I got up early with Laia to open up the nets at Kabeltrommelkrattet. Well, it’s not that early any more actually (lucky us). We were opening the nets at 06:30. While we were opening I saw a Short-eared Owl (Mosehornugle) and a Jack Snipe (Enkeltbekkasin)! At 07:00, all nets were open and we were ready to rock! Christian and Simon joined us for the first round and there were quite many birds and good diversity! Our guests also joined for a brief moment and they were really fascinated by the birds in the hand. A nice chance to see birds up close! The weirdest thing we saw during the ringing today was a Dunnock (Jernspurv) that had a piece of wood sticking out of it’s back! It were two pieces actually, and one of the pieces came out with quite a bit of Dunnock-flesh on it! Nasty stuff! The ringing was altogether very fun but observations in the ringing area were also really good!

The wood that came out of a Dunnock.

When I was doing a round with Christian we managed to find a nice Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger). It was around the nets so we played a little bit of the song to lure it into the nets. It reacted pretty well but we didn’t manage to lure it in. But we had good views of it! Having decent views of a YBW is not that common (for me at least), most of the times you only hear their typical ‘tseeweet’-call. Other good observations from the ringing place included a fly-over Great White Egret (Sølvhejre), a fly-over group of 8 Bearded Tits (Skægmejse) and a hunting Hen Harrier (Blå Kærhøg). And Simon managed a fly-over Bohemian Waxwing (Silkehale) while we were on the round, unlucky us!

In the meantime, Judith and Knud spent their morning enjoying the Lapland Buntings (Lapværling) and Snow Buntings (Snespurv) that were still on the beach. Migration over sea was pretty quiet but there were many Gannets (Sule) around, foraging close to the shore. Judith missed the early morning, she noticed that her tripod was incomplete when she got to World’s End 3, so she went back to look for it only to find the missing part in the basket on her bicycle. She was not entirely sure that it was fully complete so she even went back to the observatory to get the other tripod. Anyways, she got back at 09:00 and had a nice morning with Knud! After observing, they went to the beach to enjoy the buntings and they found the Horned Larks (Bjerglærke) as well!

After that, we all went back to the observatory. We had lunch and Stina joined us. She and Laia entered the ringing data while Judith and Christian prepared for the German tour that would be starting at 13:00. Laia did something wrong while entering the data so I had to do it all over again with her. Christian, Judith and Stina hosted the German tour, they prepared the nets and were all set! But there were no Germans to attend the tour. So they ended up ringing a few birds and closing the nets by themselves. They caught a Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) that we ringed this morning at Kabeltrommelkrattet, interesting to see this birds moving through the area! They also managed to catch a Goldcrest by hand! It was the first time a Goldcrest could be put in the system as ‘caught by hand’!

After the ‘tour’, me, Laia and Simon went to Skagen to go shopping and we brought all our empty cans and bottles. We handed in all our cans and bottles and managed to get more than 330 crowns back! After the shopping we went birding at Batteriskoven. Quite a nice and peaceful place, it also looked really good to find vagrants! Now there was not really anything of notice around, except good numbers of thrushes, mainly Song Thrush (Sangdrossel) and Redwing (Vindrossel).

 
Birding at Batteriskoven

Ringing (Kabeltrommelkrattet, Jennes Sø, Fyrhavene):

Wren – Gærdesmutte – 9

Dunnock – Jernspurv – 1

Robin – Rødhals – 15

Blackbird – Solsort – 1

Song Thrush – Sangdrossel – 3

Redwing – Vindrossel – 1

Blackcap – Munk – 3

Chiffchaff – Gransanger – 6

Goldcrest – Fuglekonge – 15

Coal Tit – Sortmejse – 1

Blue Tit – Blåmejse – 3

Great Tit – Musvit – 3

Chaffinch – Bogfinke – 1

Eurasian Siskin – Grønsisken – 1

Lesser Redpoll – Lille Gråsisken – 148

Bullfinch ssp europaea - Lille Dompap – 1

Total: 212

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Koen Stork, Laia Soler Iglesias, Flemming & Christl, Lene Kappelborg, Jens and Gulmaj, Lyngvig-Banden.

Writing music: Bizzey

The first task in the morning was checking the weather radar: every radar showed something else. However, one showed a big rain cloud coming closer in the next hour. So, we decided to wait until this rain passed by and had 2 more hours in the morning. The reactions to this “freetime” were very different: Simon was happy to have some time for observations and we decided to use the time to get some more sleep/rest.

