Coming to the end of the spring team's term, we're beginning to find it hard to occupy ourselves and decide what to do. If we go ringing, it turns out obscenely poor and we begin to question why we bothered to open nets. Like yesterday, I decided I would at least go out to count birds at Grenen; it may be the last chance I got to do that. 

Since I was already awake, I went out a little before sunrise, not really expecting anything, but I was rewarded with an early morning appearance of a Shag (Topskarv). This species is very rare in June, but their increasing population means increasing summer records. It has been the third Shag this June, two seen by me and one by Knud.

The rest of the count went by normally. There was one anomaly, an adult Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) that seemed to be melanistic (excess melanin pigment in its plumage) around most of its body.

Sparrowhawk (Spurvehøg) on Grenen Strand this morning

Later, while Isis was making dinner (amazing Shawarma), she happened to look outside the window and see a pigeon. While not an uncommon occurance in Skagen, seeing one huddled against the laboratory wall made it seem sick. So we went outside and hand caught it. It was tame, likely tired and hungry. It also had rings on it, to show that someone owed them. The rings showed that the bird, named Taurus, came from Sweden. Since it has lived all it's life in capitivity, making it as far as Skagen from Sweden was quite the feat. No wonder it was as tired as it was. We tried releasing the bird after checking it out, but it would not go far and allowed us to catch it again. We were very grateful when Knud came to pick the pigeon up to rehabilitate it.

And that's it. Lucas awaits the arrival of the new Autumn team, and the beginning of the Autumn ringing and observing season.

 A link to today's observations from volunteers and local observers.

 Sum of observations of raptors on DOFbasen from today.

People: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Kiesé, Knud Pedersen, Lars Bo and Simon S. Christiansen

Hello again! Unfortunately, this will be my last blog for the season, so I wanted to start off by saying thank you to everyone; from all the wonderful people who joined us at the station, to all the visitors we had at Kabeltromlen, to the birds, the bugs, and everything in between, Skagen is a very special place and I’m grateful to have called it home this season. While I can’t make promises, I hope to come back sometime and reconnect with this wonderful community again. 

Moving on to our regular scheduled content… This morning Simon “C-License” Kiesé (get it? Because he has a C-License, so we need him for ringing) and I peeled our sticky eyelids off our eyes so that we could open the nets at Kabeltromlen “one last time”. While we were both tired, and our bodies protested heavily against returning to the standard routine, the biggest obstacle we faced was the insufferable discomfort of mosquitoes and the damp devastation of humidity. We thought the night at the Skagen Klitplantage was bad, but today was another level of suffering. To answer the title of this blog, by the time Simon (Jr) had made his mosquito joke, we had only caught 3 birds (15000/5000 = 3). Misery!

We did have a cute Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) which offered some consolation, but a Eurasian Blackcap (Munk) would have certainly made the day a bit more colourful (they are soooo cute!). Luckily, yesterday the jazz band that played downstairs used some Eurasian Blackcap (Munk) birdsong in their music, so I didn’t feel too withdrawn from them. Tak! Great performance! (And I am in no way biased). 

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken).

And when we thought things couldn’t feel more melodramatically horrible, we were knee deep in bog water when the Zello message came that there was a Rosy Starling (Rosenstær) in town. Needless to say, those nets were closed, rolled, and tied in a dizzy haste. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the bird, but we remain hopeful that we will get another chance. 

Simon (Sr) made an effort to see the Rosy Starling (Rosenstær) from Stald Grenen, but he also had no luck. 

Seán spent the morning at World’s End 3 attempting to do a migration count. His efforts felt rather pointless, but he did get to hear a Common Redstart (Rødstjert) singing and see some Wagtails (Vipstjert) potentially migrating South. 

In the afternoon, I opened the nets at the lighthouse garden for a guided tour. Unfortunately, not enough people joined the tour so Lucas and Seán went to close the nets again, but we still caught a Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) and showed it to some lucky tourists!

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger).

Simon (Sr) and Lisa had a visit from some friends (and previous guests) from Germany. They enjoyed a meal together in the garden. It looked very hygge. Then he brought us some breakfast bread leftovers, very yummy! Mange tak!

Sandra, Dirk, Lisa, and Simon. 

In the afternoon we focused on data entry and checking, picture archive updating, and got to meet Simon (Jr)’s family. 

Then Seán prepared a three course meal (starter, main course, and dessert), which was absolutely fantastic! Tak for mad.

And now my blog reaches its close, once again thank you for your support and good company.

