Så blev det Freitag, og med det kom der mindre vind. Jeg håbede meget på en topskarv idag men den skulle desværre ikke komme.Til morgenobs satte jeg mig igen ved Verdens Ende 1, denne gang noget højere på klitten da det ikke var ligeså koldt. Der kom fugle idag, både over havet og over land. Jeg talte mange alliker og der kom også nogle småfugle forbi, Simon var også ude for at gå en tur og han så bla. en hedelærke.

Efter morgenobsen var det hjem for at få lidt at spise, også var det ellers afsted til fine Jerup strand

Der skulle raste lapværling, bjerglærke og snespurv i området og vi så også bjerglærker og en enkelt snespurv. Lapværlingen kunne vi dog ikke finde. Til gengæld var der store præstekraver og lidt blisgæs.

Michael har også været ude og ringmærke ved Jennes sø idag og det gav bla. denne fine lille gråsisken

Vi afleverede også nogle Net til Michaela som hun kunne sy, så kunne det jo være hun overlevede den ellers dødkedelige coronaisolation

Til aften kom vores gæster Elin og Jens over og spiste med. Den stod på foie gras til forret, jeg må erkende at jeg ikke helt forstår hvad alt snakken går ud på, det smagte fint, meeeen så heller ikke meget bedre. Til hovedret stod den på en nudel-grøntsagsret som jeg biksede sammen, i takt med at jeg måske fik svinet køkkenet lidt til, Simon var ikke overlykkelig...

Efter det stod den på kaffe, kage og snak i de tilstødene lokaler.
Imorgen skal det blæse, meget, og jeg søger nok ly i bunkeren til morgenobsen.

Ringmærkning(Jennes Sø):
Lille gråsisken          2

Grønirisk                   2

Rødhals                    1

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Michael Ancher, Michaela Berdougo, Elin, Jens og undertegnede

Halløjsa! 
Idag var en kold dag, Knud holdte fri fra morgenobsen så jeg tog alene op på Verdens Ende 1 og satte mig. Det var svært at finde læ men da jeg fik sat mig til rettet så jeg 3 mallemukker meget meget langt ude lige omkring kl 7. Rolf hilste på og satte sig længere henne ad klitten. Det var en svær dag da jeg obsede alene, sikker bestemmelse af alkefugle var en udfordring og det endte med mange lomvie/alk, men det er forhåbeligt udfordringer jeg bliver bedre til at overkomme med tiden.

 
(Det blæste idag, og det kunne ses på bølgerne)

Jeg tog hjem til afslapning og det var bare godt efter dagens vind. Jeg fik også klaret lidt praktisk på computeren og ryttet op i mailen.

Så var det tid til aftensmad og Elin og Jens kokkerede igen. Denne gang var det lækker pizza og æbletærte til dessert, tak for det!

Om aftenen var det tid til et virtuelt oplæg om fuglestemmer, spektogrammer og natoptagelser. Det var tre spændene oplæg fra Thomas W, Troels Ortvad og selvfølgelig vores egen Simon. Der blev snakket Tajgapiber, Grøn sanger og Mongolsk piber, 3 meget svære arter.

(Simon forklarer om vores natoptagelser som vi også snart går igang med igen)

thats all!
Imorgen er der mindre vind og forhåbeligt også mindre kulde

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Elin, Jens og Jonas Pedersen

Så er vi der igen! Dagen startede som sædvanligt med en morgenobs og mig og Knud satte os igen i den yderste klitrække, verdens ende 3.

Da vi havde sat stolene og skoperne klar, begyndte jeg at eksperimentere med en lydoptager som jeg satte fast på tasken, mest en test på lydkvaliteten til dage hvor der kunne komme nogle sjove småfugle trækkende over os.

Kort efter kom en gråsisken flyvende over os og vendte hurtigt om igen da den så vejret over havet. Det var nemlig en veldig grå dag med skydække og klam kulde.

Heldigvis kunne vi, udover de trækkende fugle, more os med en fin ung gråsæl der lå og tog en skraber på stranden. Den var meget tillidsfuld og Knud tog nogle finde billeder af den.

Efter morgenobsen var det hjem til fyret. Her skulle Simon bruge lidt assistance til at teste lyden på et virtuelt oplæg han skal holde imorgen! Derefter tog han afsted for at fejre hans mormors fødselsdag, tillykke med hende!

