Today was a cold day with a strong easterly wind blowing off Kattegat making temperatures fall below zero again. This did not matter today, as today was day 1 of the deep clean!

Figure 1: Christmas tree!

The day started when the three of us stepped into the living room where Simon Sr was sat doing some work and waiting for a visiting school group to arrive for a mini ringing demonstration. To help, Simon Jr and I went to open the two sheltered nets in the garden. We didn’t hear many birds, but Simon Jr flushed a Woodcock [Skovsneppe] which was very nice. It was also nice to see the Christmas tree the lighthouse team has put up which is very sweet so thank you! It was a bit windy today so I put it back up on our way back. On our return, it was straight to work cleaning whilst Mathilde was going to make a cake for Knud and his wife Inger who we invited to come over this afternoon. After a quick cycle to the shops to get some eggs, Mathilde was in baking mode!

Figure 2: Mathilde’s carrot cake – well part of.

No birds were caught unfortunately so Simon Sr shut the nets quite early to get on with work. Meanwhile, Simon Jr and I started cleaning and ended up deep cleaning the bedrooms and living room before lunch, a good start. Mathilde finished the cake and started cleaning the kitchen. After a quick lunch break, tough scrutiny from Simon Sr regarding the cleaning and a game of Turnstone, we were delighted to host Knud and Inger. I should have taken a photo of the cake before we all ate it but see the pic above of Mathilde’s very nice carrot cake. However, the cake, gløgg and conversation were all really lovely, and it was really nice to see Knud before we all leave for Christmas. We are all very grateful for the help and support from Knud since we have been here, as he has been a big help with the migration counts throughout the year. A big thank you from us volunteers, past and present! Knud even went out on a migration count today which was very dedicated and his sightings can be seen on the DOFbasen link below.

After Knud and Inger left, our afternoon consisted of us finishing the cleaning of the kitchen and then the final room for today: the bathroom. Simon Jr and I helped take down a couple of the garden nets and we will soon be checking ringing sheets and getting ready for The Deep Clean: Day 2!

Figure 3: Christmas tree at night!

Just for some more Christmas content, here's the Christmas tree at night. Tomorrow’s blog will hopefully feature a little more bird content than today.

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Thomas Weston, Mathilde Ducroz, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud & Inger Pedersen.

We woke up just before 8am to open up the nets and see if we could catch anything. Compared to the previous days, the nets were not popular with the local birds with only two Blackbirds (Solsort) recaptures during the whole morning. This meant is was time to be productive on the tasks concerning the imminent winter close. Simon Jr. was in charge of checking through the ring stock in particular gaps in series and that all rings are accounted for. Thomas went through his pictures and updated our picture archives with pictures of birds, landscapes and the station people. I started on the big clean and went through the kitchen drawers to clean them and reorganise them. Simon Jr. cleaned the oven and microwave at the same time. During the morning, Simon Sr. had a final talk with each of us.

As ringing was particularly slow, Simon Sr. suggested going to bird around the Skagen harbour. We headed out after lunch and had a successful day out. We started on the north side where Simon spotted a young Caspian gull (Kaspik måge) flying that later landed on the beach and started preening. While I was taking pictures of the bird, Simon Sr. also spotted a Water pipit (Bjergpiber) flying around the rocks of the sea breaker. After a successful first part of birding, it went a few more quiet. Simon and Thomas each spotted a Little auk (Søkonge) at different location of the harbour. Compared to my last views, these birds dived a lot more.

After birding, we went to do a shop and finally gave back the cans and bottle for pant which was a nice bonus. Once back at the station, Simon finished cleaning the oven while me and Thomas went out night catching. Sadly not the same luck as yesterday but did see a flock of Sanderling (Sandløber) and one of Purple sandpipers (Sortgrå ryle). I got a nice view through the thermal camera of 8 seals resting on the bunker rock. After getting back unsuccessfully, we held my session on North East American warblers as well as a small kahoot quiz.