When we met at 8 o´clock at the ringing side Simon told us that it was not raining in the meantime (didn`t realize that in my dreams), so it would have been possible to open the nets earlier. But I think everybody was happy with having 2 hours off and so we started fresh and motivated the ringing. And it was really a very nice morning with many birds and a diverse species list. Next to some usual birds in this season as Wrens (Gærdesmutte), Robin (Rødhals) or Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) we also had some rarer birds for catching in the nets in the start of Autumn: a Bullfinch (Lille Dompap), a Meadow Pipit (Engpiber) and a Reed Warbler (Rørsanger). Especially the Reed Warbler was a highlight, as it is already very late in the season for this species - they are overwintering in Africa and most of them left Europe already. In Dofbasen we found out that it is the third-latest record of Reed warblers up here in Skagen in Autumn. It was maybe a hint greyer than most Reed Warblers in general, not really unusual though, but to be on the safe side we collected a feather if we one day would be sure to exclude the southeastern subspecies 'fuscus' on DNA. 

We also had some guests in the ringing today:
Jens from our apartment joined the ringing for a while and was very impressed to see all the different species so close and the handling of the birds. Then he went further to Worlds End 1 (Verdens Ende 1) and talked to all the birders there – it was very interesting for him to see many birders with so much knowledge and the endurance to do observations and countings all over the year.
And Flemming from the Grey Lighthouse visited us and enjoyed his free day after a very busy summer season – it was nice to see you out there!

In the meantime, Koen and Knud did observations from Worlds End 3 (Verdensende 3). The highlights were roosting Lapland Buntings (Lapvœrling), Shorelarks (Bjerglærke) and Snow Buntings (Snespurv) on the beach. They used the opportunity to study them up that close, because it`s very rare to see them so close without flying further immediately! You can see a nice video of the Lapland Bunting on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Skagenfuglestation/videos/1404351699715320/?eid=ARANMQK7vpKS4Bq2X0x_jxqE-Qh3IXgP4w99zczjwCWIGas-k-OH1KmMsZ3TFngJPRyuUKyLkQ1TKoTO).  Other good observations were a Longtailed Duck (Havlit) and two Pale-bellied Brand Geese (Lysbuget knortegås). Also the Black Scoter (Amerikansk Sortand) is still in the area!

On the way back to the station we got very warm from the sun and decided to go swimming immediately – who know´s how long the sun will stay in this “Irish-weather”. Even Laia decided to join the swimming in the sunshine and so Chris, Laia and me went into the water. While we were swimming back we saw already very dark clouds coming from the south and decided to go back quick. And five or ten minutes after we entered the apartment the rain started again – lucky us!

The rainy weather was perfect for doing the usual “Wednesday-cleaning”. Now everything looks clean and shiny again.

In the evening we enjoyed a delicious food prepared from our guests in the apartment. A hokkaido-soup and then pizza was a very good reward for the long day!

For Simon, Chris and Laia the work was not done yet. They did a nighttour with pupils from Skagen. While Chris and Laia try to catch a bird in the darkness Simon walked with the children to the beach searching for mammals. And they succeeded! They saw a fox, seals, deer and many Sanderlings (Sandløber). It was very exciting for the children!

Ringing (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Meadow Pipit – Engpiber – 1
Wren – Gærdesmutte – 1
Robin – Rødhals – 3
Blackbird – Solsort – 1
Reed Warbler – Rørsanger – 1
Blackcap – Munk – 1
Chiffchaff – Gransanger – 4
Goldcrest – Fuglekonge – 6
Blue Tit – Blåmejse – 8
Bullfinch - Lille Dompap – 1
Reed Bunting – Rørspurv – 12

Total: 39

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Knud Pedersen, Flemming Quist Jens & Gulmaj, Nullermand, Lynvig-banden.

Tuesday morning started with storm and rain,
so we slept longer without pain.

A lot of indoor work happened during the morning
Checking ringing records is not so boring.
Also planning our events in November
is something for us to remember.
So Lene and Flemming joined to discuss
the upcoming weeks at the observatory with us.

Simon wrote about the EuroBirdwatch day,
which you can find here to display.

Suddenly, when Laia observed the storm,
she saw a familiar form.
A little bird, exhausted down in the yard,
seemingly the wind had taken it hard.
Koen jumped down the stairs barefooted,
the bird did not move and he put it
into a box for it to recover.
while we were astonished to discover
that it was a migrant to africa -
pied flycatcher (broget fluesnapper).
Unfortunately this story has no happy end,
after some hours we lost our little friend.
He ended in Skagen exhausted and out of course
Migration times can be without remorse.