Jeg valgte igen at tage til havnen for at se efter måger og skarver, på vejen mødte jeg Elin og Jens, som var ude og cykle en tur. I byen havde jeg en fin hvid vipstjert ved Netto og jeg tjekkede hurtigt Stald Grenen efter drosler og lignende, der var lidt misteldrosler og nogle sjaggere.

(kattegat og skagen havn i skumringen)

Efterfølgende var det hjem hvor jeg holdte et virtuelt møde med Michaela som nu venter på at komme ud af coronaisolation.

Til slut var det mad, nak og æd, og afslapning

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Michaela Berdougo, Elin, Jens og undertegnede

Hej igen! idag en fin dag startende med morgenobs. Mig og Knud var ude på spidsen ved solopgang og vi var klar til flere trækfugletællinger.

Det var en flot morgen og solen var fremme hele perioden

(Udsigten fra obsposten)

Vi nød arter som hvid vipstjert, hedelærke og fjeldvåge. Sent på morgenen blev vi overrasket af 2 topskarver, som Knud opdagede over skagerrak. En fed oplevelse som Knud og jeg havde håbet på!

Efter morgenobsen var det hjem og spise en omgang mad, derefter fik jeg klaret nogle praktiske opgaver som opdatering af hjemmesiden og rengøring af loftrummet over laboratoriet.

(Rengøringen viste sig at være en ekstremsport da det kom til den yderstliggende gesims)

Da det var klaret tog jeg et smut til havnen og kiggede efter rastende måger, alkefugle og skarver.
Simon kørte til Aalborg for at hente en af de frivillige, Michaela, som nu skal i corona-isolation før hun kan slutte sig til stationen.

Lejlighedens gæster, Elin og Jens, har også haft en god dag der startede med et besøg til skarvsøen og en efterfølgende cykeltur til den storslåede Hulsig hede. De lavede også en meget fornem aftensmad, hvor vi udvekslede rejseerfaringer til maden.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Elin, Jens og Jonas Pedersen

Hej, og velkommen til det første blogindlæg i år. Jeg hedder Jonas og jeg skal være her fra marts til juni.

Jeg ankom igår og blev sat ind i tingene af Simon, og fik pakket ud med udsigt til en morgenobs imorgen.

Klokken 7 mødtes jeg ved solopgang med Knud og vi begyndte at tælle trækket. Den første time gav nogle fugle, men efterfølgende døde trækket lidt. Til gengæld kunne vi more os med en fin flok snespurve foran klitterne.

Vi stoppede omkring kl elleve også var det hjem til rugbrødsmadder og afslapning

Vi har også gæster på besøg i lejligheden, Elin og Jens, og de var ude og sige hej på morgenobsen, hvorefter de cyklede en tur i skagensområdet. Simon var også et smut forbi ude på grenen og har ellers haft nogle møder han skulle se til.

Jeg fik også gjort laboratoriet rent så det er klar til ringmærkningssæsonen og der bliv kigget på fryserlisten så vi har et overblik over de døde fugle og dyr vi har i fryseren. Imorgen står den på morgenobs igen og vi håber på nogle fede fugle!

so long
Jonas

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Folk på stationen: Jonas Pedersen, Simon S Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Elin og Jens.

Today Martin, Christina, Simon and I woke up and started cleaning the bird station. Yesterday we had already finished cleaning the lab and today we made everything clean in the apartment for next spring and also for the renovations of the walls, that will happen here in December. It was so strange to see everything packed away and made me think about the last 4 months I spent here meeting so many wonderful people and learning so much, not only about birds, from everyone.

Simon was happy to see everything so clean at the bird observatory here, but of course found some places we weren’t thorough enough…

In the afternoon Martin, Christina and I took a little walk before they left and also said goodbye to the lighthouse and to the sea. Seeing them leave was hard and Martin and I had to cry a little...

I hope to see you all again. A little family portrait :P

In the evening, Simon and I cooked a nice dinner and had a very lonely evening meeting with only two people…

I will probably stay up long to pack all my stuff and get ready for leaving tomorrow morning.

I’m happy to say that this is only my last blog for this year, because I will be coming back in February for 3 weeks! Thank you everyone for this wonderful time I had here. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone again in February!

