What started as a quiet day turned out into the craziest day, we had so far with the observations we could only dream of some months ago. When I look around and see the other volunteers while writing the blog, I see happy satisfied faces.

It started this morning with the announcement of a bluethroat that gained Hanelie’s interest. While I was still waking up, she made her first excursion of the day and succeeded. When she came back, Kjell, Simon, Hanelie and I started to prepare the raptor catching for today. The goal was to place two nets on two locations in Skagen, one with a stuffed eagle owl, and the other with a goshawk. While preparing the first net near Nordstrand, we got a zello about 6 ‘something’. I tried to find a group of 6 birds migrating over the dunes, but when Hanelie got the translation of Simon during a phone call, she told us they saw Orcas “Spækhugger”! We didn’t hesitate and started to run to the car as fast as possible. We were perfectly on time and found them in the scope. Everyone got really excited when they started to jump around. First one, later several at the same time. No less than 11 orcas (at least 2 males) gave us today la crème de la crème. Kjell was so nice to pick up Marion and she got to see them too! As an extra bonus, we found her first great grey shrike “Stor tornskade” a bit later.

Alice and Manuel as well as our guests Dorte and Anders stayed at Nordstrand to finish the morning observations and the laser shootings. They enjoyed the sight of 3 bitterns “Rørdrum”, a great egret “Sølvhejre” and 12 red kites “Rød glente”.

When we recovered from this exciting moment, we went back to the station to pick up some extra food and books to read while we would wait for the raptors. I took post on a hill near the eagle owl while Hanelie took the goshawk for her account.

Because I didn’t have to do anything but wait, I decided to count the raptor migration. I got a visit from Marion and Alice because Marion came to say goodbye. We gave her a wooden goldcrest and a card with a firecrest to thank her for her wonderful company. She has now gone to Aalborg to complete her master thesis. We hope she will find more time to work and that she will come back soon. Alice stayed with me and helped me with the countings. In total, we saw more than 360 birds including 5 ospreys “Fiskeørn”, 3 peregrine falcons “vandrefalk” and 2 black kites “Sort glente”.

Hanelie was not so lucky with seeing the raptor migration but she almost caught hooded crows “Gråkrage” that were attacking the goshawk. Manuel was exploring the harbor in the meantime to find some cool gulls but didn’t get further than herring gulls “Sølvmåge”. Simon, Lisa and Lars did the daily check for the raptor project today. In the afternoon, the guests had a bike trap and found some ring ouzels “ringdrossel” and stonechats “Sortstrubet bynkefugl”.

In the evening we all came together in the lab to learn how to GPS-tag raptors. Kjell showed us on a dead scoter how to attach the tags without hurting the birds.

After a long evening meeting, Manuel could finish the delicious dinner we enjoyed together.

Gærdesmutte (Wren) - 1
Rødhals (Robin) - 29
Bogfinke (Chaffinch) - 1
Jernspurv (Dunnock) - 2
Sangdrossel (Song thrush) - 5
Gransanger (Chiffchaff) - 5
Fuglekonge (Goldcrest) - 4
Grønsisken (Siskin) - 1

Total : 48

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Michael Ancher, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Lisa Vergin, Robbe Cool, Kjell Janssens, Dorte and Anders Østerby, Manuel Tacke

While Alice uses the euphoria of preparing dinner for a little dance (the delicious smell wafts through the flat already), I sit down to the blog for the first time. Today was another rather quiet day in terms of birds because of strong wind from a „wrong“ direction. So there was time for everyone to make phone calls, to write applications or to rest.Hanelie and Marion started the morning observations, Robbe joined them a little later. 

That the migratory conditions are not optimal is made clear by the sparrowhawks coming back from the direction of the open sea. The same goes for some jackdaws and crows. Quite a few Red-throated Divers Rødstrubet lom (a total of 97 ind. going NW), and Gannets Sule nevertheless made some nice observations possible. We expect a change in wind direction on Tuesday and little wind for that day - and we will be ready for that!

This fits in well, as Kjell arrived tonight after a long journey from Belgium. Kjell is an expert in catching and tagging birds of prey. Together with him we want to check out suitable places for catching and also see if we can catch something. Big plans are already being made about what that could be, there are some interesting raptors on the way already (however, Kjell says: we'll see.)

With Dorte and Anders, two new guests have arrived. We are looking forward to their friendly and knowledgeable company in the coming days. They already have our sympathy: they have announced that they will cook a (heavy) Danish soup for all of us tomorrow. We are very curious what it will contain (and how it tastes of course).