When the weather turned better later,
and our restlessness got greater,
we went out to jump into the sea,
even if the water had only around 1 degree.
The sea was full of jellyfish
and not getting hit by one was a valid wish.
Alas, the prayer was not heard
and on our skins some blisters occured.

In the afternoon we left for observations,
and went to Skarvesøen with expectations.
Little grebes (lille lappedykker) were found there,
but unfortunately nothing really rare.
Others had more luck (or skill?)
And saw pomarine skua and parrot crossbill.
Mellomkjove og stor korsnæb in the local language
wich knowing is here an advantage :-)

After dinner we learned about moult strategies
of greenfinches (grønirisk) that can lead to fallacies,
when you don't know how assess the gender
you can basically only surrender.

I was told to also tell about our evening meal,
which was pancakes that were not cooked ideal,
there was too little butter in the pans,
but thankfully it didn't ruin our dinner plans!

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Koen Stork, Laia Soler Iglesias, Flemming & Christl, Lene Kappelborg, Jens and Gulmaj, Lyngvig-Banden.

Writing music: Diablo Swing Orchestra - Sing Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious

Today when Koen and I went out to open the nets almost all was covered by a thin layer of ice letting us know that winter is coming.
Christian and Simon joined us afterward and Judith went out for observations at Verdens Ende 1.

It was a quiet morning, not many birds in the nets but we had a fox visiting us. And due to the board meeting, we needed to close the nets early.

Picture by Laia Soler Iglesias

Some of today's observations were: Black Scoter (Amerikansk Sortand) that was seen again!, Slavonian Grebe (Nordisk Lappedykker), at least 12 Horned Larks (Bjerglærke) and 2 Lapland Bunting (Lapværling).

After the ringing, we went back to the Bird Observatory and Simon told us that a Humpback Whale (Pukkelhval) was found dead in a local fishermen's net this morning. So, I went to the harbor to see it and to take some pictures in order to show it to the other volunteers that couldn't go. Meanwhile Christian met Judith at Verdens Ende 1 to join the observations and after that, they went to the ringing site to change some nets. But before I could find the whale, I drove my bike to all the harbor at least two times (such a labyrinth!) and after asking some kind people on my way to the western end of the harbor, I was able to find it! (thank you all for the indications!). Now I feel like I know how to move from one point to another in the harbor.

Picture by Laia Soler Iglesias

After that, as usual, Christian and Judith went for the daily swim while I was walking in the water (today the water and environmental temperature at midday were nice).

Then, Koen and I entered the data of the ringing and afterward Judith and Christian did the same for the observations' data.

We recovered the recorders that we left outside yesterday at night and today's morning. We are expecting to hear what they have recorded.

And after dinner, Koen and I went to do night catch. Tonight was mamals´ night... We saw otters (oddere), deers (hjorte) and Harbor Seals (Spættet sæl) but unfortunately, we did not catch any bird.

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlekrattet):

Rødhals 3

Rørspurv 1

Gransanger 2

Gærdesmutte 4

Fuglekonge 9

Lille Dompap 1

Grønsisken 1

Total 21

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Koen Stork, Laia Soler Iglesias, Jens and Gulmaj

Today me and Christian went to open up the nets at Kabeltromelkrattet, all nets were open around 07:00 and Simon and Judith joined us for the first round. Laia was doing observations at World’s End 3 with Knud.Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge)

When we opened the nets it was stil very quiet, we flushed a few Snipes (Dobbeltbekkasin) from the ringing area and then waited for the sun to rise. It was a nice and peaceful morning (but very cold). Then Simon and Judith arrived and we started with the first round. The first round was pretty good, many birds! It looked pretty promising but after the first round things slowed down. But eventually we caught a Greenfinch (Grønirisk) which was very nice. Not a species we catch every day here. Observations from the ringing site were good with quite a few passerines on migration and Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge) and Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade) in the area!

In the meantime, Laia was doing observations. There was, except dexent numbers of Ganntes (Sule) and Common Scoters (Sortand), not much to see so she and Knud decided to check the many Reed Buntings (Rørspurv) that are present in the dunes at Grenen and they found a Lapland Bunting (Lapværling)! After that, they tried to relocate the Black Scoter (Amerikansk Sortand) but onfortunately they didn’t succeed. I hope it’s still around somewhere.

