Once upon a time, an infamous crew of pirates lived at the Grey Lighthouse. They were a furious gang, always eager to find rare and precious birds in the neighbourhood. On Friday, the pirate group lost one seaman, as pirate Koen was taken back to his far away home country by his pirate relatives. The gang hopes that he will at one day return to the Grey Lighthouse and wishes him all the best until then!

Pirate Koen in his ambush dress

Luckily, we already have a replacement. Welcome our new crew member, Eleanor the elephant!

Eleanor working hard to finish an article about the identification of eastern subspecies of lesser whitethroats (gærdesanger)

In the morning the wind was blowing strong from the south and the ringing pirates Laia, Judith, Oluf and Chris decided to try raiding golden birds in Sardinkrattet, while the observer pirate Asger sailed to the end of the world, hoping to observe treasures from there. The ringing pirates had a rather slow morning, as several rain showers prevented a continuous raid. But real pirates are not afraid of water coming from the skies! The little shelter boat in Sardinkrattet was unfortunately leaky at first, but scout pirate Laia overhauled it immediately. In the now dry little shelter boat, the pirates waited patiently until the rain had stopped. Thankfully, red wine (vindrossel - redwing) was captured five times, so the pirates were frolicking throughout the morning. A flock of at least 55 bearded tits (skægmejse), several mistle thrushes (misteldrossel) and goldfinches (stillits) were flying around the pirate ship as well. Later, the pirates started to fix their nets, so that they would be able to catch more treasures in the future, haaarrr!

Ringing pirate in the little shelter boat

A male blackcap (munk) from the morning

The observer pirate at the end of the world had a golden morning and counted many birds. A pomarine skua (mellemkjove), 42 water pipits (bjergpiber), which is a large number, also waxwings (silkehale), wood larks (hedelærke) and in total 80 bearded tits (skægmejse) made his heart beat faster. Awesome treasures indeed! But also on the end of the world, rain showers passed by and without a shelter boat the observer pirate got quite wet. But that did not break his will and after some short rest he sailed out to new endeavours on the afternoon again! This time the North beach (Nordstrand) was his destination and among the gulls resting there he found gold indeed - a young glaucous gull (gråmåge)! 

Juvenile glaucous gull (gråmåge)

The handicraft pirates Gitte and Jens Peder put up new lamps in the pirate's home harbour and finished the brand-new bird guessing game in Birders Club. You should come and see this new cool activity treasure at the Grey Lighthouse!

Guess the bird game - Gæt en fugl

New lamps in the pirate's nest!

After returning from the raid in Sardinkrattet, the ringing pirates took a bath in the ocean to clean themselves. Even pirates have to follow a daily sanitation routine, haaarrr! Fresh from the bath, the pirates Laia and Judith checked the pirate's ring and picture collection. Pirates have to keep good records of their raids!

Pirate Chris visited his pirate parents and they did a tour around Skagen harbour and the Sand-Covered Church (Den Tilsandete Kirke). The treasures they found were several colour-ringed great black-backed gulls (svartbag) and some approachable rock pipits (skærpiber) at Vesterby Strand.

Rock pipit (skærpiber) on red algae

Pirates Gitte and Jens Peder cooked pancakes for the crew in the evening and an eventful pirate day drew to a close with cake, games and laughter of the entire gang!

Ringing (Sardinkrattet):

Eurasian Bullfinch ssp. europea - Lille Dompap - 2
Eurasian Blue Tit – Blåmejse – 1
Eurasian Blackcap - Munk - 3
Eurasian Wren - Gærdesmutte - 1
European Robin - Rødhals - 3
Redwing - Vindrossel - 5

Total: 15

People: Pirate captain Simon S. Christiansen, ringer pirates Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias and Oluf Lou, stringer pirate Koen Stork, observer pirate Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, handicraft pirates Gitte & Jens Peder, pirate parents C+M Stolz, pirate friend Jørgen Kabel + pirate dog Igorrr, dutch pirate family Manon Stassen, Vincent Stork & pirate dog Rattie!

