Hej!

The days with enough sleep have finally come to an end, because ringing at Kabeltromlen started again. Excited for today we set our alarms on 04:45 this morning so we could open the nets before sunrise. After opening all 22 nets we were rewarded with a nice sunrise over Kabeltromlen. The observers out of course had the same sunrise, promising a very good migration day.

Promising sunrise

The first bird in our nets at Kabeltromlen was a beautiful female Blackbird (Solsort) and it was followed by some Wrens (Gærdesmutte) and Robins (Rødhals). So this means, that Lucas won our little bet on whats the first bird of the season would be - my guess on Wren was pretty close though, we had them alsmost at the same time. While controlling the nets in the reed we stumbled across a pair of Bearded Reedlings that we could get pretty close to and observe very well. It's always nice to observe those cute little birds - hopes are high to catch some in the future.

Female Blackbird (Solsort) - first bird of KAB spring ringing season 2025

While ringing we were not aware of how busy the observers were out at World's End 3 until we heard an excited Rasmus calling out a flock of Shags (Topskarv) on Zello. Quickly we looked out to the sea and saw a huge flock of them migrating. 31 individuals in one flock - it's the biggest flock that was seen in Skagen and Denmark until now! In total 34 shags where found today by the observers, almost beating the record of 35 individuals in one day! In general migration was really good today, with 1060 Wigeons (Pibeand) and 178 Reed Buntings (Rørspurv) migrating in huge numbers among many others. In numbers 12725 individuals from 82 species were noted down by the observers today.

After lunch we went on a trip to the harbour to see an adult Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge) that Simon found on his lunch break. It was a nice adult bird, sleeping amongst other gulls. After that Janna, Cora and Christopher were dropped of at Gammel Skagen to start the 10 km Fulmar (Mallemuk) survey, while Lucas, Rasmus and I went to the shop to buy some groceries. The fulmar survey did not result in any fulmars (or more shags) but they did find a dead Greater Black-backed Gull (Svartbag) and a gull with a norwegian colour ring. It was ringed last summer and sadly did not survive the winter.

Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge)

Observing the Icelandic gull in the harbour

The evening was spent with the data entry of the very busy migration day, a "Kartoffelsalat" (Potatosalad) for dinner and fitting german music about said dinner. Now we are all looking forward for an even better migration day - especially for raptors - tomorrow.

Highlights from the observations:

Topskarv: 34 - A flock of 31 individuals was a new danish "flock record" 

Hvidvinget Måge 1 ad. (at the harbour)

Gråmåge 1 3cy. - still hanging aroung the tip

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gærdesmutte - 3

Jernspurv - 1

Rødhals - 2

Solsort - 4

Gransanger - 2

Fuglekonge - 2

Total: 14

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

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

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Mara Glane, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Guests: Anne-Mette & Katrine

Allerede fra morgenstunden var der fint med fugle i dag. Kort tid inde i obsen, trak en adult Blå Kærhøg han målbevidst ud over Skagerrak tæt på obsposten. Der var også godt gang i allikerne, som jeg igen havde fornøjelsen af at tælle i dag. Vi havde også en sjov oplevelse ved Verdens ende 3, hvor en skovsneppe landede 1.5 meter foran os. Gråmågen var igen at se derude, hvor den hele morgenen patruljerede mellem Grenen, og den lille sø, der er kommet for enden af sandormesporet. På vejen hjem fra morgenobsen så vi en 2k havørn trække retur over Grenen. 

Lucas og jeg havde snakket om at tage til Frederikshavn for at twitche Hvidbrystet Præstekrave i et par dage, og i dag gjorde vi det. Vi tog toget 12.07 fra Skagen, og de næste timer brugte vi i selskab med 41 Rødben, 50 Strandskader, Sortgrå Ryle, Almindelig Ryle, 20 Store Præstekraver og sidst men ikke mindst, den sjældne Hvidbrystet Præstekrave. Ny art for mig!