Ringmærkning - Nordstjernevej/Nordlysvej (Michael Ancher):
Musvit - 1
Bogfinke - 8
Kvækerfinke - 1
Grønirisk - 1
Gulspurv - 5
Total: 16

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Michael Ancher, Hanelie Sidhu, Manuel Tacke, Alice Scalzo, Robbe Cool, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Kjell Janssens, Dorte and Anders Østerby.

This morning Hanelie and I went to grenen. The wind was quite strong today and migration was a bit slow. Jesper and Mette joined us once again, and after a while went to the bunker to find shelter and continue observing. They saw que a few Eiders (Ederfugl). On our side we didn't get any interesting birds.

Black kite from Eric Christophersens

Good evening fellow birders,

This morning we all woke up to an unexpected sighting: snow on the ground all around the station. While we already had a bit of snow falling down a few days ago, it didn’t stick on the ground at all so this was our first time seeing a somewhat white Skagen. This weather meant that none of us was out this morning as the strong wind made ringing impossible and the rain/snow discouraged us from going to Grenen for morning observation.

We still woke up at around 8 and enjoyed a chill breakfast in the living room. Once that was done, Hanelie and I went to sew more nets. Well actually we had a net that was in such terrible condition it was past the point where we could save it, so we cut the net off and just kept some hooks and lines. Manuel also joined us and all three of us also cut up another net. Meanwhile, Robbe and Mathilde were cleaning their Airbnb and Alice entered all the data from the nocturnal migration recording on Trektellen.

Night flight calls registered on Trektellen from the night of the 30th to 31st of March

The station’s exhibition also opened today so you should all come and check it out like many people already did today. Jesper and Mette also visited the exhibition after seeing the previous one the past year. Then, we had a nice lunch altogether which consisted of yummy wraps prepared by Mathilde and Robbe. Afterwards, all 6 of us decided to go up to the lighthouse while Simon, Jesper and Mette focused on the raptor GPS project which is currently running. The weather had already gotten better by that point, so we had a nice view across the peninsula and the sea.

Mathilde and Robbe went on a quick walk before Mathilde had to leave and they saw two Common European Vipers (Hugorm) which had been a goal of Robbe for a while! Manuel, Alice, Hanelie and I also went on a little bike tour to enjoy the nicer weather and so that Manuel would discover a bit more of the surroundings. We started at Jennes Sø where we enjoyed the nice view from the pontoon. Then, we attempted once again to see some Bearded Reedlings (Skægmejse) at the reeds near Nordstrand but none of them seemed to be around. Our last stop was the Cormorant Lake where we could see the resting or breeding Cormorants (Skarv), Red-necked Grebes (Gråstrubet Lappedykker), Black-Headed Gulls (Hættemåge), Mute Swans (Knopsvane) and Goldeneyes (Hvinand). On our way back we also got to observe some Red Kites (Rød Glente) from really close by.

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Shortly after we were all back, we got the chance to meet Lisa who is also a ringer and arrived from Germany. Then together with Jesper and Mette, we all took part in a short lecture given by Simon on the ageing of Chiffchaffs (Gransanger) relying on moulting strategies. To see how well we retained all the information and make it more interactive, Simon had also prepared a Kahoot quiz that we played at the end. Alice was the winner and got all answers right but one! She got a nice price from Simon, a little pin he received when he was at school and looked thrilled about it.

But the day is not over yet, some of us will be heading outside to go night catching once again in the hope of getting some Jack Snipes (Enkeltbekkasin) or other locally resting species. Tomorrow, morning observation and laser shooting will take place, so we are hoping to have a variety of exciting sightings.

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

Good night everyone,

Marion

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Robbe Cool, Manuel Tacke, Mathilde, Lisa Vergin, Jesper and Mette.

Today, it was Simon that woke up the earliest. No later than 2h30, he was awake. Apparently, he fell asleep during the night while waiting until we came back with a cool bird and at that time we were all asleep already. Fortunately, he had some more sleep at home.  Mathilde and I started our day a bit later with a big Danish brunch. We took our time to enjoy the morning and went to the station in the early afternoon. Meanwhile, the others took advantage of the rainy weather and had a quiet morning too. Except for Hanelie. She was, as usual, the first person to wake up and finished her report. Because Simon’s haircut-agenda was too full, she tried to find a hairdresser in the city. Unfortunately, they were also fully booked until the end of April. Now, she has a good excuse to recruit Simon as her personal hairdresser.

Although we were not so active during the morning, there were a lot of people around the lighthouse because today the exhibition opened. Some special guests were present for the opening such as the major, the minister of culture, the director of Birdlife Denmark (Sigrid Anderson) and the chairman of the observatory’s board (Niels Eriksen).

