Dagen startede tidligt med morgenobservation på Verdens Ende, idet Rasmus, Amandine, Viktoria og jeg cyklede afsted fra Det Grå Fyr kl. 4.25. Lidt efter ankom Rasmus’ far Anders for at hjælpe os :-) 

Det var en lidt stille morgen med tiltagende vind, hvor vi blandt andet så hvepsevåge, karmindompap, tejst, fløjlsand, brilleand, sortand og amerikansk sortand mm. For Rasmus’ vedkommende blev det også til en ny art - almindelig skråpe, hvilket han var ret glad for. Efter endt morgenobservation gik Amandine, Viktoria, Rasmus og Anders ned på stranden for at se nærmere på den amerikanske sortand.

Erik Christophersen har taget dette flotte billede af de to brilleænder.

Senere på formiddagen tog Amandine og Viktoria ud til Skarvsøen for at overvåge kolonien. Ungerne er blevet store, og det er svært at se forskel på dem og de voksne. Da de kom tilbage til fuglestationen, blev dataene derfra registeret, hvorefter morgenens observationer fra Verdens Ende blev tastet ind i DOF-basen. 

Skarvkolonien med dens mange reder og de smukker skarver.

Mark blev hjemme på fyret, da han havde en del “kontor-arbejde”, der skulle laves. Herefter åbnede han Birder’s Club, som blev besøgt af flere børn, der blandt andet kom for at male fugle. Måske de udstoppede fugle, som fint kunne ses udefra, fik børnene til at kigge ind? Eller var det mon tavlen, hvorpå han havde noteret dagens observationer? Eller radaren? 

Over middag var jeg ude for at afprøve Swarovskis Digital Guide kikkert. Det er en ret ny kikkert, der næsten lige er kommet på markedet. Med den er det muligt at få identificeret de fugle, man ser. Den bruges som almindelig kikkert (dog kun med et øje), og så har den et indbygget kamera, således man kan tage billeder af fuglene, imens man ser dem. Herefter kan man få identificeret fuglene via en app - det er ret smart! Jeg vil i de følgende dage prøve den lidt mere af, så jeg forhåbentlig kan lave en anmeldelse af den. 

App’en og jeg var heldigvis enige om, at dette er en fin tårnfalk. 

Resten af dagen gik med reparation af waders og lidt dataarbejde, og Viktoria tog en tur ind til Skagen for at se nærmere på byen.

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

Yestarday evening, we went out to try to catch nightjars (natravn) again, with Henning, Lars Bo, Anders (Rasmus’s father), Lærke and the guests.  We set up the nets in a slightly different locations, and while we were setting them up, we started to hear some nightjars singing, and soon we saw some males flying close to the nets. We waited long hours, and left the nets open until 5am, but unfortunately we did not catch any. It might be due to the weather – cloudy and slightly rainy – or it might start to be late in the season to catch them. We noticed indeed that the nightjars seemed less active this night than the previous ones we had been out.

We all came back very tired from this long night and slept until around midday.   After that, we completed different tasks including cleaning the flat, data entering, ect...  The day was rainy, and very few people came to the observatory. Lærke left in the early afternoon, and soon after Pernille arrived. She will stay at the station for a week and help us ! After a long trip by car from Germany, Viktoria, a new volunteer arrived at the station as well and will stay here for a month. We’re all looking forward to go ringing again !