Now bed time because tomorrow is big cleaning day!

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Thomas Weston, Mathilde Ducroz, Simon Kiesé, Lisa Vergin and Simon S. Christiansen.

It was another cold day with some new snow settled on the frozen snow from the previous few days. The light breeze was ideal for some more ringing today, and the appearance of some sun throughout the day was most welcome by the team as our jobs involved being both outside and in.

Figure 1: EURING Age 4/Danish Age 2k+ male Common Redpoll.

With sunrise not being until 08:40, Mathilde, Simon Jr, and I had a mini lie in today but still felt tired. Simon and I opened the nets ready for a day of ringing whilst Mathilde tidied the rooms ready for our guests later in the day. The ringing was pretty constant throughout the day but there was a noticeable lull in the early afternoon. The first couple of rounds caught the highest number of Blackbirds [Solsort] coming down to all our apples and it was interested to recatch three from yesterday too. However, the overall ringing session was dominated by a flock of Long-tailed Tits [Halemejse], with some from Kabeltromlen, and the Common Redpoll [Nordlig Gråsisken] with the highest caught flock being 29 today. In total, we have now caught over 100 in just two days from two specific nets in the garden which is impressive and roughly 10%+ of the overall numbers migrating SE currently. Out of the birds caught, 95% have been aged as adults which is a complete contrast to mid-October to mid-November when a higher percentage of juveniles were caught. Where are these very snazzy looking birds coming from (see pic above)? On the other hand, there was still no luck on the Rock Pipit [Skæpiper] attempts, though we do keep trying. One day Simon Jr.

Figure 2: EURING Age 3/Danish Age 1k male Greenfinch [Grønirisk].

This was pretty nice to catch though, a Greenfinch [Grønirisk] (see pic)!

Whilst in between rounds, Mathilde and I fixed some of the broken waders ready for next year, I tried to detach some of our ‘stuck’ ringing poles without success, Simon Jr inputted our night catching totals into DOFbasen to keep all our records up to date and Simon SC and Lisa started preparing some food for the afternoon. This was followed by a nice pre-Christmas food and beverages with local birders Erik, Jørgen and Oluf. Albeit we didn’t catch too many birds during the festive celebrations, it was nice to have some bird related conversations. It was also nice to have some of the homemade marmalade and mulled wine too. Thank you for a lovely couple of hours and happy birding!

Figure 3: Simon and I out nightcatching...

Time seems to be flowing by quite quickly at the moment and once the sun set and our guests had left, Simon Jr and I went out to see if we could get close to the flocks of waders that have appeared near the bunker because of the snow.

Figure 4&5: EURING Age 3/Danish Age 1K Purple Sandpiper [Sortgrå ryle] profile and wing photos.

After wading in the inlets, sometimes up to chest deep, we successfully caught a juvenile Purple Sandpiper [Sortgrå ryle] which was nice. A random side note but for anyone interested and know the area, the sunken underwater bunker absolutely stinks of fish and guano, a weird smell you don’t get the pleasure of smelling from the beach! Back to the main part, the Purple Sandpiper [Sortgrå ryle] was the first of the year caught at the station which was a slight surprise. They have though been absent for most of October/November but good to see 20 this evening out on the rocks. Once processed and released, it was back to the inside jobs again. Inputting ringing data and sorting out some office jobs was broken by a nice curry cooked by Simon. Everyone was pretty tired this evening so an earlyish night for the others whilst I write the blog. How is it midnight already!?

Ringing totals

Ringing (Fyrhaven)

Total: 47

Ringing (Grenen)

Total: 1

Overall Total: 48

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Thomas Weston, Mathilde Ducroz, Simon Kiesé, Lisa Vergin, Simon S. Christiansen, Erik, Jørgen (and Egor) and Oluf Lou.