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Martin Grienenberger, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Amelie Zeller

Martin went to World’s End 3 one last time this morning. The weather wasn’t really cooperating, as it was drizzling, and the visibility was poor. There weren't a lot of birds; however, he still enjoyed those hours, especially since he had hot tea and delicious cookies that Amelie made yesterday:

Meanwhile, we continued cleaning the station and wrapping up the ringing year. That includes counting the leftover rings, packing up equipment and cleaning the lab, checking the last remaining ringing data sheets, cleaning up the freezer, cleaning and storing away the bicycles, and taking down the base station for the ICARUS project until it can be resumed.

Once the rain stopped later in the morning, Amelie opened the nets in the lighthouse garden. We caught three Greenfinches (Grønirisk) and recaptured one Blue tit (Blåmejse). So, the three of us each got to ring one last bird:

In the afternoon we heard that a Bonaparte’s Gull had been sighted in Hirtshals, so we jumped in Martin’s car and drove there in record time. Bonaparte’s Gull is a North American species that is rarely seen here. With the overcast sky, the light was already beginning to fade quickly when we arrived, but Martin spotted it in the harbor within minutes of our arrival. Incidentally, we ran into Conny who was also twitching the bird. The gull was closer to another pier than where we were. We wanted to get a closer look and take some pictures, so we jumped back in the car to drive to the other pier. To our chagrin, we could no longer find the bird – it flew away just as we were heading over there! 

We continued to search for it until it became too dark and then decided that we still had a good twitch after all, even if we only saw it for a few minutes.

When we got back to the lighthouse, a large package was waiting for us: the hoodies we ordered with the Skagen Fuglestation logo on them!

Simon got a call from a local who found a dead Greenfinch (Grønirisk) that was ringed here at the station last year in December. Simon enjoyed a nice cup of coffee with the locals and then took the bird back to the station and put it in the freezer. It will stay there until it can be analyzed for pesticides. If you find a dead bird, always feel free to let us know - we would love to have it for our records and for our research.

Tonight we enjoyed a pizza dinner with Simon and had Kirsten's champagne that she got for us - thank you, Kirsten! :)

This is my last blog entry for the station, as Martin and I will be leaving tomorrow. It really hit me when we drove back from Hirtshals this afternoon and saw the lighthouse in the dark. This place has left a profound impression on me, and I think that it will take me several weeks to process the three months I had here at the station. So many memories, so many good people! And, of course, so many amazing birds.

Many thanks to all of you who crossed paths with me. Each one of you taught me something valuable, even if our encounter was only brief! 

Ringmærkering (Fyrhaven):

Grønirisk – Greenfinch: 3

Total: 3

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Amelie Zeller, Martin Grienenberger, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Conny Jensen, Kirsten

First day of our last week ! And we can't start it without our traditional sunrise picture ;-)

Most of our day was dedicated to inside works since the station needs to be ready for winter : our day menu was composed of sowing nets, sorting the pictures archive, moving furnitures to Simon’s house and to the attic and a lot of cleaning.

But of course, we don’t waste any occasion to ring a few birds ! Amelie thus opened the nets in the morning and she was rewarded with 4 birds : 1 Blue Tit (Blåmejse), 1 Great Tit (Musvit) and 2 Robins (Rødhals).

We had the first of our upcoming heartbreaking moments of the week by driving Jeppe to his train back home at noon. We had a wonderful time with you, we shared so many fun and wonderful moments. Thank you for making our stay as best as it could have been, you know how much good we think of you. We love you, man !

But we couldn't of course let him leave with an empty stomach. At least, that's the excuse we found to hit the Pulse Vogn once again and celebrate Danish hot dog culture !

Guess who ate the biggest ... And it's not necessarily the obvious one !

"Hmmm which will I eat after this one ?"

Simon's is slowly but surely taking away most of the furnitures in the Lighthouse. He even took away the living-room carpet that we asked him to leave ! I couldn't agree more with Amelie's blog post from yesterday ! Simon, you're taking all of the hygge away !!