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

People:  Simon S. Christiansen, Lars Bo Jacobson, Amandine Doré, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Marc, Lærke and Malthe Desholm, Henning Ettrup, Uller, Lotte, Maya and Max, Anders Rasmussen

Vækkeuret ringede 03.50 så jeg havde god tid til at smøre min madpakke og pakke mine ting. Amandine og jeg stod på Grenen allerede klokken 04.30 som de første birdere, men inden længe kom der flere. Dagens morgenobs bød på arter som storkjove, sølvhejre, islandske ryler, strandhjejle og meget andet. Da vi kom hjem fik jeg besøg af mine forældre som skal være i Skagen den næste uges tid, så det bliver hyggeligt. Vi gik en tur ud ad sandormesporet for at se om vi kunne finde brilleænderne. Det kunne vi! Ellers er dagen gået med rigtig meget dataarbejde og en omgang madlavning på højt plan ???? Her til aften skal vi til Sandmilen for at se om vi kan fange natravne igen. Vi håber på en masse, men det er ikke sikkert det bliver til noget fordi det desværre allerede ser ud som om det begynder at regne ved 02.00-03.00-tiden. Vi håber dog stadig vi kan nå at fange nogle stykker.

foto: Erik Christophersen, Art: Karmindompap, Sted: Skarvsøen

Folk: Amandine Doré, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Marc and Lærke Desholm, Henning Ettrup, Lars-Bo, Lucas Corneliussen, Erik Chrisophersen, Rolf kristensen, Ulla, Lotte, Maya and Max

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

The day started ealry at Jennes Sø, where we carried out a CES ringing session with the help of Henning. We caught very few birds, however we got two very nice ones : a juvenile Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) and a recaptured Tree pipit (Skovpiber). Uller, Lotte, Maya and Max joined us at 6am and got to see quite a few birds, including the Goldcrest, a Great tit juvenile (Musvit), a Crested tit (Topmejse), 2 Wrens (Gaerdesmutte) and a Chiffchaff (Gransanger).

Juvenile Goldcrest (Fuglekonge)

Tree pipit (Skovpiber)

Moulting Willow Warbler (Løvsanger)

After the CES ringing, we went to the Cormorant Colony (Skarv) for the breeding survey. Counts were identifical to the last time we went, and fortunately, no more nests have been predated this time !



In the evening, Henning brought us to Jerup strand to see if we could find some Sandwich terns (Splitterne) with rings and try to read them. We indeed found some Sandwich Terns, but none of them were wearing a ring, metal or color rings. Alongside the terns were a lot of waders such as Dunlins (Almindelig ryle), Oystercatcher (Strandskade), Bar-tailed Godwit (Lille kobbersneppe), Common Ringed Plover (Stor præstekrave). We also saw some Cranes (Traner) and a lot of Gulls (Måge) !   

Ringmærkning (Jennes Sø):

Gransanger – Chiffchaff – 2
Fuglekonge – Goldcrest – 1
Gærdesmutte – Wren – 1
Topmejse  – Crested tit – 2
Løvsanger – Willow warbler – 1

Total: 7

People:  Simon S. Christiansen, Amandine Doré, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Marc, Lærke and Malthe Desholm, Henning, Uller, Lotte, Maya and Max

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

Morgenen startede totalt tidligt kl. 4.00, hvor Rasmus og Amandine tog ud til søde Rolf på Verdens Ende for at morgenobse. Morgenens bedste fugle udgjordes af to sølvhejre, et par trækkende små regnsporver og den sædvanlige sortandeflok, hvori der stadig huserer to brilleænder og en amerikansk sortand. Få fugle men klart fede arter!

DOF var i morgennyhederne på DR-TV, hvor Mark blev interviewet (med det grå fyr i baggrunden) til en live-snak om DOF’s ørne-tv, som jo har haft over 1,6 mio. unikke sidehenvisninger i år – det er for vildt!!!

Kl. 14.00 blev der afholdt guidet ringmærkningstur med formanden for Danmarks Ringmærkerforening og bestyrelsesmedlem for Skagen Fuglestation Henning Ettrup, hvor den eneste fugl i hånden desværre, var super-fugle-fangst-kvinden Amandine’s håndfangne brevdue, som nu på Simons mellemkomst fremadrettet skal agere sæddoner i Knud Petersens brevduehold, hvor indavlen har trygget lidt på det sidste. Der var 9 deltagere på turen, der fik set fire skønne og lokale tårnfalke over de tomme eftermiddagsnet.