This morning, I went out for observations with my dad. We went to the Høyen Fyr area. When we arrived, it was very cloudy and dark and there was light, drizzling rain and strong winds. There were very few birds around but we quickly noticed the good migration of Siskins (Grønsisken), we counted almost 1000 birds in just a few hours. We continued birding and managed Waxwing (Silkehale) Woodlark (Hedelærke), two Skylarks (Sanglærke) and a Golden Plover (Hjejle) that were all migrating to their winter quarters. On the ground were not so many birds, to say the least. It was actually very quiet. If your highlights are around 20 Yellowhammers (Gulspurv) and a few Crested Tits (Topmejse), you know it’s not a great morning. However, that changed when we decided to check the nearby industrial area and horse fields. Here, there were more birds around and we managed to find a nice flock of Tree Sparrows (Skovspurv), Black Redstart (Husrødstjert), White Wagtail (Hvid Vipstjert) and a nice mixed flock of finches and buntings. At one point, we heard a group of crossbills coming. They were Parrot Crossbills (Stor Korsnæb), we counted 26 birds and at least most of them were Parrot Crossbills, really nice!

In the meantime, Laia, Judith and Simon were waking up and opened the nets at Fyrhaven to do some ringing for the tour for 75(!) pupils that would start at 09:45. Christian spent the night at the summer house of his parents and joined as well. He, Simon and Gitte were guiding all the children and their teachers. My dad and I stopped by for a brief moment to see some ringing and have a look at how the tour was going, it looked really fun! All the kids were really interested in all the things we do here at the bird observatory. Simon, Chris and Gitte also said that it was a good tour and that the kids really had fun. Always good to see tat there are so many potential nature lovers in the next generation! It’s not always you guide a group of pupils that are all very interested in the research and monitoring we do here.

At the same time all this was happening, Esger was on his own doing observations from World’s End 1. As I said before, conditions were not that   with strong winds and light rain and very dark weather in general. But still he managed to see quite some cool birds. He had really good numbers of Siskins as well, more than 2000! Apart from this, he managed to see Lapland Bunting (Lapværling), Great Skua (Storkjove) and Water Pipits (Bjergpiber). But probably the most rare thing he saw, was the absence of Rolf! Apparently, Rolf was doing observations from a bunker because of the weather condition.

After having a look at the tour, me and my dad decided to some birding at Grenen. As we walked along the tractor track we managed some Bearded Tits (Skægmejse), three more Waxwings and another group of Parrot Crossbills!! This time, we only heard the Parrot Crossbills so we don’t have an exact number but I estimate there were around 5 birds. Then we arrived to the beach and the dunes, we saw a Shorelark (Bjerglærke) and two Snow Buntings (Snespurv). And we saw a group of 6 Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) going south, they came straight in from sea. Visible migration at it’s best! We searched for the Black Scoter (Amerikansk Sortand) since it was a lifer for my dad. Unfortunately we didn’t get lucky. We walked back to the parking and I showed my dad the ringing place a bit, and we managed to find a Siberian Chiffchaff (Sibirisk Gransanger) there! Maybe the bird we caught yesterday and the day before yesterday? During our long walk we also had a few easy new species for my dad’s triplist (he was at Falsterbo last week and is keeping track of his number of species) such as Bullfinch (Dompap), Sanderling (Sandlober) and Red-throated Diver (Rødstrubet Lom).

After that, we got back an the others were back as well. We had lunch and then Stine came to help us with the usual stuff as checking the data in our database on errors. Since I’m leaving tomorrow, I did some packing. Christian had a look at our ‘Dompap-issue’, and we decided to label only birds with wings shorter than 87 mm as ssp europaea and with wings longer than 89 mm as ssp pyrrhula. If the bird has a wing length of 87-89 mm, we don’t assign it to subspecies level.

Esger was still out birding and he called that he found the Black Scoter again! Me, my dad and Gitte rushed out to see it and we succeeded! We were both very happy with this lifer for my dad so we decided to make a weird selfie which is kind of tradition when we find/see a good bird. I included it here, a suiting end to my stay here at Skagen Bird Observatory. It was a really cool opportunity and I would really recommend it to anyone interested in birds and keen to learn more about the subject. Thanks for having me!