Hvidbrystet Præstekrave

Imens Lucas og jeg var taget et smut til Frederikshavn, var Cora, Janna, Mara og Christopher taget ud til Kabeltromlen for at sætte vores lille redskabstelt op, så alt er klart til at ringmærkingssæsonen starter i morgen:)

Da alle os frivillige var kommet tilbage til stationen, holdte Simon et spændende oplæg “session” om ringmærkning, med fokus på fældning og aldersbestemmelse af småfugle. Derudover fik vi en gennemgang af de vigtige ting vi skal huske, når vi ringmærker, og når vi indtaster den indsamlede data. 

To glade drenge skåler i Mathilde kakao efter et succesfuldt twitch på Frydenstrand i Frederikshavn:)

Hertil aften bliver ringmærkningstasken pakket for første gang i år, der bliver spillet Wingspan i stuen, og smurt madpakker i køkkenet. Vi er klar til i morgen!

Her er stationens frivilliges bud på den første art vi fanger ved Kabeltromlen i år:

Lucas: Solsort

Cora: Bogfinke

Janna: Rørspurv

Mara: Gærdesmutte

Christopher: Vandrikse

Rasmus: Musvit

Vi ses derude!

Highlights:

Gråmåge

Havørn

Blå Kærhøg

Hvidbrystet Præstekrave (Frederikshavn)

Stor Tornskade (Hulsig Hede) 

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

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

Today´s observation started again with a beautiful sunrise. We started our count with six people. Eventually, more and more people arrived at World´s End 3. In the end we were more than ten. With the many eyes we found the young Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) and far out a Fulmar (Mallemuk). We were also able to see two King Eiders (Kongeederfugl) in one scope view. The adult and the second-year male were sitting directly next to each other! After some days with very low raptor numbers, today we had some more migrating ones. Some species occured in high numbers today. For example several thousand Jackdaws (Allikes) and a thousand Gannets (Sule).

At the Cormorant Lake

In the afternoon Chris went shopping and the rest of us made a small trip to Skarvsoen, a pond with a cormorant colony. Luckily, we could be driven there by car, so it was convenient to reach the pond. The Cormorants (Skarv) were already in breeding mood and occupied the nests from the last year. Sadly, many of them were built with many plastic ropes.

The weather was very warm and sunny and we could watch the cormorants and enjoy their sunlit breeding plumage. The warmth also elicited the adders from their lairs and we were able to watch many of them. On the water swam a Red-Necked-Grebe (Gråstrubet Lappedykker), several Coots (Blishøne), Gulls (Måge), Teals (Krikand)…

A 3-headed adder

Lucas and Rasmus shortly went to Skagen. Mara, Cora and I decided to walk back to the station. On the walk we passed vivid Yellowhammers (Gulspurv) and startled an adult hen harrier male. That was good for applying what we had learned in Roman’s session about harrier identification.

In the night Lucas and Mara went out to catch Bitterns.

Highlights

• Our first Sandwich Terns (Splitterne) for the season
• 1 Bittern (Rørdrum) calling out of the reed
• 2 King Eiders (Kongeederfugl) in one scope
• 1 Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge)
• 6420 migrating Jackdaws (Allike)
• 983 Gannets (Sule)

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

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

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Mara Glane and Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Knud Pedersen, Sebastian Klein, guests: Anne-Mette & Katrine

Top of the morning! Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! It’s another day in paradise here at Skagen Fuglestation! Waking up at 5:35 AM, we were expecting a cold, windy day at Worlds End 3; however, to our surprise, as we looked out over Kattegat from the apartment windows, it was calm, clear, and beautiful. We rapidly got ready for the day as we needed to be at the count site at 06:15 as sunrise was fast approaching. Rasmus and I ran out the door at 6 AM, and we immediately discussed the possibility of Shag’s (Topskarv) moving out of Kattegat on their way back to the breeding grounds in Norway.