Til aften var Amandine og Rasmus ude ved Jennesø, for at gøre klar med buskryderen til morgendagens – eller rettere den ekstremt tidlige morgen-morgen’s CES-fangst. Den utrættelige Henning deltager igen med hultangen – og hvem ved, hvad mon der kommer til at ligger i netlommerne??? Imens fik Lærke og Mark sig en løbetur ud over heden, og Malthe fik spottet fede biler i Skagen med sin tilrejsende klassekammerat.

Aftenen blev afsluttet med lækker aftensmad tilberedt af Lærke, og Amandine udviste endnu en gang hendes utrættelighed, ved at hoppe i løbeskoende og kaste sig ud i Skagens vidunderlige og gyldne aftensol.

Tak til Skagen for endnu en gang at levere en skøn dag i selskab med skønne mennesker og skønne fugle omkring Skagen Fuglestation.

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Amandine Doré, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Marc, Lærke and Malthe Desholm, Henning Ettrup, Ulla, Lotte, Maya and Max

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

This morning, I went opening the nets with Kristina for 4:45 and we’ve been then joined by Simon, Marc and Rasumus for the first round at 5:15, and for a short time by Lærke and Malthe. After the days of bad wether, it was good to be out again at Kabeltromlen and do some ringing !

It was actually a very good catching day, warm and sunny. Again, we caught mostly juvenile birds from Common Whitethorat (Tornsanger), Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger), Blue tit (Blåmejse), Greta tit (Musvit). We also got a beautiful juvenile Yellowhammer (Gulspurv). Kristina and Rasmus were learning how to take birds out of the nets.

In one of the last net checks, we caught a ”special bird”: a juvenile Green sandpiper (Svaleklire) ! You can tell it’s a juvenile because the wing feathers are new, are from the same generations (different generations in adult) and the spots are brownish, while they are white on the adults.

We also got a quite interesting recapture, an adult female Blackacap (Munk) with an Italian rings... We should get some more information on this bird very soon !

There were also some cool birds at sea today : two Surf Scoters (Brilleand) and Black Scoter (Amerikansks Sortand) on a visit from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean!

Photo: Erik Christophersen

In the afternoon, we completed different office tasks as usual, data entering, data checking,etc...

While sitting at the Birder’s club to answer visitors questions about birds, a young couple came to me asking if I could do anything for the seals: apparently there was a seal cub on Grenen tip, that people were petting... I decided to go to have a look and found a huge crowd of people around this very young seal. This baby seal was in fact injured, explaining why people had managed to come so close and ”pet” it. It looked very exhausted, both from the injury and the stress caused by the crowd, who unfortunately did only care about getting pictures with seals, even when this little one was dying.  Signs are put up on the beach to warn people to stay away from the seals, both for their security (seals can bite and carries a lot fo bacteria, who can generates important infection) and for the seals’s tranquility, but very few respect the 50m distance recommended. I tried to get people away from the seal cub and some nice people helped me keeping away the increasing amount of tourists coming to the tip.

Seal cub 

Two reporters, who came to document the area of Skagen, have been of very great help and were truly concern about the seal. We then called for some help from professionnals, but unfortunately they had to put down the young seal, probably too injured and too weak. It was shot on the beach, in the middle of the crowd.

This shows how close people get to the seal in Grenen, while they should respect a distance of 50m. 