Vi ses!

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet)

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) - 1

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) - 1

Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger) - 3

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) - 1

Total: 6

Ringing (Fyr)

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) - 1

Total: 1

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

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen the same day.

People: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Lars Bo, Dirk and Sandra

Although most species sleep in the “night,” the birds we were after last night thrive in the darkness (though in this case, darkness is rather relative). Lars Bo, Simon2, Isis and I departed from Det Grå Fyr for Skagen Klitplantage in hopes of catching Eurasian Nightjar (Natravn). Arriving just after 22:00, we quickly set up the nets and waited for nightfall. Right before we had set up the nets, however, we were joined by the “Nightjar Man” and he pointed out a Nightjar nest! Wow - what an incredible find.

Heading back to the cars to wait for the first round, we had seen a few individual nightjars flying around, giving us hope for what was to come. Around 11;30, we made our first round and found a female Nightjar in the nets! Success! This was only the beginning, over the 5 hour period, we caught four individuals! Two males and two females. Unfortunately, because of the lack of moult limits we were unable to specifically age three of the four nightjars, and the fourth, a male - we suspect may be a 2-0 individual because of the moult limit on the outer alulas. What a successful evening!

The biggest surprise of the night came around 1 AM when Simon Kiese and I walked out on our third round of the evening and found not one but TWO Eurasian Woodcocks (Skovsnippe) hanging in the nets! This was my first time seeing them rather than hearing them and I was simply amazed by their size and strength.

After closing the nets at 03:30 we returned to Det Grå Fyr at 4 AM, just as the sun was rising and we hopped into our beds for some much needed rest. Simon Kiesé, braver than I, woke up at 8 AM and biked over to Flagbakken in search of raptors, however, despite spending four hours did not find the quantity or quality of birds he was searching for. Later in afternoon, we got a Zello message stating that the previously reported Lille Skrigeørn had been refound. Too bad for Simon after all the work he put in. ;(

At 15:00, Simon, Sean, Isis and I walked over to the hotdog stand after Isis had been asking all morning (but the hotdog plans were continuously interrupted by previous occupations). What happened next is best told from the one who lived through it, so here is a little Isis interlude:

“We sat on a bench enjoying some hotdogs, they were absolutely delightful, I felt no form of regret for taking everyone out here today. I even considered indulging in gluttony of the highest degree and getting a second hotdog, but eventually talked myself out of it. I did, however, feel a need to buy a nice Skagen beer mug, so I hopped into the Grenen Kiosk and had a gander at their selection. Just as I’d made me choice, I noticed the staff was looking a little panicked. They were speaking in Danish, so I didn’t really understand what was happening, but I could understand their gestures (they were asking me to come over and look). I peered over the counter and there sat a cutie little Crested Tit (Topmejse)! Just my luck! I’ve been wanting to have one in hand all season! Naturally I asked the staff if it was okay if I took the bird and informed them that I worked at the observatory, so they were very pleased the bird was safely escorted out. The timing could not have been more perfect. As I walked towards the bench where Simon, Sean, and Lucas were sitting (without yet paying for my beer mug) I exclaimed, “anyone want to ring a Crested Tit (Topmejse)?” They were a bit confused, and somewhat in disbelief, when I rolled out of the store holding a bird rather than a souvenir. Anyway, I handed the bird off to my talented coworkers, and ran back inside to pay for my souvenirs (I am not a thief!). We ringed the young bird, showed it to a few curious onlookers, and sent it back on its merry way.

All that because I wanted hotdogs and a beer mug, great success.” - IK

Thank you Isis for that wonderful interjection! And now after eating dinner and entering in some data from last night: we head downstairs to the jazz concert!

Ringing (Sandmillen)

Eurasian Nightjar (Natravn) - 4

Eurasian Woodcock (Skovsneppe) - 2

Total: 6

Ringing (Fyr)

Crested Tit (Topmejse) - 1

Total: 1

People: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen, Lars Bo, Henning S.

...but why is it just a OK day and not a good day? This should be answered in this blog post.

After watching football last night, I set my alarm at 6:50 am. Unexpectedly, it was not my alarm waking me up, but it was Séan, who told me that it is already 8! Half a minute later Knud called me, that he is downstairs, ready to pick us up - I just replied "We'll be there in a minute", jumped out of the bed and took on some clothes. Ten minutes later we sat in the car towards Hulsig Hede.