Ringmærkering (Fyrhaven):

Rødhals – Robin – 1

Total: 1

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Jeppe Overgaard, Martin Grienenberger, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Amelie Zeller

Today I woke up at 7 to open the 2 nets we have in the garden. Esben and I started ringing a bit and had 3 birds in the first round. Then Jeppe came downstairs just to bring Esben some coffee, but he got hijacked by him, so they ringed some Greenfinches (Grønirisk) together. Here you can see a male, first year bird:

Later in the day, we ringed this pretty, female, first year Blackbird (Solsort):

After checking a lot of sheets together with Christina, I took all the remaining GPS tags in from the station garden, because we will only start tagging Blackbirds (Solsort) again in spring or autumn next year. But there’s some good news: The first Blackbird we tagged made its way to the UK a few days ago! After not being able to track it for one month we can finally see the GPS points in the animal tracker app. If you would like to find it, you can search for “Blackbird” in the app and then look for the ring number 8E16269.

We are hoping for some track points from our other 6 Blackbirds (Solsort) soon!

Simon went for a little walk today, didn’t see many birds, but a very colourful Goosander (Stor Skallesluger) and some Sanderlings (Sandløber) resting at the beach.

Martin started early sewing nets today and was later joined by Jeppe, Christina and me. In total, we fixed 6 nets today, 8 more to go now.

Esben was busy ringing today, but also cooking some delicious Tartelettes for us, which is his and Simon’s favourite food and we were all excited to try out this traditional Danish meal!

Right after sunset, Martin and Esben went for a little walk on the beach and Esben tried to catch some birds in the sea, but unfortunately only got wet. Sadly, Esben will leave again tonight and Jeppe will already leave tomorrow… It is getting quite empty here at the station, also because Simon removed all the paintings from the walls today and he will take out the carpets tomorrow, no more hygge in here :(

Ringmærkering (Fyrhaven):

Gærdesmutte - Wren – 1

Grønirisk – Greenfinch – 11

Solsort – Blackbird - 1

Total: 13

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Jeppe Overgaard, Martin Grienenberger, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Esben Hansen, Amelie Zeller

Today was our last day of official observations at World’s End 3. Martin, Amelie, Jeppe and I went out in the morning. The first couple of hours were quite busy, with over 2,000 Alcids! There was also a Great Northern Diver (Islom). We kept our eyes peeled for a Storm Petrel (Stormsvale), but we didn’t see any. Otherwise, it was quite calm out over the sea. Erik, Jørgen and Igor came out to visit us:

I had just left the counting spot when a Little Auk (Søkonge) passed over the tip at Grenen. Too bad I missed it! However, there was a nice Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) sitting on the beach with the other gulls. Amelie managed to take a picture through the scope, which unfortunately isn't very sharp:

For the four of us it was a nice opportunity to enjoy each other’s company in the field. All too soon we will have to say goodbye and go our separate ways. Jeppe is leaving on Monday, and Amelie will go back to Germany next Thursday. Our time here at Skagen Fuglestation has flown by in a blur!

While we were in the field, Esben ringed in the lighthouse garden all day and caught 9 new birds. Between rounds, he got some of his work for university done. Last night, he went nightcatching with Amelie. They saw three Woodcocks (Skovsnepper) but didn’t get close enough to catch one.

There are several tasks still to do before the station closes for the winter, including sewing all of the remaining mist nets and cleaning the two apartments. Jeppe spent most of the afternoon sewing one of the nets from Kabeltromlen, which now leaves us with only 14 nets to fix.

Sadly, the field work is done – Amelie and I also took down the three nets we had at Ellekrattet, so now there will be no more ringing besides in the lighthouse garden! Martin brought back the water pipit (Bjergpiper) trap we had in Grenen, which unfortunately did not catch us any birds. We will try again next year – there must be a way to catch those water pipits (Bjergpiper)!

This afternoon Erik, Jørgen and Igor stopped by for some Æbleskiver and Glühwein. Unfortunately, Knud, Oluf, and Michael were not able to join us, but we had a couple of Æbleskiver in their honor. Or five. I lost count… Delicious, though!

Igor was also there, of course. He greatly enjoyed getting petted by everyone and even took advantage of the couch:

We are now getting ready to have dinner in Skagen. It has been a while since all of us were out together. What a great way to end the day!

Ringmærkering (Fyrhaven):

Blåmejse – Blue tit: 4

Grønirisk – Greenfinch: 1

Munk – Blackcap: 2

Fuglekonge – Goldcrest: 2

Total: 9

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Jeppe Overgaard, Amelie Zeller, Martin Grienenberger, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Esben Hansen, Erik Christophersen, Jørgen Kabel + Igor