A gorgeous morning overlooking Kattegat. Not pictured: Sean Walsh's presence :(

Arriving 20 minutes before sunrise, we set up and waited. Unlike the previous day, alcid (Alkefugle) numbers were significantly lower, given the lack of wind. Within an hour, we watched as an adult Shag (Topskarv) in breeding plumage cruised by the tip of Grenen headed northwest. This was one of the four lifers Christopher saw today. Over the next several hours we watched as the ocean became less and less dense with birds as the morning activity died down. But with that, we recorded 11 more shag (Topskarv) over a 4 hour period. A high count for this year. The adult male King Eider (Kongeederfugl) was also present today a few hundred meter passed the tip of Grenen. We were also joined for several hours by one of our guests Anne-Mette.

Rasmus infront of Ragnar Smiths favorite shop!

In the afternoon, Rasmus and I took a quick break to relax and get some rest and recovery in before we cycled to town to do some highly needed shopping and to bring our mountain bikes in for repair! While there, Simon blessed us by purchasing a new mountain bike for the station! A much-needed addition after one of our bikes was stolen last autumn. While we were making sure we would have food to eat tonight for dinner, the rest of the team was out at Kabeltromelen setting up the remaining seven nets for the season! We are finally ready to begin ringing. Thursday is going to be a nice day, so hopefully, our hard work will pay off! We are now starting to guess what the first bird of the season will be in the nets. My guess is Great Tit (Musvit). 

And so, another day has passed at Skagen Fuglestation. What will tomorrow bring? We will have to wait and see!

Vi ses i morgen

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

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

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Mara Glane and Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, guests: Anne-Mette & Katrine

Hello and welcome to my first blog post. Today was my first day at Skagen and there were a lot of first birds for me as well! We started the morning off at World’s End 3 and spent the morning doing a sea-watch. I was just counting Common Eiders (Ederfugl; which was a lifer for me!) but we had lots of highlights. We had a lot of Alcids (Atlantic Puffin - Lunde, Little Auk - Søkonge, Razorbill - Alk, Black Guillemot - Tejst). We also had some other fun birds like King Eider (Kongeederfugl), Woodcock (Skovsneppe), and Great Northern Diver (aka Common Loon (Islom) aka the rightful national bird of Canada). I personally also got some potentially less interesting lifers such as Black-legged Kittiwake (Ride). By the end of the morning watch it was getting very windy so we were happy to head back and warm up.

The best hand-warmer

After a few hours of lunch and relaxing we donned our waders and headed back out to set up mist nets. There were 7 of us so we split into 2 teams and made light work of set-up. We ended up putting up 15 nets out of a possible 22. We also had a few Bitterns (Rørdrum) nearby that were keeping us company with their croaking.

Net set-up

We welcomed two visitors who will be staying with us for the coming week and said goodbye to Roman who was pleased to get his Puffin (Lunde) lifer on his last day. Tomorrow we’re looking forward to set up the rest of the mist-nets so we’ll be ready to start ringing :).

Highlights

Taffeland - 2
Kongeederfugl - 1
Skovsneppe - 1
Lunde - 1
Søkonge - 1
Islom - 1

 Link to todays observations in Dofbasen from the Skagen area

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

Today we were up early and arrived at world's end 3, 15 minutes before sunrise. It was a very clear day and the sunrise was beautiful (again)! So we saw the sun rise and the moon set in beautiful light.  The passerines passed in much larger numbers than the past few days. One species that passed in large numbers vaandaag was Jackdaw (Allike), as many as 1900 in the first hour. During the count, many saw imresionantly large groups of Jackdaws (Allike) and we saw more than 3000 in total. There was good migration of waterfowl so we saw many Whooper swans (Sangsvane), pink footed geese (Kortnæbbet gås) and a few Bewick's swans (Pibesvane). The adult male Kingeider (Kongeedderfugl) again gave a good show today. And that made it another very nice count!

A nice morning count!

In the afternoon, we went on a mission to Kabeltromlen. Where we went to cut open new netlanes in the swamp. We gathered saws, cutters and headed to Kabeltromlen. Along the way an Adder, Bearded reedlings (Skægmejse) and a Waxwing (Silkehale). We walked through the reed swamp to make way for the nets at a new spot. We sawed and hacked among the willows and reeds until we had made room for 6 new nets. It was a fun physical chore and we enjoyed the sunny day. When we got back to the station, Christopher arrived at the bird station to join us for a month. Unfortunately for me, time is merciless so this is unfortunately my last blog as I have to leave here tomorrow. On Tuesday, I will be back in class in my hometown of Ghent. If I find a gap somewhere in my schedule, I will hopefully come back again this spring;) But tonight we look forward to tomorrow's count and hope for another great migration watch.