Our goal was counting Orchids. It was actually really fun and we counted around 2000 individuals of the three target species. Look at this beauty:

Then, the message came, that a Short-toed Eagle (Slangeørn) is over Skagen. After the first thought "why does it have to turn up the first second we leave Skagen", we realized that Hulsig is a good raptor spot, too, so we could get the bird as soon as it returns. The mood in the warm sunny weather was good:

Unfortunately, the rare Eagle returned along the Skagerak coastline, so we missed it on its way back southwest. This was a bit sad, but we still enjoyed views on some Honey Buzzards (Hvepsevåge) and even a Goshawk (Duehøg) showed up.

After finishing the work without spotting any rare raptors, we headed back to the station to eat a well earned lunch - or for me who had to hurry this morning a breakfast. Being back in Skagen did not help us to see the rare birds neither: first a Black Stork (Sort Stork) was found south of town and already returning and then Alex found a Lesser Spotted Eagle (Lille Skrigørn). Also this bird was first seen far south and heading southwest away from us, so we did not have any chance to see it. That's a bit unfortunate, but it is a good opportunity to remind yourself, that you should be happy about that, what you have and that you should never be sad about something you don't have. In anyway - even this philosophy did not really help, so I had to eat some chocolate to get into a better mood. ;-)

Congrats to Alex, who also managed to get really good pictures of the Lesser Spotted Eagle. They are so good, that he could even read its color ring!! Look at Alex Sand Frich's awesome photo here:

In the afternoon, Simon Sr. came around and we discussed the ageing of some birds, we took pictures of in the ringing recently. This is always super good to learn now stuff and improve your ageing skills. We also looked up ageing of Nightjars, since we try to catch some tonight in the area. Hopefully you will read about our sucess in Lucas's blog tomorrow.

Since the weather looks even better tomorrow, we hope that there will be some good birds again. So we will be out and hope that our "bad luck" from today turns into good luck. We take, what we get. Keep your eyes open for big raptors!

A link to today's observations from volunteers and local observers.

Sum of observations of raptors on DOFbasen from today.

People: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Magnus Houen Lauritsen and Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christianen, Lars Bo Jacobsen, Knud Pedersen, Alex Sand Frich

Now it is my turn to write my last Blog post. - At least for now.

The day started with ringing at the CES site at Skarvsøen. Isis, Junior, Lucas and Mette Christensen headed out to fulfil the task, which turned out to be rather slow. A total of nine birds were caught through the six hours of ringing.

Mette with a chaffinch (bogfinke), male.

Meanwhile at the station, I started cleaning the last bit and packed my stuff - preparing to go back home. I left six days earlier to participate in my girlfriend's (Johanna, an earlier volunteer here at the bird observatory) birthday in Kiel, Germany. I was picked up by my uncle at around 14.00, who would drive me the 35 kilometres back home. An era has come to an end, but only for a new to begin.

The evening was spend on watching the euros in the confrence room: Denmark-Serbia, but without my company, unfortunately.

The match ended 0-0.

Tomorrow, I’ll go by train to Kiel from Tolne Station, to surprise my girlfriend. She’s not aware that I’ll leave earlier, just to surprise her. But first a bit of rest, reflecting about the last four months, before continuing out in the wilderness to explore more species. But I'll be back.

In memory of an unforgettable spring, with new experience and new friends. And thanks to you, for following our daily Blog.

Over and out from:

/Magpie/Krøllebille/Magnus/MHL.

Update 08/07-2024: The surprise was all worth it.<3

Ringing Skarvsøen (CES):

Reed Warbler (Rørsanger): 4

Marsh Warbler (Sivsanger): 1

Common Chaffinch (Bogfinke): 1

Eurasian Black Cap (Munk): 1

Lesser Whithethroat (Gærdesanger): 1

Another day, another early wakeup. Despite having done the 02:30 AM wakeup almost everyday since the middle of May, it does not get any easier (at least for me). At 3 AM, we once again headed out to open the nets at Kabeltrommelen. The sunrise was remarkable this morning and one of the things I love most about the mornings. They make the day so much better!

Ringing was fairly successful the first few rounds considering the late date. We were able to catch a nice Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) and several Munk which made Isis very happy. Then the highlight came: As I was walking around the north loop, I had not caught any birds up until that point in the round and while I was walking by I initially did not notice the bird. Then as I got closer, hanging in the lowest net ring was a female Common Rosefinch (Karmindompap). I immediately called over Simon who was not far away and we hastily brought it back to the ringing site once we had finished our round. I (somewhat embarrassingly) made a Zello call and in my excitement, made many mistakes (oops!). Later in the morning, Mette and Simon joined the rest of us for the remainder of the morning.