I left the ringing site a bit earlier to go birding down the road. I went back, changed clothes, ate something and then went out again. I took the stations’ camera with me to test it. Nobody here gets how Olympus settings work so it was far from ideal but I managed to see (and photopraph!) a nice 1cy male Hen Harrier (Blå Kærhøg), a Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge) and some Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb). Apart from that, the weather was very nice and the place was beautiful, so I had a great walk!Hen Harrier (Blå Kærhøg)

Then, all of us went back to the observatory, had lunch and said goodbye to Yehonathan and our guests who had to leave us today. Later that afternoon, new guests and Niels arrived! Niels is here for the board meeting that will be held tomorrow. Christian, Judith and Laia went out for their daily swimming session (yep they’re a bit crazy) as well and we did some of the usual stuff such as typing in data. Christian and me prepared the microphone to record nocturnal migration calls, I’m already excited to see what we recorded!

Ringing (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Wren - Gærdesmutte - 9

Robin - Rødhals - 4

Blackbird - Solsort - 3

Song Thrush - Sangdrossel - 1

Blackcap - Munk - 4

Chiffchaff - Gransanger - 6

Goldcrest - Fuglekonge - 2

Greenfinch - Grønirisk - 1

Reed Bunting - Rørspurv - 6

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Ulla Popp and Anders Jørgen Jensen.

Today was EuroBirdwatch-day! It is an event from Birdlife international with a focus on counting migratory birds and takes place all over Europe. So of course we also participated and Koen and Chris went out to Verdensende 1 to count every single bird. They got support by some other birders. In sum they counted a very good number of birds, with 3187 individuals in total. And that means that there were at least 10 or more birds in one minute! The highlight of the day was found by Erik Christophersen and was a Bluethroat! The most numerous species were Great Black-backed Gulls (Svartbag) with 339 and Common Scoters (Sortand) with 571 individuals.

Simon, Yehonatan, Laia and I went out for ringing in Kabeltrommelkrattet. We had a really good start with 27 birds in the first round. And also the rest of the morning was really nice. Dominant species were Wrens (Gærdesmutte) and Goldcrests (Fuglekonge). The highlight were two female Bullfinches (Lille Dompap). Yehonatan was hoping to catch some Bullfinches since his first day at this station and so they were like a farewell gift for him before he is leaving on Sunday.

There were also some visitors for the EuroBirdwatch-day. The guests in our apartment joined the ringing and the observations for a while and managed to find a nice rough-legged buzzard (Fjeldvåge). And three children get to know our “klickers” that we use for counting birds and had a lot of fun with helping to count all the birds that were passing by.

Chris was enjoying the observations and the sunny weather and did not want to stop at noon. So he continued the observations and went the beach and to Skarvsøen. It was totally worth it because he found some new nice birding places between the dunes and a Slavonian Grebe (Nordisk Lappedykker) and Eurasian Bittern (Rørdrum). He was so fascinated from the whole area that he stayed out till 5 o´clock.

The others used the afternoon for put in the data and having some rest. Yehonatan had to pack all his stuff and had a to-do list for his last day: climbing up the lighthouse and enjoying the beautiful view, going for a walk on the beach to say goodbye to the Snowbuntings (Snespurv) and buying some things in the shop downstairs. A wooden Crested Tit figure (Topmejse) will companion him on his journey to Copenhagen and then in one week back to Israel reminding him on the good time up here in Skagen.

In the evening I prepared some typical Austrian food: “Erdäpfelnudeln mit Kraut” (Potatonoodles with Cabbage) and as a dessert “Pflaumen-Knödel” (Plumb-dumplings). It was the last evening for our guests in the apartment (Ulla & Anders) and they present us some nice chocolate – thank you, we already enjoy the chocolate next to the coffee!

As you have read before the day was very busy and Chris and I found no time for doing our daily swim during the day. So we had to do it in the night. After finishing the dinner we went out and enjoyed the refreshment under the stars and the light of the lighthouse.