In the afternoon, Alice finished the nocmig and showed Simon the last mystery calls. The biggest surprise was the nocturnal flight calls of common scoters "Sortand".

When Mathilde and I arrived at the station, we immediately joined Simon to work on the raptor project. On our way, we also picked up Hanelie who was totally soaked by the rain. From Sunday on, our raptor project will even be more exciting because a Belgian expert will come to help us with all his knowledge and tools.

In the late afternoon, Manuel arrived at the station. He is a new volunteer from Germany and will stay until halfway through June. He gained a lot of experience in bird migration by joining the count of amazing migration bottlenecks like Eilat (Israel) and Batumi (Georgia). He is currently working for Birdlife Germany, but he decided to spend his holidays in Skagen. After a short introduction to the station and the evening meeting, we went together with Mathilde to world’s end 3. We were really surprised when we looked into the sky because it was full of passerines and raptors. Surprisingly, there were no buzzards but at least 2 ospreys "fiskeørn" and 11 marsh harriers "Rørhøg". I called them out on Zello and the other girls could see them from the station as well. When we continued our walk, the marsh harriers seemed to search for a roosting place at Grenen.

Once arrived at the station, the dinner prepared by our guests was ready. They spent the whole afternoon buying and preparing food and it was really worth it! Because they are unlucky with the weather during their stay, they decided to go to the art museum in the morning. After dinner, Mathilde and I went to our Airbnb to enjoy our last evening together.

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

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

I hope the spring birds arrive soon!

Robbe

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Robbe Cool, Manuel Tacke, Mathilde, Jesper and Mette.

Yesterday we left you with the news of us going night catching, I would love to say that we caught many birds but unfortunately we barely got close to them. They all flew away as soon as we would light the torch. Thanks to this though we could go to bed rather early. So this morning all three of us went to Grenen, accompanied by our guests Jesper and Mette. There was little happening on the sea, apart from the Scoters (Sortand) which were more numerous. The only highlight of our morning is a Long-tailed duck (Havlit) which flew pretty close to the shore. The laser binocular was also with us, unfortunately, land migration was nonexistant, we did the transects but had nothing to shoot. After four hours in the cold, we decided to come back to the warmth of the station.

Hello everyone,

To no surprise to most of you probably, whether you are from Denmark or elsewhere, the weather was not so great today. It seems Europe is catching up with some cold and rainy days it missed this winter. The combination of rain and wind made it obvious that we would, yet again, not be able to go ringing this morning. The risks of the birds getting too wet in the nets, as well as the nets getting damaged by the wind, are just too high and the slow days we’ve had at Kabeltromlen in the past week were just one more reason to avoid it. As for the morning observations, they could still have happened as some birds are not deterred by these weather conditions and some bunkers could have provided some shelter. But we decided to sleep in instead this morning as we preferred to keep some energy for days where migration would be more abundant. Jesper and Mette, the new guests who arrived yesterday evening, also made the same decision and slept in this morning.

Everyone woke up on their own time and once we were all up, we decided to play Wingspan again. With the greatest score so far, Alice won this game! I guess this means we will need to offer Robbe another chance for him to get this revenge as today was not the day for it. This was followed by hard goodbyes for Robbe who is leaving for Aalborg today although only for two days. I will let him tell you more about that when he is back. Then, we all attended to our own personal tasks and took some time to chill as well. Alice tried to get started on this week’s nocturnal migration (NocMig) recording but after trying to open the file for a while and trying different laptops, it turned out the file was corrupted. Thankfully, this is all fixed now and she will be able to work on it from now on. Hanelie finished writing of her university report about her time in Denmark and only has a few details to add such as sources. She also helped a bit more with the bird quiz that will be used for the exhibition, notably the German version of it. On my side, I made progress on the statistics for my internship using every biologist’s beloved program R.

While we all stayed inside, which felt weird and is uncommon, Jesper and Mette were brave enough to face the wind and went for a walk to Grenen. They saw some Northern Gannets (Sule), some Sanderlings (Sandløber) and a couple of seals. Just like us, they are hoping nicer weather will be back soon and the migration will start to pick up again.

Tonight, we are going to Hirtshals again for another try at night catching! So, cross your fingers for us and we are hoping to have more successful news to give you tomorrow this time. We will also be at Grenen for morning observations and the laser binoculars will be out again, ready to shoot some more birds.

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

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

But for now, good evening or good night to all of you.

Marion

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Robbe Cool, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Jesper and Mette.