Of other note, while we were waiting between rounds, the crew spotted two Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove) and a Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) and a singing male Rosefinch!

Batman is occupied! Call the Joker!

The afternoon was full of much needed rest and data entry!

Ringing (Kabeltrommelen)

Common Reed Warbler (Rørsanger) - 5

Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger) - 1

Icterine Warbler (Gulbug) - 2

Blackcap (Munk) - 3

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) - 2

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) - 1

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) - 1

Common Rosefinch (Karmindompap) - 1 

Total: 16

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Isis Khalil, Simon Kiese, Simon S Christensen, Sean Walsh, Mette Møller Christiansen, Magnus Houen Lauritsen 

A link to today's observations from volunteers and local observers.

After ringing last night, there was nothing for us to do. Around sunrise, I went out to listen for songbirds, and heard very little, so I was satisfied with our decisio not to ring.

Thanks to Søren Leth-Nissen's contributions to the station, we were finally able to put up the worldmap he bought for us. Simon SC and put up two new hangers for it so it would hang evenly. Then, we put pins onto it to represent where all of the volunteers came from.

Later on in the day Simon, Simon, Lucas and Isis went to Gyvelmarkene to look for rare waders. They saw the usual migrants like Spotted Redshank (Sortklire), Ruff (Brushane), Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle) and also two Hobbies (Lærkefalk).

A link to today's observations from volunteers and local observers.

Sum of observations of raptors on DOFbasen from today.

 People: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Magnus Houen Lauritsen and Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christianen, Jesper & Anne

Hello everyone! It’s good to be back, I hear Rika did a wonderful job filling in during my absence, and I’m sure no one even noticed a thing. Although the day yesterday was chill, we got busy catching during the night… and we managed to get one beautiful little House Martin (Bysvale)! Magnus, Simon, and Lucas (full of hope) then bravely put on swimming trunks and rushed off to the shore to try to catch some waders, props to them for their effort! They were almost successful. 

Western House Martin (Bysvale).

The Swim Team.

Either way, the day dragged on through the night, until we started to see the morning light shining through the windows. We were almost inclined to rush to Kabeltromlen to open the nets, but then we remembered: the standard period is over! So we submitted to our exhaustion and crumbled into bed. I must admit, seeing “No Alarm” on my phone felt very, very, VERY nice. But once the morning came, we were somewhat at a loss. If we can’t go out, what do we do? Well, we enter and check data sheets of course! Until those ran out… and we were again lost. Simon did a wader count (highlights being 17 Dunlins (Ryle) and 1 Bar-tailed Godwit (Lille Kobbersneppe)) and Magnus was out celebrating his little brother’s birthday.

Seán tried to do some catching during the day, but to no avail. 

We shared a lovely meal with our guests Jesper and Anne, mange tak! It was delicious. 

Since the day was so slow, Simon, Lucas, Seán, and I decided to go set up nets to catch waders. 

Setting up nets. 

Seán fighting off demons (mosquitoes) as we wait for birds to fly into the nets.

Although we ran a couple times, we only ended up catching one Dunlin (Ryle). It was very cute! Our efforts did not feel wasted. We also recaught several of the Common Ringed Plover (Stor Præstekrave) chicks (pulli). Nice to see them so grown! They used to only be as small as half our palm or less!

Dunlin (Ryle).

Common Ringed Plover (Stor Præstekrave).

We also got to see a Fox (Rød Ræv) which was cool! I also heard some deer bellowing by the Sandormen Track, which was a little intimidating. 

Anyway, it is very late now, so we must try to get as much sleep as we can.

Goodnight!

Ringing (Fyr)

Western House Martin (Bysvale) - 1

Total: 1

Ringing (Grenen)

Dunlin (Ryle) - 1

Total: 1

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

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen the same day.

People: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Magnus Houen Lauritsen and Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christianen, Jesper & Anne

Since we finished our ringing standard, it was the first morning this year, we were able to sleep in. To be honest - I really needed this after getting up at 2:30 am for many days in a row and the fun night with the Ringed Plover (Stor Præstekrave) catching made me a bit tired the last days. Now we could finally get the sleep, we needed. I woke up around 9, but Séan managed it to sleep longer, that the past 4 nights summed up. That's crazy!