Today was a really nice day and when I woke up, Thomas and Mathilde had already opened the three nets in our garden and set up a new one at the feeder. I directly joined for the first round, where we were already able to ring two Blackbirds (Solsort). There was nearly no wind and this convinced many Redpolls (Gråsisken) to migrate so we soon had quite some in our nets, which got rings from us.

Since we just caught Common Redpolls (Nordlig Gråsisken), we could concentrate really good on the individual birds. For me it felt, like from one second to the next, ageing made completely sense and I could access many features in our birds. This was really fun. Lisa and Simon joined us to enjoy the Redpolls and also the snow. Two Redpolls were really interesting:

First of all: 

Following to ordinary birdguides, the whitish and neraly not marked undertail coverts are a feature for Arctic Redpolls (Hvidsisken). But this one was a obvious 2k+ male Common Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken/Nordlig Gråsisken). This proofs (again), that this feature is not relieable. Just if the other features also fit, it can support the argumentation, but the variation is so big, that even Lesser Redpolls (Lille Gråsisken) can show whitish undertail coverts and even Arctic Redpolls (Hvidsisken) are allowed to have streakes here (even if it might be more unusual).

The second interesting one was this one:

This bird had a white PC (Primary Covert) on both wings. On the left wing (photo) it was really white and on the right wing it was brownish with a whitish surrounding. The innermost alula also looked more white than usual. It was nice to pick out this wrong coloration. There can be various reasons for this "wrong" feather. In anyway it will not affect the bird. 

In the meanwhile and after closing the nets, we focussed on doing office works like SoMe posts, entering the data from our trip yesterday to dofbasen and the ringingdata from today to fuglering. My Mom and a good friend have birthday, so I also called both and had a nice chat with them. It's a crazy feeling, that the station shuts down soon. The time runs and I enjoy every second here. I'm already looking forward to come back in spring. But until than there is much fun stuff to do. And we have already started the fun stuff like playing games with Thomas and Mathilde. It's really fun with you.

Ringing (Fyrhaven):

Total: 68

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Thomas Weston, Mathilde Ducroz, Simon Kiesé, Lisa Vergin and Simon S. Christiansen.

We woke up to a cold flat as the heating gave up on us again this morning. Thankfully someone was sent to fix the issue and the flat is warmer this evening. Not in time for Thomas’s shower this morning though.

As migration count ended yesterday, we had no imperative and were free to do what we fancied. We woke up for 30 minutes before sunrise to set up nets for garden ringing. I went to open the one in the old lighthouse garden while Thomas and Simon Jr. set up a net and a trap on the beach in the hopes of attracting a Rock Pipit (Skærpiber). The weather was nice and sunny but windy which meant the beach net was not successful. The old lighthouse net caught two recapture Great Tits (Musvit) and six Common Redpolls (Nordlig Gråsisken). Overall though not the busiest day, we therefore closed around 10:30am.

As we closed early, Simon Sr. took us on a little road trip around the local ports. We started at the port of Albæk. 25 Ruddy Turnstones (Stenvender) were roosting on sea breaker rocks with two Rock Pipits (Skærpiber) while 4 Sanderlings (Sandløber) flew by. I got a bit distracted, as did Simon Jr. and Thomas, by the huge mass of shells on the beach in particular the pelican feet shells. I’m pretty sure Simon Sr. noticed and made us move to the otherside of the harbour where no shells were visible. We did see a Purple Sandpiper (Sortgrå ryle) on the rocks. We then continued on to Strandby harbour and started by looking at the sandy part. There we observed quite a few different wader species including Oystercatchers (Strandskade), Redshanks (Rødben), Bar-tailed Godwits (Lille kobbersneppe) and Dunlins (Almindelig ryle), as well as a few Mallards (Gråand). We moved onto the more industrial part of the harbour and looked through the gulls for any rare species but nothing was found. A few ducks were in the harbour but the real interest were the two White-tailed Eagles (Havørn) flying over our heads. We also had very nice views of six Purple Sandpipers (Sortgrå ryle). We then did a quick stop at Bratten but not much was seen there.