Ringing (Fyrhavene)

Solsort: 2

Vindrossel: 3

Fuglekonge: 2

Gærdesmutte: 1

Total: 8

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, Gitte & Jens Peder, Knud Pedersen, C+M Stolz, Manon Stassen, Vincent Stork, Rattie

Så blev det vores tur til at skrive dagbog fra Skagen Fuglestation. Det er virkelig en stor fornøjelse at være gæst/frivillig her. Vi vælger at indgå som en del af teamet, hvilket betyder, at vi betaler til den fælles madkasse, og spiser sammen med de andre frivillige og deltager i arbejdet på lige fod med dem.

Men nu til dagens oplevelser. Koen og Laia åbnede nettene i dag. Simon, Judith og Christian kom senere og så var der tid for at ringmærke fugle. Dagen gav flere gode fuglearter i nettene. F.eks. Gærdesanger, Gransanger og Havesanger. Der blev ringmærket 24 fugle og 14 fugle blev genfanget.

Koen fik i dag besøg af sin familie samt lille hund. De var på tur og så bl.a. 18 Silkehaler. Koen rejser hjem til Holland fredag. Tak for hyggeligt samvær!

Simon har i dag lavet invitation til The Scandinavian Triple! Så nu er det med at tilmelde sig, hvis det kan have interesse. Se mere om det på under Nyheder her på siden.

Efter ringmærkningen var der fælles rengøring, og det er virkelig teamwork af de unge mennesker, som er frivillige på stationen.

Jens Peder hang billeder op på ”drengeværelset”, snakkede med producenten af kombiovnen mht. fugt i ovnlågen, reparerede huller i waders igen igen. Waders’ne har ret mange huller, og selv om han lapper dem hver dag, bliver der ved med at komme vand ind. Det er ikke rart for ringmærkerne, at have våde fødder.

Jeg startede stille ud i dag ovenpå en lidt hård dag i går. Det er altså hårdt arbejde at være ringmærker(medhjælper). Så jeg sad lige så stille og lavede en liste med fugle til en aktivitet, som skal være en permanent del i Birders Club, og sendte dem til godkendelse ved Simon. Derefter gik jeg ud på Verdens Ende 3 (Grenens yderste klitrække) På vejen derud havde jeg en super oplevelse med at kunne genkende Skærpiber, dem viste Knud mig nemlig, da vi var her i marts. Jeg så også 7 sæler, som lå og hyggede sig på en bunker.

På verdens ende 3 sad jeg sammen med Knud og fik rigtig god vejledning i at genkende Alke og Lomvier. Det er dejligt at sidde ved siden af en garvet birder, som Knud, som er god til at lære fra sig. En stor flok Snespurve fløj mange gange frem og tilbage foran os. Det er virkelig en meget flot fugl. Kom til Skagen og se den!

Da jeg kom hjem havde Simon sendt revideret liste, så Jens Peder og jeg gik i gang med at finde billeder. Nogle er fra stationens eget billedarkiv, og heldigvis kan Knud også hjælpe med billeder til aktiviteten. I morgen skal vi arbejde videre med opgaven, så vi kan blive færdige inden vi tager hjem på lørdag.

Asger kom kl. 14.00, og skal være frivillig på stationen i de næste dage. Han startede med at gå en tur gennem Ellekrattet og hørte her rigtig mange fugle. Det er en fin og anbefalelsesværdig tur at gå.

Dagen sluttede med et rigtigt spændende foredrag. Christian fortalte om sin forskning af Snespurve på Svalbard. Det blev livestreamet på Facebook, og så du det ikke, kan du se det på Skagen Fuglestations FB side.

Herefter var der lækker aftensmad, som var tilberedt af Koen og hans familie.

Tak til hele flokken for at være så gode til at inddrage os i stationens arbejde.

Ringing (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Havesanger - 1

Rørspurv - 1

Blåmejse - 2

Munk - 4

Lille Dompap (ssp. europaea) - 3

Lille Gråsisken - 2

Jernspurv - 3

Rødhals - 3

Fuglekonge - 4

Solsort - 1

Total: 24

Mennesker: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Gitte & Jens Peder, Knud Pedersen, Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup.