The morning at Grenen was good, too. Knud counted the high amount of Fulmars (Mallemuk), that flew out of Kattegat since the wind slowed down. The day total of over 1000 Fulmars is really impressive. A late Shag (Topskarv) and a immature Great Skua (Storkjove) rewarded the effort one more time.

Rika headed back to southeastern Denmark. It was nice to meet you, have fun at your local CES site!

It was very warm, but that did not stop Lucas and me to go for a walk. The highlight was a Black Kite (Sort Glente), which enjoyed the warm air. Afterwards we tried to trap Stonechats (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl), which flew around with their chicks. We did not suceed, but I saw a Skylark (Sanglærke) flying with food to a possible nest. So we sat down to try to locate the nest, when Isis walked towards us. She just came back from Belgium, where she visited her niece for the first time. It was very nice to see her again!

Roadtrip!

Then we headed south to Lille Vildmose, where a Collared Pratincole (Rødvinget Braksvale) was found. Unfortunately, it was flushed by a White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) right before we arrived. It was still a nice trip, because we saw Whooper Swans (Sangsvane), Corn Buntings (Bomlærke) and many Black-necked Grebes (Sorthalset Lappedykker).

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

People: Isis Khalil, Lucas Corneliussen, Seán Walsh, Magnus Houen Lauritsen, Simon Kiesé, Rika Pydde, Lisa Vergin, Simon S. Christianen, Jesper & Anne.

After a night with only low winds, we had some refreshed hope for our final day of the Spring ringing following the standard protocol.

Simon and I departed the Grå Fyr at 03:00 to go to open the nets for ringing. There were nice weather conditions this morning and when Seán joined us, the mood was good and energy levels high (... no comparison to the ringing yesterday, where the tiredness from the nightly excursion was heavily noticeable ).

 Our outdoor "office" in the morning sun

Since I just recently joined, let me quickly introduce myself: My name is Rika and I am joining the station as a stand-in for a few days. I started ringing birds at CES Vestamager and CES Rungstedlund this year and I am trying to get as much hands-on experience as possible. Therefore, I am very grateful for the opportunity to join the volunteers a Skagen Fuglestation.

We had very low expectations for this last ringing day, especially after the low number of birds in our nets on the previous day. The wind on the day before had also made the extraction of birds from the nets very challenging. However, this day started good, with varied species of birds in the first round and no big extraction challenges. The second round brought us back to Kabeltrommen empty-handed.

Part one of today's ringing team: Seán and Simon enjoying the sun

Part two of today's ringing team: Rika with a recaptured Chiffchaff

One slightly unusual capture today was a very small bird, that on first sight seemed to show the facial features and some coloration features of a Willow Warbler. However, based on the measurements and the indents on the outer webs of the primary feathers (emargination), which were only present on Primaries 3 to 6, we identified the bird as a Chiffchaff.

Chiffchaff with interesting supercilium

After catching a handsome male Common Chaffinch, we thought we had gotten the final bird for the day, but got an additional Chiffchaff recapture and a newly caught Reed Warbler thereafter. Unfortunately, the wind started picking up on speed, so we had to close the nets already at 07:45.

Thus, the Reed Warbler became the final bird of this season, and was ringed by Seán. It was time to put up those waders and get some food!

Last bird of the season: Reed Warbler

Return of the waders

The extremely active day and night of the past day (with nightly bird capturing on the beach and guided tours for school classes as you can read on the previous blog post) had left everyone on the team quite exhausted. And despite the effort to catch up on sleep during the day, we decided to take it slow and leave any extraordinary activities for the coming days.

On the last status meeting we had decided to celebrate the finalization of the Spring ringing season by meeting up in the evening, enjoying food and beverages and watch the match of Denmark playing against England at the UEFA European Football Championship together.

We enjoyed a nice meal prepared by Simon K. and then moved to the conference room to watch the match. Luckily, the game ended in a tie!

Dinner time

UEFA Champions League - Denmark against England

After the celebrations of the evening and he high number of activities and successes from the recent days, everyone is looking forward to a good and proper night of sleep, without having to leave the bird station at 3:00 in the morning for ringing.

The team is excited about the opportunities of the upcoming days that allow to plan for more flexible and unusual activities when early morning ringing is no longer required.

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet):

Reed Warbler (Rørsanger): 2

Icterine Warbler (Gulbug): 1

Common Chaffinch (Bogfinke): 1

Chiffchaff (Gransanger): 1

Total: 5

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

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Seán Walsh, Magnus Houen Lauritsen, Simon Kiesé, Rika Pydde, Jesper & Anne.