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):

Green Sandpiper - Svaleklire - 1
Yellowhammer - Gulspurv - 1
Great tit - Musvit - 3
Marsh warbler - Kærsanger - 2
Willow warbler - Løvsanger - 1
Redpoll - Gråsisken, Lille (cabaret) - 7
Reed warbler - Rørsanger - 3
Common Whitethroat - Tornsanger - 19
Blackcap - Munk - 2
Blue tit - Blåmejse - 3
Chiffchaff - Gransanger - 8
Reed bunting - Rørspurv - 2

Total:52

People:  Simon S. Christiansen, Amandine Doré, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Marc, Lærke and Malthe Desholm, Kristina Sønderkjær, Uller, Lotte, Maya and Max,
Thanks to Erik Christiphersen for the Surf scoter picture

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

Dagen startede med regn, og af den grund havde vi mulighed for at kunne sove lidt længere i dag. Jeg vågnede ved 9-tiden dejligt udhvilet og klar til dagens opgaver, som i dag stod på Birders Club og en fuldt booket ringmærknings tur. Selvom vejret ikke vær egnet til ringmærkning lykkedes det os alligevel at fange en flot Gulspurv som var til stor begejstring for de mange deltagere, og især børnene var meget imponerede fuglen. På turen fik Skagen Fuglestation en masse spændene spørgsmål fra de mange børn bla. "Er en ørns snabel lang?" "Kan en ørn godt få børn?" Vi svarede på de mange spørgsmål efter bedste evne. Desværre måtte vi lukke nettene ret hurtigt igen da, det begyndte at regne.

Her til aften har vi fået lækker vegansk mad som Lærke har lavet, og Amandine er på vej ud for at tælle terner. Alt i alt har det været en rigtig hyggelig dag selvom mængden af fugle ikke har været noget at råbe hurra for. Vi glæder os til en ny dag i morgen

Ringmærkning (Fyrhaverne)

Reed bunting - Gulspurv - 1

 Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Amandine Doré, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Marc, Lærke and Malthe Desholm, Kristina Sønderkjær, Uller, Lotte, Maya and Max

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

This morning, Rasmus and me woke up early to try to find roosting Sandwich Terns (Splitterne) but this was unsuccessfull. We only saw some roostings gulls (måge) and Common terns (Fjordterne).... It has been several days that we haven’t seen them roosting, only fishing... It might due to the amount of tourists in Skagen right now.... People go out early and late to watch the sunrise/sunset and this might disturb the Sandwich terns (Splitterne)....   

Common terns (Fjordterne) adult and juveniles

Rasmus and me decided then to split up and go bird-watching and do some countings of other species. There were hundreds of Common Scoters (Sortand) in the sea, on their way to migrate. I also went for some "seal watching"...before tourists scare them off !



On my way back, I also saw two now almost fully grown Common plover (Stor Praestekrave) chicks, and one of them was one the chicks we ringed ealier in the season. Surprisingly the second chick was not ringed, although we had ringed two full clutches....  Maybe we had missed one of the chicks?

Common Ringed Plover chick ringed

In the afternoon, we went to survey the Cormorant (Skarv) colony and our new guests, Uller, Lotte, Maya and Max came along. The chicks are of adult size right one, and start to resemble juveniles from last year.... Which makes it tricky to count them ! And unfortunately, we found out today that 3 more nests have been predated, in the Western part of the colony this time.... Hopefully the chicks fledge very soon and there won’t be more predation... We also saw some chicks from Red-necked Grebe (Gråstrubet lappedykker), which was very nice !

Red-necked Grebe (Gråstrubet lappedykker) chicks

In the end of afternoon, Marc and his two children, Lærke and Malthe arrived at the observatory and will stay for 2 weeks here, helping with the work at the observatory.

A future volunteer, Kristina, who will spend the autumn in Skagen, also joined us for a couple of days, to have a first idea of how it will be like to work at the observatory later on.

Now the station is full again !

People:  Simon S. Christiansen, Amandine Doré, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Marc, Lærke and Malthe Desholm, Kristina Sønderkjær, Uller, Lotte, Maya and Max

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

I dag har været en meget stille og rolig dag fuglemæssigt pga. den kraftige blæst. Det er også dagen hvor sagde vi farvel til Martina og til den familie, som har boet i lejligheden ved siden af i den sidste uge. Det var rart og hyggeligt at møde jer, selvom det kun blev til 2 dage sammen med jer for mit vedkommende. Efter Martina tog afsted, stod den på rengøring i hele lejligheden og laboratoriet. Jeg har haft en meget stille og rolig dag som bla. blev brugt på at printe nye tegninger til børnene i ”Birders Club”, svare på spørgsmål fra nysgerrige turister, og på en dejlig tur langs stranden med rigtig mange terner.

Vi glæder os til en ny dag Imorgen

Folk: Amandine Doré, Rasmus Matthiesen-juhl, Simon S. Christiansen

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

Today actually started yesterday at 10pm when we went with Lars Bo to catch nightjars (natraven). Pernille and Rasmus also came in the hope of seeing these cool birds. At first we were a little bit disappointed because last time we had been we heard several singing even before sunset whereas this night we didn’t hear any singing at all at first. We had to set up the nets based on where we thought was good locations but it soon became clear that we chose the good places: even while we were setting up the nets, Rasmus, Pernille and I saw at least two nightjars fly around very close to us. It was the first nightjars that Rasmus had seen, so he was very happy. Then we put on the playback and waited.

Simon came out to say good-bye to me and in the hope to see a nightjar but had to wait for a while for his first. He was just about to leave when we finally caught one male. Rasmus junior and Pernille were really happy as it was the first time they had held one. Simon left and then we caught two more nightjars in one net check. One male and one female. The female had an egg that you could actually feel in her belly. It must be a second clutch that she started, either because the first clutch already fledged or because it was lost. We hope for the first option, of course.

After the ringing we came home at around 5 am and everybody went to sleep. I went to the tip in the hope of seeing ringed sandwich terns (splitterne) before but there weren’t any. I think probably the many tourists stop them from roosting on our beach now. They only come when the bad weather keeps the tourists away. There were several seals, some common terns, gulls, plovers (stor præstekrave), and a red-throated diver (rødstrubet lom), which was nice enough. Also just offshore there was a large group of at least 300 black scoters (sortand) roosting in the water which is the biggest flock I have seen here.

After that I went home to sleep as well. In the afternoon we did some maintenance work on the nets and antenna but nothing too exciting.

I will leave tomorrow, after having been here for almost two months. It has been an amazing two months that is hard to put into words. I met a lot of interesting people, learned how the birding community here in Skagen works and wish that it would work like this elsewhere. I saw so many cool birds and ringed many of them. I also became famous without wanting to. I guess things like that just happen to you. Me, I love terns and shorebirds, so being able to watch the sandwich terns through the window all day long as they take the fish they catch around the tip towards their chicks on Hirsholm is by far the best thing about this place. But the experience here has just been phenomenal due to the whole mix of everything, the landscape, the people, the seabirds and the birds in the ringing, even the raptors, and somehow also even the rails. I would much rather be remembered as the girl who loved the terns so much she would talk about nothing else all day long and couldn’t concentrate on the Vikings game when there were terns flying by, than the girl that discovered the lille rørvagtl but I guess different people have different priorities…

It would be really hard to explain to people who have not been here, why you choose to go out birdwatching in the evening and then still get up at 2.15 in the morning to open the nets while you get eaten (or drunk) by mosquitos and do that for weeks on end but this place and everything about it is just so special you want to make use of every hour you have even if it means you don’t sleep enough for two months straight. I guess if it costs me a few weeks of my life time then the energy was well invested. I won’t try to explain and I know that pictures can only give you a little glimpse of the reality up here but there are no words, nor pictures to describe the experience here. The only way is to come and see for yourself. As far as I am concerned, Simon already knows that he will have to put up with me again next year. I am already looking forward to coming back!

It remains to say thanks to everybody who made my experience here so memorable and enjoyable. I will miss it all – but especially the terns!

Ringmærkning (Sandmilen):

Natraven - Nightjar - 3

Folk: Martina Hillbrand, Simon S. Christiansen, Amandine Doré, Rasmus Matthlesen-duhl, Lars Bo Jacobsen, Pernille Roed

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