Foto

Ringing (Jennes Sø & Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Meadow Pipit – Engpiber – 1

Wren – Gærdesmutte – 28

Robin – Rødhals – 5

Reed Warbler - Rørsanger – 1

Blackcap – Munk – 2

Chiffchaff – Gransagner – 8

Goldcrest - Fuglekonge – 25

Bullfinch - Lille Dompap – 2

Reed Bunting - Rørspurv – 5

Common Redstart – Rødstjert – 2

Blackbird – Solsort – 1

Crested Tit – Topmejse – 2

Coal Tit – Sortmejse - 2

Blue Tit – Blåmejse – 2

Great Tit – Musvit – 4

Eurasian Treecreeper - Nordlig Træløber – 1

Chaffinch - Bogfinke – 1

Eurasian Siskin - Grønsisken – 2

Redpoll - Lille Gråsisken – 74

Total: 168

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Ulla Popp, Anders Jørgen Jensen, Erik Christophersen, Morte4n Bentzon Hansen, Thorkild Lund, Flemming Ahlmann, Jens Peter-Lund

Rainy and stormy eastern winds prevented us from ringing this morning. While most of us used the chance to stay long in bed, I couldn’t sleep longer than normal. I decided to check for wind protected places around the Grey Lighthouse with a view towards Kattegat. Many seabirds should be pushed towards land by the storm, I figured... Eventually, I set up the telescope in the office window on the upper floor, from which I was able to see the sea and beach south of the lighthouse. It was a flashy place, warm, wind protected and I even could get fresh coffee when desired. Granted, observations here are not as good as they would be from Worlds End at Grenen, but a couple of red-breasted mergansers (toppet skallesluger) and razorbills (alk) were spotted. Judith joined me for some time as well and studied the closely passing kittiwakes (ride) in their different plumages.

Ulla and Anders had in the meanwhile a slow beginning of the day as well:

Vi stod op til blæst og regn, så formiddagen blev brugt til at se på billeder fra de foregående dage. Efter frokost var vi inde og se udstillingen på fuglestationen, en lærerig oplevelse om fugletræk.

Herefter var det blevet nogenlunde tørvejr, så vi kørte en tur ud til Nordstrand. Her var ikke meget at se, nogle sortænder og et par suler. Så derfor kørte vi til Flagbakken et sted vi ikke havde været før. En fantastisk udsigt men ingen fugle. Derfor kørte vi tilbage til det Grå fyr, og gik en tur ud af traktorsporet og ind til kabeltromlekrattet. Her var vi heldig at se en stor tornskade og fortsatte ud til spidsen af Grenen. Godt vi havde taget varmt tøj på for her var der småfugle på stranden. Vi satte os på stranden og i løbet af den næste halve time fik vi set snespurv hun, bjerglærke og lapværling mellem rørspurvene. En dejlig oplevelse at vende tilbage til Fuglestationen med.

When the weather is so uninviting like today, mostly indoor work is being done at the observatory. So today we were sorting pictures for our archive and checked ringing data. To get some excitement on a day like today, we of course went swimming in the big waves. Too big for Judith, who wasn't able to swim out to the sandbank today.
Yehonatan went on his now usual beach walk trying to find some northerly species and was finally happy to study some roosting snow buntings (snespurv).

Picture by Yehonatan Ben Aroia

On the late afternoon, when the rain had ceased, we also went shopping in town. The wind direction allowed us to “sail” towards Skagen, but fully packed with all the goodies on the way back, we were struggling hard against the wind. Koen's mobile unfortunately dropped out of his pocket while riding the bike and it seems to be now broken beyond repair…

The evening was rather uneventful, Laia prepared an amazing tortilla dinner and we planned the EuroBirdwatch tomorrow!

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Ulla Popp and Anders Jørgen Jensen.

The morning started when me and Judith woke up early around 5:30 and went to open up the nets in Kabeltromelkrattet and later Simon and Laia joined us for the first round around 7:00. First round was quite busy with around 20 birds, mostly Wrens-Gærdesmutte which was also the most common species that we caught this morning. Around 9 Simon had to leave the ringing for a nice tour he had back in the observatory for 7^th grade kids which was very nice. At this time, me Laia and Judith continued the ringing which was very nice when the sun came out. And in one of the last rounds I saw In the nets one of the birds that I waited a lot of time to see here in the ringing, a Redwing-Vindroussel! I got it out of the net right before it escaped, after we already lost a Jack snipe that escaped from the nets earlier in the morning….

We finished ringing in 12:00 and already at 13:00 our internship girl Stina arrived and we had a very quick lunch and right after went all of the volunteers together with the help of Stina back to Kabeltromelkrattet to cut new net lanes for 2 new nets. When we had so many people it went quite fast and easy and the new nets are up and ready for the next ringing.