Yesterday, the weather forecast said very strong wind for tomorrow. Fortunately, it ‘changed his opinion’ during the evening and so we decided to try the ringing in Kabeltrommelkrattet in the morning. And it was really worth it! Even if the wind increased a little bit during the morning the birds were still very active. And so we had a good morning with cool observations and awesome birds in the ringing. The variety of the ringed birds was very good today. There were four different species of tits, where the highlight was a flock of 12 Long-tailed Tits (Halemejse) and two Coal Tits (Sortmejse). The Long-tailed Tits got the fitting nickname ‘small teddybears’ from Gitte. Furthermore, we had a Water Rail (Vandrikse) and two Sibirian Chiffchaffs (Sibirisk Gransanger, ssp. tristis). The final highlight was another Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) – it’s probably the sibirian subspecies blythi. The bird even honoured us with it’s nice callings from a bush very close to us, we immediately started to record it and it sounded mostly like a blythi. Now the DNA has to make the last call. Observations next to the ringing were a Waxwing (Silkehale), many Mistle trushes (Misteldrossel), a flock of Bearded Tits (Skægmejse), a Parrot Crossbill (Stor korsnæb) and a Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger). And before leaving Kabeltrommekrattet we found together with our guests a Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge). All these highlights were hard to beat. However, Knud found two Little Auks (Søkonge) and two Pomarine Skuas (Mellemkjove) out at Verdensende 3.

Lesser Whitethroat

Accurate measurments of the Lesser Whitethroat from the boss himself :)

Water Rail

12 Long-tailed Tits in one net

Jan Peder showed us today why Simon is calling him ‘handyman’ with fixing all our bicycles, waders and some new hooks in the ringing side – thanks for that amazing work!

In the afternoon Chris had a talk downstairs in the Birder’s Club. It was about living in Svalbard, among polar bears. He gave us a good insight how the life on an island with 4 months without sunshine and no higher vegetation then 20 cm. There were many interested guests joining. To be fresh for the talk we went swimming before. Today, even Laia joined, because she was lured by false promises of sunshine.

Further south the Lighthouse of Rubjerg Knude was moved further into land today. Really crazy to just move a 720 tonnes heavy lighthouse. Hmm but maybe it would also be an idea for out grey lighthouse? Could be nice to have the lighthouse out at the tip and then we can do the observations just from inside :D

Ringing:

Water Rail – Vandrikse – 1
Wren – Gærdesmutte – 4
Dunnock – Jernspurv – 2
Robin – Rødhals – 5
Blackbird - Solsort – 3
Song Trush – Sangdrossel – 2
Sibirian/Steppe Lesser Whitethroat – Sibirisk/Steppe Gærdesanger (ssp. Blythi/Halimodendri) – 1
Blackcap – Munk – 6
Sibirian Chiffchaff – Sibirisk Gransanger (ssp. tristis) – 2
Goldcrest – Fuglekonge – 7
Long-tailed Tit – Halemejse – 12
Coal Tit – Sortmejse – 2
Blue Tit – Blåmejse – 12
Great Tit – Musvit – 3
Bullfinch – Dompap – 2
Bullfinch ssp. Europaea - Lille Dompap – 3
Reed Bunting – Rørspurv – 1

Total: 68

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Gitte & J. Peder, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Kabel & Igor.

Today Koen and Christian went to open the nets this morning and Judith, Gitte and I joined them later as well as Oluf that helped us today in the ringing. Christian parents were also at the ringing place with us. After that, they went to do some observations at Northstrand where they spotted some Gannets (Sule), Red-throated Divers (Rødstrubet Lom) and Snow Buntings (Snespurv).

Today there weren't so many birds if we compare it with the last two days. This means less stress and more time to look in detail each bird. We ringed a Great Grey Shrike (Stor tornskade)! Actually this bird was in Koen's dream list. He was really excited when he found it in the net.

Knud was also out for observations at Northstrand today. He spotted 3 Little Auks (Søkonge), 999 Razorbills (Alk) and a flok of 500 Western Jackdaws (Allike) among other cool birds.

Our neighbours were really busy today. J. Peder was repairing our bikes and also our waders! And Gitte was helping us in the ringing and then she joined Simon that was conducting a tour for kindergarten teacher students. After that, she boiled some skulls from dead birds in order to get the skulls (that soup smell really bad!).