Making new net lanes!

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

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

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Roman Spilldooren, Mara Glane and Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy

Halløj derude:)

Jeg er tilbage på stationen igen!

Vækkeuret ringede 05.45, og vi kunne med det samme konkludere at vejret var meget bedre end de sidste mange dage. Jeg smurte en hurtig madpakke, og så kørte vi ellers på Grenen, hvor morgenobsen startede klokken 06.30. Roman havde et mindre cykelstyrt på/igennem isen på vej på morgenobsen, men dedikeret som han er, gennemførte han 4 timer med våde sko og handsker! Imponerende! Udover styrtet blev det en rigtig god morgen, med bla. 6 Topskarver, 2 kongeedderfugle, 12 traner, En adult havørn og masser af gæs og sangsvaner. Ude ved Verdens ende 3 fik vi besøg af Knud, Jørgen og Igor. Det var super hyggeligt lige at få sagt hej til dem igen. Efter 4 timer pakkede vi sammen og kørte tilbage til stationen, hvor Roman lavede frokost til os alle:) 

Adult Kongeedderfugl ved Grenen

Ved 14-tiden besluttede vi os for at cykle en tur mod Flagbakken og til den tilsandede kirke, både som turistattraktion og i jagten på store vingefang. Der var ikke mange fugle, men flot var det nu alligevel! På tilbagevejen fik vi handlet, tjekket måger i havnen og på Romans opfordring fik vi købt fiskefrikadeller hos fiskemanden. 

Roman nyder en adult Havørn

Simon havde fint besøg i dag, da William Aarestrup, 93-årig tidligere ringmærker i Skagen, og Peter Jürgensen var kørt til Skagen på visit.

Her til eftermiddag fik Lucas og Roman indtastet dagens data i DofBasen, vi fik rengjort hytten, og nu begynder den aftensmad, Janna laver, at dufte på hele stationen. Lækkert!

I aften forsøger et par på stationen sig med en omgang natfangst på Grenen. Jeg tror dog hellere jeg må gå tidligt i seng og få en god nats søvn, for i morgen skal vi klippe seks nye netbaner ved Kabeltromlen, det bliver hårdt:) Jeg er meget spændt på at se hvad de nye net kan fange af spændende arter.

På vej mod Flagbakken i det snebeklædte landskab

Alt i alt en rigtig dejlig dag på Skagen Fuglestation

Vi ses derude!

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

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

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Roman Spilldooren, Mara Glane Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Kabel and Igor, William Aarestrup and Peter Jürgensen 

Hej!
I am back at the bird observatory for three weeks and am really happy to be here again. It’s just like I never left. The weather also behaves like it did in December – lot’s of wind and snow. When we went out this morning, full of hope for good 4 hours of bird migration, we quickly realized that that was not going to happen. The snow only got stronger on our way to World’s End 3 and after we observed for 10 minutes the visibility has gotten really bad. So after 30 minutes of sitting in the snowy cold we decided that we should just head back. We did see two Greylag Geese (Grågas) and counted some Scoters (Sortand) and Eiders (Ederfugl) though.

Enjoying the snow

Back at the station we took our time to warm back up again and worked on some chores, constantly checking outside the windows in hopes of seeing the snowfall decrease a little. Around 11 it almost stopped snowing, so we headed out to Grenen again, hungry to find some birds. The gulls on the beach held no surprises but we saw a couple of Bullfinches (Dompap) flying over and calling. We took a little detour to find a secret bunker, that Thomas told me about in autumn, but that I never actually went to. After an adventourous slippery "bridge" crossing we eveually spotted the hidden etrance. Inside the bunker we found some pirate treasures and wintering moths. After returning to the surface and on our way through Elle Krattet a group of Chaffinches (Bogfinke) and Siskins (Grønsisken) fed on the ground and we could get pretty close to them. They all were round and fluffed up because of the cold – so cute.

