Sperm Whale?!

Hej!

Finally, the temperatures are rising and so are the chances for catching birds. Chris and I had a very cozy time in the sun and almost no wind at Kabeltomlen, not freezing anymore. Every round to check the nets resulted in some birds, so we were always busy ringing them. Most of them were Robins (Rødhals) and Chiffchaffs (Gransanger), but we also caught an adult female Yellowhammer (Gulspurv), that was ringed in 2023!

Recapture Yellowhammer (Gulspurv)

In total, it was a very successfull ringing day and it continued in the lighthouse garden after lunch with two additional Goldcrests (Fuglekonge). One profesionally ringed by Rasmus, who wants to get back into practice after not holding a bird for almost 4 years. The observers on the other hand had a rather slow day, with not much migration going on. They saw the King Eiders (Kongeederfugl), and the Glaucous Gulls (Gråmåge) again and also spotted 8 Shags (Topskarv). We also had to say goodbye to Janna this morning. She went out observing and on her way back to the lighthouse rang some birds and then had to leave to get the train back to Hamburg. We had such a great time with you!

Back at the station Simon came to pick us up for a very special mission, for which we needed to dress up a bit. South of Skagen a Sperm Whale (Kaskelothval) was washed up on the beach and we were asked to help remove it, so they could bring it to an ocean museum. This sounded just like the task volunteers from a bird observatory are made to do!

Versitile Volunteers

Latest after we saw the tiny saws, Simon packed as additional tools for the job, we suspected that something was not right. And yes, of course this was one of Simons april fools jokes! So no whale, but a lot of fun.

Later in the afternoon we went to pick up Tue from the train station and welcomed him to the team. He will stay here until Summer. After that the rest of the day went by in a second and the evening was lit by a very beautiful sunrise. We all are full of hope for a lot of birds (in the air and in the nets) tomorrow!

Highlights from the observations:

Gråmåge 2

Kongeedderfugl 2

Topskarv 8

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gærdesmutte - 4

Rødhals - 6

Gransanger - 7

Fuglekonge - 2

Rørspurv - 1

Total = 22

Ringing (Det Grå Fyr):

Fuglekonge -2

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

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