Simon Sr. kindly let us stop at a supermarket to buy a few bits and bobs while he stocked up on cleaning stuff for next week. A nice surprise appeared on the way back, Thomas spotted a male Hen Harrier (Blå kærhøg). Simon Jr. and Thomas were very productive this evening as they checked through all the rings while I have been writing the blog.

Ringing Totals (Fyrhaven)

Common redpoll – Nordlig Gråsisken 6

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Thomas Weston, Mathilde Ducroz, Simon Kiesé and Simon S. Christiansen.

It was another cold day with snow still settled on the ground from the previous two days. Although there was no new snow, a cool northernly breeze dominated and temperatures were forced to stay in the low single digits. With the sun shining in the afternoon, it was pleasant in the sheltered spots, and provided some very nice snowy scenes.

Mathilde, Simon Jr, and I awoke for our last migration count of the year. The walk to Worlds End 3 was, as always, very nice and it was nice to see lots of gulls roosting near the tip, avoiding the snowy spots. Northernly winds are not ideal to be sat in for too long, but we managed two hours before calling it quits. The first hour was slow but included a Purple Sandpiper [Sortgrå ryle], a Little Auk [Søkonge] and roughly 125 Redpoll [Gråsisken] amongst a good mix of other species. Second hour was tough but was nice to see a super close Lapland Bunting [Lapverling], over 150 Redpoll [Gråsisken] and the Knot [Island Ryle] that has been hanging around for a couple of weeks now. We soon left Worlds End 3 and quickly found 2 Purple Sandpipers [Sortgrå ryle] roosting near the bunker as well as many Rock Pipits [Skæpiper]. This included a colour ringed Norwegian ringed bird near the lighthouse which Simon Jr got some photos of. Unfortunately, due to technical issues he currently cannot use his phone and can barely use his camera but that should be sorted soon.

The higher-than-normal abundance of Rock Pipit [Skæpiper] led us to put out the traps whilst we had lunch. No luck with the traps but they were super close at times. We also opened the old lighthouse garden net and put a Redpoll [Gråsisken] tape lure to attract any passing migrants. This net was the most sheltered and with frequent checks every fifteen to twenty minutes ensured the welfare of the birds was maintained. In the meantime, we checked net lengths and sorted the nets into boxes for next year. The net opening was successful in catching a few birds (see ringing totals below) including a small flock of Common Redpoll [Stor Gråsisken] and an Arctic Redpoll [Hvidsisken]. Simon S.C was super impressed we had caught a Hvidsisken, as he had been talking all day about this species and it was a beauty of a bird. In fact, the chairman of Birdlife Denmark arrived just in time to see the bird before it was released, his first ever which was super exciting and what a view to have. A super snowball in a super snowy environment.

Figure 1: Arctic Redpoll [Hvidsisken] profile.

Figure 2: The old greater coverts in the wing confirming the age.

Figure 3: Arctic Redpoll [Hvidsisken] rump.

Figure 4: Comparison between Common Redpoll [Stor Gråsisken and Hvidsisken]

Figure 5: Arctic Redpoll [Hvidsisken] standalone.

Look at this little stunner! This bird was easily identifiable from the net and was even more distinctive when compared to the Common Redpoll [Stor Gråsisken] in the net too. The moult limit within the greater coverts (the inner four being old in the picture compared to the outer six), the old tertials and the pointy tail feathers led to the bird being aged as a juvenile (EURING age 3/Danish Age 1k). The amount of red on the rump was enough to sex this bird as a male, they are more restrictive than their Common Redpoll [Stor Gråsisken] counterparts.

After sorting nets, the sun set just after 3pm today, the equivalent to 2pm for our British readers. This meant we had a nice evening with me completing the blog, Mathilde helping to input Michael A’s ringing data and Simon Jr cooking a really nice Tofu meal with an additional couple of bottles of wines on the side to congratulate the completion of the migration counts. Thank you to Mathilde and Simon for inputting the ringing data this evening, and for making this evening really nice with good music, favourable wine, a rendition of Kesha's Tik Tok!

Have a great evening everyone!

Ringing totals

Ringing (Fyrhaven)

Total: 9

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Egon Østergaard, Thomas Weston, Mathilde Ducroz, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen.

Thomas looks out of the window and everything is white. Mathilde and I join him immediatley and yes: everything is now covered in snow! 

More snow and less wind made the migration count today more enjoy able than the one yesterday. The amount of birds, which are migrating, is now pretty low, but even in this cold day around 300 Redpolls (Gråsisken) flew towards the sea at World's End 3. Luckily, they decided to turn around and don't risk the long fly over the dangerous water in these conditions. A Great Nothern Diver (Islom) passed by. The danish and german name of it (Eistaucher) fit now well to the weather, since there is now Ice on all small ponds in the area. Since the sea was very flat, I cunted the roosting ducks. I counted 446 Common Scoters (Sortand), which were more than I would have expacted. A Scaup (Bjergand) was feeding with some Scoters. Maybe the best bird of the morning was a young Lesser Black-backed Gull (Sildemåge). At this time of the year there should be realistic chances for the northeastern subspecies fuscus. Espacially in this plumage they can look very similar to intermedius, so the identification of the subspecies by plumage is not possible. If you know from where the bird is, you can concluse the subspecies often from its breeding range. Unfortunately, our bird was not ringed. So it stays just a late LBBG. 

In the afternoon, Mathilde, Thomas and I walked to the supermarket to buy in loads of stuff. On the way we enjoyed the snow and took more nice pictures. In Batteriskoven we flushed a Woodcock (Skovsnepe). The way back was tough, since we had headwind and it started snowing again.

Tomorrow is our last migration count. The conditions will be rough again, but we are looking forward to count there one last time this year. 

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mathilde Ducroz, Thomas Weston, Simon Kiesé.

I woke up an hour later this morning and realised as me and Simon were heading out that it was snowing. Thomas tried to warn us but his phone died before he could send the message so to migration count we went. Strong northernly winds, snow and negative temperatures did not make this the most comfortable count. We were happy to see that Thomas was still alive and not frozen to death when we made it to world end’s 3. When it came to bird activity, there was not much to observe. A nice flock of 7 Goldeneye (Hvinand) flew over as me and Simon set up and 2 Goosanders (Stor Skallesluger) flew over just before we started packing up. The main highlights of the counts was the snow blizzard though. Because of the cold and barely no bird activity, we communally decided on stopping after two hours and headed back to the station.

Once back at the station, Simon and Thomas opened a net in the old lighthouse garden and we took turns checking on them every 15 to 20 minutes. On opening it looked good with a Fieldfare (Sjagger) feeding on the apples, some resting Great tits (Musvit) and Redpolls (Gråsisken). Sadly, none of them ended up in the nets, we only caught a recapture Robin (Rødhals).

Otherwise, we each did some personal admin and smaller tasks for stations, including updating the picture archive and entering data. After lunch and closing the nets, we headed to the attic to sort through some nets and check whether they were still usable. Thomas went on a short walk to enjoy the lightly covered snow landscape. Me and Simon went out night-catching but only saw one Woodcock (Skovsneppe) which quickly flew off before we got anywhere near it.

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Thomas Weston, Mathilde Ducroz, Simon Kiesé.

Today started off with a breezy NE wind forcing temperature below 0’c. The morning was cloudy, and many areas of freshwater were frozen, including Jennes Sø lake which was pretty impressive to see. With plenty of jobs left to do before the winter close, it was a rather busy morning.

Mathilde, Simon Jr and I awoke to Simon Sr making coffee in the kitchen. The plan was for the two Simons to collect snails for a university project whilst Mathilde and I completed migration count. Migration count was not massively busy, but within the first hour flocks of Red-throated divers [Rødstrubet Lom], a few flocks of Eider [Ederfugl] and my personal highlight, the Mallards [Gråand], were nice to see. In total we saw 18 Mallards [Gråand] in the three hours and I find it impressive how this species is mostly known for feeding on bread and coming super close in town parks and ponds, but never normally known for migrating and resting on the open sea! The second and third hour of the migration count were very slow with few birds seen moving. In the meantime, the two Simons successfully collected the required number of snails*, mussels, and water for the project. Simon Sr beat Simon Jr by numbers, but we don’t talk about that! Anyway, a great achievement after our many failed attempts recently due to the tides, low pressure, and high winds. Hopefully the university will find some interesting results regarding pollution and toxins in the water. *All specimens were collected with ethical approval and permissions.

Pic 1: Trying to catch Skærpiber. Photo by Simon Jr

After some lunch, we opened the old lighthouse garden net for some passerines and the potter trap to try and catch some Rock Pipit (Skærpiber). In between net rounds, Mathilde successfully repaired some of the bird bags which was much appreciated and both Simons completed some office-based jobs. I inputted the migration count data from this morning and helped checked nets which resulted in a few birds being caught.

Picture 2: Our regular Great Tit [Musvit] seeing us again! Pic by Mathilde

We caught a few birds which was nice, including a rather familiar Great Tit [Musvit] and a couple of new Redpoll [Nordlig Gråsisken /Lille Gråsisken] which were very nice to see after a few days of no ringing. However, the wind picked up after a couple of hours, the sun was quickly setting, and we decided to close for the day. Back inside in the warm, the evening meeting was completed once it got dark and Simon Sr and I inputted more of Michael’s ringing data. It’s looking like this year is going to be rather impressive on the numbers of birds ringed. Simon Jr cooked us a lovely meal and our evening plans so far are chilled.

Ringing totals

Ringing (Fyrhaven)

Total: 4

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Thomas Weston, Mathilde Ducroz, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen.

This morning we, the last the volunteers standing, went out to a World's End without wind or clouds. It was truely amazing! When the sun popped up over the horizon it shined greenish, which only can be seen under really good conditions and without pollution in the air. A bit later even a sun dog showed up, what a morning!

None of these phenomens, but in anyway a beautiful sunrise in this picture from today:

The Little Auks (Søkonge) decided, that they have already migrated enough yesterday. So instead of 27 yesterday we just had two heading northwest and two, which decided that eating some fish at Grenen is even better. In anyway, we enjoyed these cuties and appreciated every second we could see them. The day was also good for Great Nothern Divers (Islom). We had really good views on two birds, which decided to land on the water, too, and steel all the fish from the Little Auks. Just a joke - as both species specialise in different foods, they avoid competition. Evolution was clever, wasn't it?

Two Scaups (Bjergand), 5 roosting Black-throated Divers (Sortstrubes Lom) and even a unbelievable flock of 14 migrating (and landing) Mallards (Gråand) were other highlights. Erik came to say Hi, which was really nice. 

We used the afternoon for various activities and we were very productive. Thomas and I enjoyed the Little Auks (Søkonge) at the harbour, which dived today much more than yesterday. Then we went shopping. When we came home it smelled super nice like cinnamon. Thanks Mathilde - it will be tasty!

Now we hope to see some Nothern Lights again. But we don't know yet, if we will able to see them today due to its changing activity and some more clouds. Just in case the weather is good - dear reader - go outside (where no lightpollution is) and have a look in the Sky in notherly direction. I wish you good luck! If there are no Nothern Lights today, it is maybe better to stay inside and enjoy those pictures from last night, I processed before I went to bed last night. Have a nice evening!

The lighthouse and aurora borealis. What a beautiful evening!

The moon made the Nothern Lights concurrence.

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Thomas Weston, Mathilde Ducroz, Simon Kiesé.