Three ghosts in a pirate bunker

Scoliopteryx libatrix - Herald moth

The rest of the afternoon was spent resting, playing games and watching birds though the windows. Some of us went on little walks later in the eveing when it completely stopped raining. I went out on a walk around the lighthouse to see the sunset, when I spotted a dead Fulmar (Mallemuk) lying on the beach, basically right in front our doorstep. So after fetching a bag, gloves and Rasmus for help, we picked up the poor thing and put it in the freezer. It now can be used for research of the Aarhus univesity to gather information about the effects of plastic pollution on the diet and causes of death in Fulmars (Mallemuk).

Dead Fulmar (Mallemuk) on the beach in front of the lighthouse

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

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

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Roman Spilldooren, Mara Glane and Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl

It was raining and snowing the whole day today. On top it was also really windy. So we stayed inside most of the time today. We used these circumstances to sleep longer. Later everyone started to work a bit on some things. Janna wrote something for her university and Mara worked a bit with the ringingdata of the station. Roman prepared a presentation on determination of Harriers (Herhøge) and I started reading a book from the station's library and later made the dough for  some cinnamon rolls.

After lunch Janna and Mara took a walk to do some shopping in Skagen. And they came back with Simon who picked up Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, the new volunteer who arrived today from Grenaa. Rasmus was already volunteering in spring 2021 and will stay here for three months. They arrived just as I was taking the cinnamon rolls out of the oven. So we ate them. They were really delicious.

Nice Cinnamon Rolls

After that Roman presented us his presentation on the determination of Hen-, Montagu’s-, and Pallidharrier (Blå Kerhøg, Hedehøg og Steppenhøg).It was really interesting and now we are well prepared for the Harrier migration! He also made a Kahoot quiz. It was fun to be able to apply the new knowledge directly. Janna won the quiz although she didn't really like the Harriers before. But now she finds them nicer than before.

Roman explaining the fieldmarkes in the wings of the Harriers (Kerhøge)

Later we played a lot of Ping Pong and card games. 

We are looking forward to go out to the migration count tomorrow again, hopefully without rain. 

Link to today's observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

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

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Roman Spilldooren, Mara Glane and Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl

Today we went out to do our morning count for the first time in the last three days. It was not longer foggy as the wind had blown all the fog away. On the breakfast table we talked about the east wind and all the species it could bring. Especially Mara was looking forward, she was very happy to be back at Skagen. Motivated and with the cleaned bikes we headed to world´s end three. When we arrived, there was almost none passerine migration, however, the seabird migration was alright. We had hoped to see the sun today, but it was cloudy and as a result quite dark.

After an hour of counting it started to rain- but it was not too harsh, therefore we stayed outside. Later, the rain changed to snow-rain and there were almost no migrating birds. For this reason, we stopped the count. When we came back, we made some hot chocolate to get warm again. This was followed by a relaxed time with reading, compass usage and data analysis for the year report.

Our plan was to cut new lanes for the nets. At 1 o´clock it was still raining. Therefore, we decided to not fix the net lanes today. After lunch we played some matches of table tennis. That was very funny.

Table tennis is a nice occupation for rainy days

We had enough time to create a searching picture for rainy days. On this picture the nice weather of today is obvious. The sun was shining very nicely and some of today’s species are on there. You can find 11 animals on it, it is a good task for rainy days.

It was almost this sunny- searching picture with 11 animals

In the afternoon we went out for a small walk. It was still raining, not as much as in the morning though. We walked through swampy areas, watched some resting whooper swans (sangsvane) and looked at the plants that were growing there.

After the evening meal it was time for another table tennis tournament and later on for a danish quiz we found in the living room.

Highlights from today

• 1 long-tailed-duck (havlit)
• 1 stonechat (sortstrubet bynkefugl)
• 6 resting whooper swans (sangsvane)
• table tennis

Link to today’s observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

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

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Roman Spilldooren, Mara Glane, Knud Pedersen