After finishing cutting the net lanes and putting up the new nets I had to go and help Michael Ancher putting up the nets in Jennes Sø for the next day, but before that I had some free time, so I had a walk around the ringing area and the beach. I had some nice time with all of the very unique area before I leave in a few days.

A quite fresh and good condition Razorbill-Alk found dead on the beach and brought to the station collection.

Around 17:30 when we all finished our field work and had some rest, we had the evening meeting together and talked about the next days to come and our plans for the rest of the week. Later on we had a nice diner made by our lovely neighbors Ulla & Anders.

After dinner Simon showed us a nice presentation about his time in Ottenby bird  observatory and the amazing work they are doing there and also some amazing pictures of some of the rarities he had there following by wonderful leftover cake the Fleming brought us from the café and some tea. Nice evening!

s

Ringing Kabeltromel 63 total birds.

Gransanger - 17

Gærdesmutte - 18

Fuglekonge - 11

Rørspurv - 9

Rødhals - 4

Blåmejse - 3

Vindrossel - 1

Today we split up again. Judith and Koen went for the observations at Verdens Ende 1 where they could see two Shags (Top Skarv) and a Sooty Shearwater (Sodfravet Skråpe) among other cool stuff.

At the same time, Yehonathan, Christian, Henning and I were ringing at Kabeltromelkrattet. The rain stopped the ringing as we had to close the nets but after this, some of us went out to the beach to observe the birds. Some Purple Sandpipers (Sortgrå Ryler), Lapland Bunting (Lapværling) and Reed Buntings (Rørspurve) were found but we had to stop due to the rain again.

When we came back, we found Rita. She was putting up together a hanger in order to hang our clothes. She also brought us some other very nice things. Thank you Rita!

Henning left the Observatory today but he will be back soon to ring with us.

Another important spot of today was the Greater Short-Toed Lark (Korttået Lærke) found late in the afternoon by Søren Skov. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to see it, but maybe it will stay until tomorrow?

Photo by Søren Skov

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlekrattet):

Rødhals 5

Sangdrossel 1

Blåmejse 1

Rørspurv 10

Gransanger 5

Gærdesmutte 7

Rørsanger 1

Fuglekonge 5

Jenspurv 1

Total 36

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Koen Stork, Laia Soler Iglesias, Henning Ettrup, Anders Jørgen Jensen, Ulla Popp, Rolf Christensen, Søren Skov.

We’re still with quite many people at the station so we splitted up again. Me, Yehonathan, Henning and Judith went ringing at Sardinkrattet while Laia and Christian were doing field observations at World’s End 3.

Yehonathan and me went up early to open up the nets and Henning and Judith joined later for the first round. The ringing was not very productive but we caught 18 birds including a 2cy+ Dunnock (Jernspurv). We took some photos of it. Most of the Dunnocks we catch here are young birds and therefore it’s good to have a proper look at the older birds we catch to get to grips with ageing. Interesting stuff. We caught a Reed Bunting (Rørspurv) as well, which is not really special to catch here but I took a few pictures to compare with pictures of Reed Buntings I have taken in Romania. It was very nice to see the different between the Black Sea subspecies and ‘our’ subspecies!

Many Reed Buntings (Rørspurv) roosting at Grenen these days

In the meantime, Laia and Christian were experiencing some Gannet (Sule) bonanza! They counted over 1,500 birds. The rest of the count was decent, but they expected to see more Great Skuas with this strong wind. Luckily, three Horned Larks on the tractor track made up for that! They had nice views of the birds as they were foraging around the track.

After lunch, most of us went out and all together we saw some good stuff such as a good count of Reed Buntings (Rørspurv) (even more than yesterday), Purple Sandpiper (Sortgrå Ryle) and again the Black Scoter (Amerikansk Sortand).

In the afternoon, me, Laia and Christian went to check on the garden nets if they were still in good shape. The evening before there was a discussion about how many nets there actually were in the garden. It was kind of a funny thing. There were seven nets in total and luckily they were all in good shape! It was also fun to see the garden for the first time!

Ringing (Sardinkrattet)

Wren – Gærdesmutte – 4
Dunnock - Jernspurv - 2
Robin - Rødhals - 5
Blackbird - Solsort – 2
Song Thrush – Sangdrossel – 1
Blackcap – Munk – 2
Goldcrest – Fuglekonge – 1
Reed Bunting – Rørspurv - 1

People: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Simon S. Christiansen, Henning Ettrup, Ulla Popp, Anders Jørgen Jensen.