After that, Christian, Judith and I worked with the radar at the same time that we went to the beach to spot the birds flying by (Judith and Christian also got their daily swim then).
Meanwhile, Simon was doing some administrative tasks at the Bird Observatory.

Judith cooked Strudel for dinner and it tasted awesome!

 Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Fuglekonge - 5

Gransanger - 2

Lille Dompap - 3

Stor Dompap - 4

Munk - 5

Jernspurv - 1

Gærdesmutte - 5

Rødhals - 15

Bjergirisk - 1

Stor Tornskade - 1

Solsort - 1

Sangdrossel - 1

Vindrossel - 1

Total: 45

People: Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Gitte & J. Peder, Knud Pedersen, Torben Sørensen, Jørgen Kabel & Igor, C+M Stolz, Oluf Lou, Simon S. Christiansen

The day started with Judith and I opening the nets at Kabeltrommelkrattet. It was a nice morning and not so cold, we could hear a lot of birds flying around while waiting for the first round. At this time, Koen and Christian were in their way to Kabeltrommelkrattet to join us for the first round.

Was a really good morning with a lot of birds and good variety. And a bit stressful too! Today we had the Ringing tour group (guided by Simon) visiting us and also there was a Life tour  (guided by Christian and Judith) during the morning. Because of that we had to close the nets early in today's beautiful morning.
The tour was really nice and our new neighbours attended the tour too.

But this wasn't bad at all because we had a lot of birds in all the rounds and could manage to get 71 birds in a bit more than half a morning!

Brambling (Kvækerfinke)

At Jennes Sø Michael was also out ringing a few birds and could enjoy observations of a Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade) in the area.

After closing the nets, we were taking measurements and pictures of the Lesser White-throat (Gærdesanger) which is rarely found at this time of the year. Rolf saw it by the telescope from Verdens Ende 1 too!

Lesser White-throat (Gærdesanger) ssp. halimodendri/blythi

After that, we entered today's data and we had lunch. And we spoke with some tourists that came by at Birder's Club.

Meanwhile, Simon was doing activities with junior Rangers and he also received a visit from his grandma and his mom.

We were also doing some computer work during the afternoon. Judith and Christian get their daily swim and I did a clean up at the beach (in and out of the water).

Ringmœrkning (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Blåmejse - 4
Musvit - 1
Løvsanger - 1
Gransanger - 1
Munk - 10
Gærdesanger - 1
Fuglekonge - 5
Gærdesmutte - 8
Rødhals - 29
Sangdrossel - 3
Vindrossel - 2
Jernspurv - 1
Bogfinke - 1
Kvækerfinke - 2
Dompap - 1
Rørspurv - 1

Total: 71

People: Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Michael Ancher, Gitte & J. Peder, Knud Pedersen, Torben Sørensen, Jørgen Kabel & Igor, Erik Christophersen, Simon S. Christiansen

Today I was sick, so I slept long (very long) this morning. Laia, Judith and Christian went out ringing at Sardinkrattet. Our guests also woke up early to take a long walk and see the sunset. They enjoyed the peaceful morning and did some birding and they found some Deer tracks.

Ringing at Sardinkrattet.

In the meantime, Christian, Laia and Judith had opened the nets and started ringing. The ringing was quite good, they caught another weird Chiffchaff (Gransanger)! They took feathers so DNA-analysis can take place and then we know for sure if it is just a Chiffchaff or another Siberian Chiffchaff (Sibirisk Gransanger)! They caught a very late Reed Warbler (Rørsanger) as well, really cool stuff! Apart from those two highlights, they caught a bunch of usual species. There were not that many birds so they had a chance to study the birds for a bit which was a really good experience. At Jennes Sø Michael ringed 11 birds, among those a beutiful Siskin (Grønsisken).

Reed Bunting (Rørspurv)

After they closed the nets they had lunch at the spot and started with sewing nets which took them basically the whole afternoon because it’s really precise work.

In the meantime, I started to feel better and went out to do some birding. I started with an hour of sea watching. There was not so much around, a few Black-legged Kittiwakes (Ride) and some other common stuff. However, at one point I picked up a small gull that flew very far out. It looked really promising for Sabine’s Gull (Sabinemåge) but it was just too far out and I lost it pretty soon after discovery. I packed up after an hour and met with Christian’s parents, really nice people! They will be visiting here for a week.

