Fuglestation. Det er virkelig en stor fornøjelse at være gæst/frivillig her. Vi vælger at indgå som en del af teamet, hvilket betyder, at vi betaler til den fælles madkasse, og spiser sammen med de andre frivillige og deltager i arbejdet på lige fod med dem.

Men nu til dagens oplevelser. Koen og Laia åbnede nettene i dag. Simon, Judith og Christian kom senere og så var der tid for at ringmærke fugle. Dagen gav flere gode fuglearter i nettene. F.eks. Gærdesanger, Gransanger og Havesanger. Der blev ringmærket 24 fugle og 14 fugle blev genfanget.

Koen fik i dag besøg af sin familie samt lille hund. De var på tur og så bl.a. 18 Silkehaler. Koen rejser hjem til Holland fredag. Tak for hyggeligt samvær!

Simon har i dag lavet invitation til The Scandinavian Triple! Så nu er det med at tilmelde sig, hvis det kan have interesse. Se mere om det på under Nyheder her på siden.

Efter ringmærkningen var der fælles rengøring, og det er virkelig teamwork af de unge mennesker, som er frivillige på stationen.

Jens Peder hang billeder op på ”drengeværelset”, snakkede med producenten af kombiovnen mht. fugt i ovnlågen, reparerede huller i waders igen igen. Waders’ne har ret mange huller, og selv om han lapper dem hver dag, bliver der ved med at komme vand ind. Det er ikke rart for ringmærkerne, at have våde fødder.

Jeg startede stille ud i dag ovenpå en lidt hård dag i går. Det er altså hårdt arbejde at være ringmærker(medhjælper). Så jeg sad lige så stille og lavede en liste med fugle til en aktivitet, som skal være en permanent del i Birders Club, og sendte dem til godkendelse ved Simon. Derefter gik jeg ud på Verdens Ende 3 (Grenens yderste klitrække) På vejen derud havde jeg en super oplevelse med at kunne genkende Skærpiber, dem viste Knud mig nemlig, da vi var her i marts. Jeg så også 7 sæler, som lå og hyggede sig på en bunker.

På verdens ende 3 sad jeg sammen med Knud og fik rigtig god vejledning i at genkende Alke og Lomvier. Det er dejligt at sidde ved siden af en garvet birder, som Knud, som er god til at lære fra sig. En stor flok Snespurve fløj mange gange frem og tilbage foran os. Det er virkelig en meget flot fugl. Kom til Skagen og se den!

Da jeg kom hjem havde Simon sendt revideret liste, så Jens Peder og jeg gik i gang med at finde billeder. Nogle er fra stationens eget billedarkiv, og heldigvis kan Knud også hjælpe med billeder til aktiviteten. I morgen skal vi arbejde videre med opgaven, så vi kan blive færdige inden vi tager hjem på lørdag.

Asger kom kl. 14.00, og skal være frivillig på stationen i de næste dage. Han startede med at gå en tur gennem Ellekrattet og hørte her rigtig mange fugle. Det er en fin og anbefalelsesværdig tur at gå.

Dagen sluttede med et rigtigt spændende foredrag. Christian fortalte om sin forskning af Snespurve på Svalbard. Det blev livestreamet på Facebook, og så du det ikke, kan du se det på Skagen Fuglestations FB side.

Herefter var der lækker aftensmad, som var tilberedt af Koen og hans familie.

Tak til hele flokken for at være så gode til at inddrage os i stationens arbejde.

Ringing (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Havesanger - 1

Rørspurv - 1

Blåmejse - 2

Munk - 4

Lille Dompap (ssp. europaea) - 3

Lille Gråsisken - 2

Jernspurv - 3

Rødhals - 3

Fuglekonge - 4

Solsort - 1

Total: 24

Mennesker: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Gitte & Jens Peder, Knud Pedersen, Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup.