Hej out there!

The night from Tuesday to Wednesday, we set up the nets to catch Storm Petrels (Lille Stormsvale) and Nightjars (Natravn) again. It was my first night shift here at the Bird Observatory in Skagen and I was really looking forward to it. Checking nets at the beach at night, while the stars are glowing above you and the light tower throws its light on the beach is just extremely special and beautiful.

We set up three nets at the beach and positioned a speaker at each of them. Two speakers played Storm Petrel's sounds while one produced a mixed sound selection of Storm Petrel, Leach's Storm Petrel and Swinhoe's Storm Petrel (Mørkrygget Stormsvale)

To one of the two Nightjar nets there was also a speaker added, which played Nightjar sounds

My shift started at 10 PM. For the first hours our guests Pia, Henrik and Jan joined us. Unfortunately, this period only provided us empty nets. Karin, Hanelie's mother was a bit more persistent, but after the net round at 1:15AM she left as well. What a pity!! Because at around 2 AM the first bird was caught! It all started with a juvenile Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle) I was extremely happy as I haven't had too many waders in my hand yet. Nevertheless, I decided not to change one sound file into wader sounds yet to give the Storm Petrels a bit more time.

I rang Frank we rang the Dunlin and Frank could lay down again. However, he couldn't rest for long because an hour later another bird in the nets at the beach was caught.

I was very excited and thought we finally caught a European Storm-petrel. I have just seen a black bird with webbed feet. I immediately called Frank again who ran down at the beach in a few minutes. That's the point where everything started: the bird seemed too big for a European Storm-Petrel. It was too big for a European indeed, because it wasn't one...  It was a Leach's Storm-Petrel!

Extremely excited we rang Simon. He must have jumped out of his bed really fast when he got the message.

Leach's Storm Petrels were only ringed 6 times in Denmark prior to this record, but the previously ringed birds were all individuals brought in by ships or found accidentaly on land. Read more about these in this article (in danish).

The European breeding colonies are limited to a few small islands, like Ireland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the West coast of Great Britain.  They are only coming to the land to breed, the rest of their life they spent over the oceans.

Its the 54th Leach's Storm Petrel observed in Skagen, but the first time ever in Denmark that a bird is caught in a mistnet.  

What a great success to catch it here at the bird observatory! A few birders of Skagen were informed and were joining the ringing and photo session of this wonderful bird.

At 5 AM, when I was actually out to close the nets, we trapped a Nightjar. And on the beach in the Storm-petrel nets, a Common Ringed Plover (Stor Præstekrave) was caught.

In addition, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. What an impressive, beautiful and successful nightshift!

While I was going to sleep, the rest of the gang went ringing. All in all ringing was slow. The highlights were a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte), a few Redstarts (Rødstjert) and the first two juvenile Goldcrests (Fuglekonge) of the autumn season! 

Migration count was slow as well. Common scoters  (Sortand), Velvet Scoters (Fløjlsand), Yellow Wagtails (Gul Vipstjert), Tree Pipits (Skovpiber) and some shorebirds were observed.

Today night, we will set up Storm Petrel and Nightjar nets again. Stay tuned- maybe there is a Swinhoe's Storm Petrel in the net;)

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Stor Flagspætte: 1

Rødstjert: 2

Grå Fluesnapper: 2

Løvsanger: 1

Munk: 1

Tornsanger: 1

Havesunger: 1

Fuglekonge: 2

Ringing (Grenen):

Almindelig Ryle: 1

Stor Stormsvale: 1

Natravn: 1

Stor Præstekrave: 1

Total: 15

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

People: Max Laubenstein, Hanelie Sidhu, Frank Osterberg, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen, Karin, Pia, Jan, Henrik.

Hi everyone!

As you know us night active volunteers already there was no thought of going to bed yesterday evening. I was at the cormorant lake yesterday morning and Frank in the afternoon and there are still a lot of waders that are not ringed so far! After our sucessfull first try catching waders at the cormorant Lake, Max, Frank and I were keen on trying it again! Elena stayed at home for a good night sleep to be fit for ringing with Simon the next morning.This time we had the luxury to be driven to Nordstrand by Simon which was much more comfortable than carrying everything on our bikes. As we were not so well organised as last time, Simon was also so kind to bring us stuff that we realized we had forgotten when we were at the lake. This evening also Karin joined us, at least for the first round in which we caught a Common Snipe. It was a quite good night, nine birds caught in the wader nets, two with flashlight and net. We we were hoping for a spotted Redshank or a Ruff, as we observed these species during the day, but therefore we had no luck. Nevertheless, three Dunlins, seven Common Snipes and one Redshank.

Common Snipe "Dobbeltbekkasin"

Dunlin "Almindelig Ryle"

Redshank "Rødben"

That is not bad and a good opportunity for Max and me to train ringing with steel rings and measuring some waders, supervised by Frank. Unless the last night, in which we were sweating at the cormorant lake, it got quite cold in the first hours of the day. So the warm bodys of the waders and the coffee were very welcome. At five thirty in the morning, Simon came to pick us. I was still full of energy due to to much coffee and would not have been able to sleep. So I joined Simon and Elena for ringing at Kabletromlen.

Simon observed a Merlin and a juvenal Hen Hen Harrier during the ringing. The first round was quite good, but then it slowed down a lot. We got some Robins and Redstarts wich was nice.

Redstart "Rødstjert"

My energy also slowed down and when we came back to the station, I was very tired and fell in bed immediatly. Max and Frank tidyd up the lab today and changed the nightjar nets, Elena did the data entry. Tonight, there will be a nightshift again, which Elena will take. We will try to catch storm petrels and nightjars! And we will ceep you updated in the next blog of course. Now, Karin is cooking for us and we are looking forward to a nice meal and an exciting night.

See you tomorrow, take care!

Hanelie

Ringing (Skarvsøen):

Dobbeltbekassin: 7

Rødben: 1

Almindelig Ryle: 3

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gransanger: 2

Løvsanger: 5

Rødstjert: 6

Rørsanger: 1

Gærsanger: 1

Rødhals: 4

Tornsanger: 3

Havesanger: 1

Blåmejse: 1

Total: 35

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Hanelie Sidhu, Frank Osterberg, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen, Karin, Pia, Jan, Henrik.

First of all, apologies for the late update.

Overall the day was rather slow, in the morning the planned ringing was canceled due to high winds and the others took to Worlds End 3 for morning observations while I went straight back to bed, which, was much needed and enjoyable. In the morning, observations were also slow, excluding the expected movements of Common Scoter (Sortand), a few shorebirds such as Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle), Red Knot (Islansk Ryle) and Sanderlings (Sandløber) down on the pond, as well as some barnacle geese (Bramgås) were the highlights of the morning.

In the afternoon, Me, Hanelie and Simon took our PANT into town and did some shopping with our payback. Hanelie took a trip to Skarvsøen to see how many shorebirds there were and how many there were to see if it was worth catching them in the night as we did previously. With the Spotted Redshank (Sortklire), Ruff (Brushane) and a few other species we decided to go and try our luck once again in the hope of plenty more Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin) but also, particularly for the Spotted Redshanks and Ruff. I also took a trip out to Skarvsøen in the evening taking the path through Jenne Sø and saw good numbers of Spotted Flycatchers (Grå Fluesnapper), Whinchat (bynkefugl) and our 3 resident juvenile Red-Footed Falcons (Aftenfalk).

https://dofbasen.dk/search/result.php?design=table&soeg=soeg&periode=dato&dato=29-08-2022&omraade=stor&stor=588&obstype=observationer&species=alle&sortering=dato

People: Max Laubstein, Simon Christiansen, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Karin og our guests Henrik, Pia og Jan.

Good evening,

The events of today's blog actually begin in the late hours of the 27th, as Frank, Hanelie, Simon, and I walked around fields near Lindenborg, SW of Aalborg, in search of great snipes (tredækker).  We saw several common snipes (dobbeltbekkasin), but all flushed before we could succesfully catch them.  Furthermore, not one great snipe could even be seen amongst them.

However, the night was far from a failure.  Like last time we searched around these fields, we incidentally caught a Eurasian skylark (sanglærke) and a corn bunting (bomlærke).

Processing a sanglærke

The highlight came when Frank, Hanelie, and Simon (I stayed at the car for the last check) checked the last field, and found and caught a pair of common quail (vagtel)!  Getting to see these birds in hand was truly special, and easily made up for the lack of snipe.

Male & Female Common Quail

Common quail, and all other European, Asian, and African quail, pheasants, and partridges, belong to the family Phasianidae (except for 2 African species: Nahan's and Stone partridge).  Unlike what the English names suggest, "quails" in the Americas belong to an entirely different, and quite-distantly related family called Odontophoridae. 

The subspecies of Common quail found here, C. c. coturnix in particular is highly-migratory, breeding throughout the western Palearctic, and wintering in the Afrotropics and parts of the Indian subcontinent.  Quite an incredible journey for such an awkwardly-shaped bird, that at first glance seems like it would be a poor flier.

In the afternoon and evening, we welcomed our 3 new guests, Henrik, Pia, and Jan, did some cleaning, and untangled a tangled mist net. 

Tomorrow, Elena and I will head to World's End 3 to do a seawatch, and Hanelie and Frank will go to Kabeltromle to ring.

Farewell!

Max

People: Max Laubstein, Hanelie Sidhu, Frank Osterberg, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen, Karin, Pia, Jan, Henrik.

Ringing totals (Lindenborg) :

Eurasian skylark (Sanglaerke): 1

Corn bunting (Bomlaerke): 1

Common quail (Vagtel): 2

Observations of the day in DOFBasen from observers in the area 

Hey there!

As Hanelie already mentioned in her last blog, she could discover a good number of waders at Cormorant Lake! Therefore, we decided quite spontaneously to start a night catching experiment to ring some of them.

We packed all the stuff and left the house at around 11 PM. Packed with chest waders, ringing stuff and food for the night we started the walk to Cormorant Lake. The air was warm and wet, so it was an exhausting walk (which seemed to me never-ending). But we arrived, completely sweaty, tearing off our clothes.

After putting on our chest waders we fought ourselves through the reed to the lake. This was really adventurous as we sank into the mud and sometimes it felt like we were stuck.

Arriving at the lake we figured out where the waders are resting and where we should build up the nets. That’s the point where it started to get difficult for me. After a few minutes of walking through the lake, I recognized that my rubber boots and my chest waders must have some holes because my feet started to become wetter and wetter.  So finally, the (brownish, marshy) water was up to my ankles which made me feel quite cold and uncomfortable.

It took as quite a while to figure out where to place the nets for the best output. We also put out speakers with wader sounds to attract the birds. But already while doing this Frank managed to catch a common redshank (Rødben) with his hands and a snipe (Doppeltbekkasin) and another common redshank (Rødben) were caught in the nets we had already built up.

We were out there for more than one hour and before starting the first round we had to ring the already caught birds.

It was interesting to measure the waders as there are far bigger than the passerines and there is an additional measure: the length from the tip of the beak to the back of the head.

We started with our regular rounds at approximately half past one. However, they took quite a while as we also tried to flush the birds to make them flying towards our nets.

The effort was worth it: all in all, we caught 12 birds.

We made four rounds and closed at around 7:30 AM. I wasn’t joining the last two rounds as I was really wet, cold and exhausted. However, observing the others walking through the lake from the shore was a quite spectacular view, which made me laugh quite often. Especially, when Max jumped after a snipe (Doppeltbekkasin), spitting out the marshy water.

We came back at around 9 AM and slept the whole next day. In the evening the others took the train to Aalborg to catch some Great Snipes (Tredaekker). Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to join after last night catching session. See in the next blog if and how they succeeded!

The wader catching at Cormorant Lake was worth it for sure and we probably would have caught some more birds if we already had known where to place the nets. It is very likely that we will repeat this in the next couple of days. So, stay tuned.

Ringing (Skarvsøen):

8 Snipes (Doppeltbekkasin)

3 Common Red Shanks (Rødben)

1 Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle)

Total: 12

Observations of the day in DOFBasen from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen.

Hello all!

Today Max and I opened the nets in Kabeltromle. Elena and Frank came to the first round. Observations we made together today from Kabeltromle, we saw quite a lot of Velvet Scoter "Fløjsand". On the first round I had a Barn Swallow "Landsvale" on the south side. We don't catch them that often so it's always nice to have one in hand. We also had two Spotted Flycatchers "Grå Fluesnapper" and Pied Flycatcher "Broget Fluesnapper" and a very young Yellowhammer "Gulspurv".

Spotted Flychatcher "Grå Fluesnapper"

Simon also joined us came later at Kabeltromle. And Alfrida and Karin and Jørgen and Igor also paid us a visit. But there were not so many birds in the nets. When we went home we had lunch, Data entry and then it was time for a big cleaning, because tomorrow on our regular cleaning day we probably won't have so much time. The reason for this is, that when I went to Cormorant Lake today to see the Spotted Redshanks "Sortklire",  that Knud observed yesterday, I saw many other waders besides them: Lots of Common Snipes "Dobbeltbekkasin", Common Redshanks "Rødben", Golden Plover "Hjejle", Ruff "Brushane", Common Sandpiper "Mudderklire"....

Common Snipe "Dobbeltbekkasin", Spotted Redshank "Sortklire" and Yellow Wagtail "Gul Vipstjert"

And tonight we will try to catch at least a few! So we are again night active and tomorrow we will sleep in and also fill up energy for the next night, because then we will go again to Lindenbourg for Great Snipe chatching. We will tell you in the next blog how the night went. Take care, see you then!

Hanelie

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gulspurv: 1

Landsvale: 1

Rørsanger: 1

Gærdesanger: 1

Tornsanger: 3

Havesanger: 2

Løvsanger: 5

Grå Fluesnapper: 2

Broget Fluesnapper: 1

Total: 18

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen.

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

God Aften!

Unfortunately, this blog will begin with the sad news of a unsuccessful night attempting to catch the Storm Petrels (Stormsvale) and Nightjars (Natrvan). Although the last few attempts have now simply resulted in the sleepless nights for the unfortunate soul that has the night duty, we still plan to continue and hope to bring you more records of Storm Petrels. We will continue to attempt these catches in the night till around the 10^th of September. Lars Bo Jacobsen, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl and Anders Rasmussen also attempted some Great Snipe catching at Herredsenge this night where the snipes had been sited previously, but also, unfortunately, was unable to secure any on this occasion.

In the morning, Me and Elena took to Kabeltromlen while Hanelie went observing out on Worlds end 3. On the way to open the nets me and Elena were treated to a Nightjar (Natravn) flying around above the Sandworm track and two low flying, calling Cranes (Trane) whilst we opened the nets. The ringing throughout the morning remained relatively slow, but this allowed me to spend more time helping Elena get into depth about moult strategies and sexing of the species we encountered throughout the day. Highlights of the ringing include a juvenile Whinchat (Bynkefugl), Spotted (Grå fluesnapper) and Pied flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) and some new adult Common Whitethroats (Tornsanger).

Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper)

Whinchat (Bynkefugl)

During the ringing, we also managed to test out the new pop-up `photo-lab’ which will allow us to take more standardized images when photographing birds for aging and sexing for our Digi-guide.

In the Morning observations, Hanelie had some good Common Scoter (Sortand) movement, along with plenty of Greenshank (Hvidklire), Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin), Golden Plover (Hjijle) and Whimbrel (Smorspove).

In the afternoon, Simon used some free time to demonstrate the aging methods of skull ossification which can be used in the autumn to identify juvenile species often harder to age based on plumage characteristics alone.

After the skulling session, we went down to the beach and played some Volleyball closely followed by a swim and the weekly shop.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Whinchat (Bynkefugl) 1

Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) 2

Reed Warbler (Rørsanger) 2

Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper) 1

Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) 1

Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger) 1

Blackcap (Munk) 3

ChiffChaff (Gransanger) 1

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) 1

Total: 13

Observations of the day in DOFBasen from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Karin, Alfrida

Hi everyone,

This morning Frank, Hanelie, and I went to Kabeltromeln to ring, while Elena joined Knud at World's End 3 to ring.  Highlights at the ringing included a stunning adult male redstart (rødstjert), an icterine warbler (gulbug), and a young yellowhammer (gulspurv), amongst the swarm of willow warblers (løvsanger).

Rødstjert

Løvsanger

At world's end 3, there wasn't much in the way of migrants, but as it was Elena's first time seawatching, some teal (krikand) flying by, juvenile black guillemots (tejst), an oystercatcher (strandskade), and the regular assemblage of gannets and scoters were highlights.

In the afternoon we rested, and Hanelie went to town to go to the hairdresser and also did some birding, finding a coal tit (skægmejse) as a highlight.

Tonight, we will attempt to catch storm petrels (stormsvale spp.) and nightjars (natravn) around the lighthouse.  Wish us luck!

Max

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Karin, Alfrida, Berit.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Chiffchaff (Gransanger): 3

Willow warbler (løvsanger): 11

Icterine warbler (gulbug): 1

Redstart (Rødstjert): 1

Marsh warbler (Kærsanger): 1

Lesser redpoll (lille gråsisken): 1

Lesser whitethroat (gærdesanger): 1

Bullfinch (lille dompap): 2

Blackcap (munk): 1

 Total: 22

Observations of the day in DOFBasen from observers in the area

Hello from my side,

I am Elena, the new volunteer. I just arrived two days ago up here in Skagen and I was immediately impressed by this beautiful landscape. After one arriving day, today was my first day out in the field, ringing birds. It was overwhelming, but great to get to know the techniques which are used here. It differs from the Austrian way of ringing in many ways. What was very interesting for me was that after travelling quite long up here, the species were pretty much the same as I am used to, but in other amounts. I wasn’t really aware of the fact that all these species occur pretty close to the sea (as we don’t have a sea in Austria).

It was an intensive ringing day. We caught 33 yet non- marked birds which was more than the days before. I had a few species, which I have never held in the hand before, like a Barn Swallow  (Landsvale), a Bull Finch (Dompap) or a Yellowhammer (Gulspurv).

Barn Swallow (Landsvale)

Yellow Hammer (Gulspurv)

We also had some visitors, including Alfrieda, one of the guest sisters, who was curious of how we handle the birds.

While we were out at Kabeltromel, Max was out at Worldsend 3 observing bird migration. There were not quite a lot of birds, but it was very enjoyable for him. His highlights were: a passing by Great Skua (Storkjove), one Black Guillemot (Tejst) and two juvenile Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle).

In the afternoon Frank and me had a nap, while Max was cycling to Skagen center and Hanelie went out to see the Red-footed falcons. She found three of them and she could observe a Marsh Harrier (Rørhøg) and three Greenshanks (Hvidklire) as well.

After our nap Frank and me were refreshed and typed in all the data from today. Now, its getting late therefore, I close the blog for today.

Looking forward to tomorrow where I will do my first migration observation!

See you!

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Landsvale: 1

Jernspurv: 1

Kærsanger: 1

Rørsanger: 2

Gærdesanger: 1

Tornsanger: 4

Munk: 3

Løvsanger: 6

Broget Fluesnapper: 1

Blåmejse: 1

Lille Dompap: 2

Gransanger: 6

Rørspurv: 1

Total: 33

Hi everybody!

I hope today I can please you once again with a long detailed blog. I start already in the evening of yesterday. After Elena, who will spend two weeks with us here as a volunteer, and our new guests arrived, Manuel, Frank, Max and I made our way to the train station. We took the train to Skalborg. It was a long ride, almost two and a half hours that we spent partly with bird sound quizzes and thus entertained the other passengers on the train. The ride dragged on and on, but finally, we arrived and Niels was there immediately to pick us up at Skalborg station and drive us to a field in the Lindenborg area. There we met Lisa, Simon and Lars Bo, we prepared the ringing equipment in the trunk of Lisa's car and then we set off in two teams equipped with thermal binocular, flashlight and net to two different fields. Lars Bo, Frank, Max and I came back after the first round in the field with more birds: we had caught three Skylarks "Sanglærke". Lisa, Simon, Manuel and Niels came back with one Corn Bunting "Bomlærke" and one Skylark "Sanglærke". Actually, we had expected no Larks or Buntings, but the young Larks, all first calendar were also very cute and cool in the hand and after all a nightchatchig success for us. And the Corn Bunting "Bomlærke" was a little highlight for the first field round.

Corn Bunting "Bomlærke"

Then we headed back out into the fields. There were Great Snipes "Tredækker" there, Frank, Lars Bo, Max and I saw three, two flew up way too fast when we pointed the flashlight at them. But to one Frank and I got really close! Great excitement, we could have had them.... but we missed the right moment and finally the bird flew up. Disappointment. But a little later success, mission Great Snipe fulfilled. It was Team Lisa, Simon, Manuel and Niels who brought us the longed-for bird. Team Lars Bo, Max, Frank and Hanelie contributed two more young Skylarks.

First calender year Skylarks "Sanglærke"

So it turned out to be a successful night. Simon had his first Corn Bunting "Bomlærke" in hand and the Great Snipe "Trædekker" was a Lifer for all of us volunteers.

Frank ringing the Great Snipe "Tredækker"

Great Snipe Male 2cy.+ with moulted primaries

This was a perfect farewell night for Manuel, because he unfortunately left us after this night. Niels drove Manuel, Frank, Max and me after the ringing to Aalborg to the train station and then there was unfortunately only a short goodbye, because Max, Frank and I had to run to catch our train. Dear Maunel, it was very nice to have you here and for me to meet you here again. It was always cool and educational to go observing with you, you are great at explaining bird calls and identification. And finally you made our bat detector work as well! Hope to see you soon, take care!

For Frank, Max and me the trip home felt much shorter, we slept in very uncomfortable postures and with wet feet, because the fields were wet, and when we arrived in Skagen it was already light and at ten to eight we finally all lay in our beds and slept into the afternoon. Elena was up earlier than us and visited them exhibition and climbed the lighthouse. She also went shopping with our guests. We were unfortunately not yet up to give her a list, because even us voracious volunteers once again ran out of supplies and especially the Koldskål. But Karin was grocery shopping  for us today and cooked for us. Tak for mel! Now we have the evening meeting and tomorrow we are all back in the field in Kabeltrommle and World's End 3. See you then!

Ringed Birds in the fields around Lindenborg:

Sanglærke: 6

Bomlærke: 1

Tredækker: 1

Total: 8

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

Hanelie

People: People: Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Lars Bo Jakobsen, Niels Eriksen, Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Manuel Tacke, Elena Turac, Karin, Alfrida, Berit