First year Robin (Rødhals) showing its wing.

Then I decided to check the bushes at Fyrvej, where I found a nice Siberian Chiffchaff (Sibirisk Gransanger) and two Mistle Thrushes that showed pretty good, long time since I had such good views of that species! Apart from that and a few Goldcrests (Fuglekonge), there were not so many birds around so I headed back home. The rest also arrived after having sewed nets all afternoon, now they are masters in net sewing!

Ringmærkning (Sardinkrattet + Jennes Sø)

Blåmejse: 13
Musvit: 1
Rørsanger: 1
Gransanger: 3
Munk: 6
Fuglekonge: 6
Gærdesmutte: 3
Rødhals: 12
Sangdrossel: 2
Solsort: 3
Vindrossel: 2
Rørspurv: 1
Lille Gråsisken: 4
Grønsisken: 1

Total: 58

Folk: Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Michael Ancher, Britta & Lotte, Knud Pedersen, Torben Sørensen, Jørgen Kabel & Igor, Erik Christophersen

Vi har været så heldige at kunne bo i fuglestationens lejlighed i en uge og bare det, har været en oplevelse i sig selv

- at bo med sådan en udsigt!

Skagens Gren er så meget mere end

Det er også

Og så er der også alt det bag klitterne

Der skal spejdes i alle retninger

Godt vi havde gummistøvler med, når vi forsøgte at følge efter de frivillige når de fangede småfugle i net for at ringmærke dem. Og spændende at følge processen med at måle vingelængde, veje, ringmærke mm, inden fuglene blev sluppet fri igen.

Tak for en super uge i selskab med Laia, Judith, Koen, Christian, Simon og de lokale fuglefolk.

Ringmærkning (Sardinkrattet + Jennes Sø)

Blåmejse: 13
Musvit: 1
Rørsanger: 1
Gransanger: 3
Munk: 6
Fuglekonge: 6
Gærdesmutte: 3
Rødhals: 12
Sangdrossel: 2
Solsort: 3
Vindrossel: 2
Rørspurv: 1
Lille Gråsisken: 4
Grønsisken: 1

Total: 58

Folk: Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Michael Anker, Britta & Lotte, Knud Pedersen, Torben Sørensen, Jørgen Kabel & Igor, Erik Christophersen

I dag var det Michael, Koen og jeg som dro ut for ringmerking ved Jennes Sø. Som vanlig fikk vi mange brunsisikene (lille gråsisken) og sammenlignet individuelle og kjønnspesifikke fargevariasjoner av fjærdrakten. Ellers var vi begeistret for en gråtrost (sjagger) og den første gråsisiken (nordlig gråsisken) i høst. Vi håper nå at mange flere finner veien til Skagen de kommende måneder.

I mellomtiden var Knud, Judith, Laia og Torben ute ved Verdens Ende 3 for å telle fugletrekket over sjøen. En trekkende gulnebblom (hvidnæbbet lom) var et klart høydepunkt og førte til stor jubel fra Knud. I tillegg var polarjo (mellemkjove) og islom (første gang at norske og danske navn er det samme) fine observasjoner. Nå det gjelder tallene, var det i dag kun lomvi (lomvie) og særlig alke (alk) de artene som dukket opp i større mengder. Så bestemte de seg for å sjekke ut måkene (måge) på stranden for å finne ringmerkete individer. Iblant måkeflokken stod det plutselig 3 kaspimåker (kaspisk måge) og observatørene fikk fine bilder.

Kaspisk måge, Foto Knud Pedersen

Da vi kom tilbake fra morgenobs og ringmerking, viste det seg at Rita har vært på stationen for å forberede oss til Halloween! Tusen takk Rita for godteri, lyktkjede og servietter – alt i Halloweenstil!

Britta & Lotte dag begynte med en besøk av ringmerkerne og observatørene på en lang morgentur. Så var det på tide å sjekke utstillingen på ettermiddagen fordi det hadde begynt å regne. Vi var også hovedsakelig opptatt med å jobbe innendørs, men etter at regnet stoppet, sjekket Laia, Judith og jeg at telemetriantennen fremdeles var i god stand (og det var det!).

Deretter var på tide at Lotte, Judith og jeg svømte i Kattegat igjen og dagen ble avsluttet med mat og prat.

Ringmerking (Jennes Sø)

Blåmeis – Blåmejse – 3              
Kjøttmeis – Musvit – 1
Gjerdesmett – Gærdesmutte – 1
Rødstrupe – Rødhals – 7
Svarttrost – Solsort – 1
Gråtrost – Sjagger – 1       
Gråsisik – Nordlig Gråsisken – 1       
Brunsisik – Lille Gråsisken – 13

Folk: Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Michael Anker, Britta & Lotte, Knud Pedersen, Torben Sørensen og Rita Pate.

Musikk: Bendik - Drømmen Gjør Meg Ingenting

What a morning! We ringed 72 birds in only three hours and also rarities underneath them! One Ring Ouzel (Ringdrossel), two Siberian Chiffchaffs (Sibirisk Gransanger), a Water Rail (Vandrikse) and as a highlight a Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge). Especially the Firecrest is not caught every year up here, so it was special to see. Also some local birders were happy to here about this news on Zello and joined us to see all the highlights close.

All the highlights together!

Firecrest (Røtoppet Fuglekonge)

 Waterrail (Vandrikse)

Siberian Chiffchaffs (Sibirisk Gransanger)

It seemed like we caught all the good birds away, because Michael over at Jennes Sø had not that many birds as he is used to have. Still, he had a nice variety of different species, including 3 cute goldcrests and 3 nice lesser redpolls..

Christian, Knud and Torben were doing observations at the tip. In the morning they were happy to see that the weather was unexpectedly good, but unfortunately fog appeared very soon and covered the view over the sea (what was good for the rest of us in the ringing). But equipped with an umbrella Chris continued the observations and found among others also 14 migrating Purple Sandpipers (Sortgrå ryle).

Fog is getting more and more...

In the afternoon Jesper had a talk in Birders Club about the Life-project going on here in the dunes and heaths around Grenen. Afterwards we started cleaning our apartment, the Birders Club and the Lab downstairs. Also thanks to our guests of the apartment for your help! Afterwards we needed a refreshment and so Chris and I went for our daily swim. This time we could even convince our guest Lotte and so we were three enjoying the cold water in the last sunshines of the day. In the meantime Laia was walking in the water and collected some plastic, that was washed ashore. One special finding was a big glas bottle. Unfortunately it was not a message in a bottle but it was filled with a chemistry liquid inside – it smelled like alcohol but we are not totally sure. We brought it to Flemming and he will bring it to the waste disposal side – thanks! Britta did not want to join the swimming and went for a walk. On the beach she met Knud and had a nice view of the Black Scoter (Amerisk Sortand) through his telescope. So he is still out here chilling on the sea together with the other ducks.

Mysterious bottle found on the beach

In the evening we had a delicious pie with a carrot and a beetroot salad next to it. It was cooked by our neighbours Lotte and Britta and all of us enjoyed it very much!

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet and Jennes Sø):

Water Rail – Vandrikse – 1
Wren - Gærdesmutte - 6
Robin – Rødhals – 35
Ring ouzel – Ringdrossel – 1
Song Trush – Sangdrossel – 3
Redwing – Vindrossel – 1
Blackcap – Munk 8
Chiffchaff – Gransanger – 2
Sibirian Gransanger (ssp. tristis) – Sibirisk Gransanger – 2
Goldcrest – Fuglekonge – 9
Firecrest – Rødtoppet Fuglekonge – 1
Blue Tit – Blåmejse – 5
Great Tit – Musvit – 9
Siskin – Grønsisken – 2
Lesser Redpoll – Lille Gråsisken – 3
Bullfinch - Lille Dompap – 2
Reed Bunting – Rørspurv – 2

Total: 91

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Henning Hvid Ettrup, Michael Anker, Britta, Lotte & Anne, Karin Christiansen, Erik Christophersen, Knud Pedersen, Torben Sørensen, Jørgen Kabel & Igor, Søren Skov, Michael Funch, Hanne & Jens Eriksen, Jesper Blom Hansen, Lene Kappelborg, Nullermand.