First day here in the Skagen Bird Observatory to participate in the first Constant Effort Site (CES) session of the year. The aim of the CES is to better understand and investigate changes in breeding bird populations through standardised procedures! Yonathan, Lauren, Michael, and I cycled to the site, with faint lights starting to paint the morning sky orange at 4 am. The atmosphere while we were cycling was peaceful, and we reached the site and began opening nets around the area. Simon brought a table to set up the ringing station, and we soon began our rounds around the site.

The ringing session was very fruitful, and I saw all the birds in person for the first time in my life, which was very exciting after being able to see them online. The birds were less colourful than the ones in Singapore, but they had a lot of personality, and some were quite feisty despite their duller appearances. We caught 44 birds, including several willows and chiffchafs and a recaptured Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia Curruca) caught back from 2019 at the same location.

The highlight of the day was definitely the male Bearded Reedling (Panurus biarmicus), the first of the year in the station, making the extra early wake-up call for everybody worth it.

The birds were fascinating to observe, and we also heard 2 Grasshopper Warblers (Locustella naevia), Reed Warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus), Sand martins (Riparia riparia), Sedge Warblers (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus), Bitterns, Water rails (Rallus aquaticus), Cranes, and many more in the beautiful reed landscapes.

Towards the end of our rounds, we did a cormorant count in Cormorant Lake and found several active nesting sites, with a lone, Red-Necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) amongst the water dance of Grebes, with both species plunging into the lake to feed.

The day was full of learning opportunities. picking up many skills, from setting up the net to identifying species, differentiating their sex, holding, and releasing a bird. Everyone on site was kind and offered guidance to ensure we followed basic rules and protocols.

Meanwhile, Dante, Snäphor, and Martin, among other birders, observed a high sighting of a bird at 2600m altitude with laser binoculars.

After the ringing session, we went back to enter data from the morning's CES ringing session. We spotted an European Adder snake on our way out, which is the only venomous snake here in Denmark. So please stay on designated trails to stay safe while you're out!

We concluded the day with a sharing session, setting up expectations and plans for tomorrow. I left the day feeling amazed at the experience, feeling very positive and eager for what’s to come!
P.S. There is a bike missing from our station, do let us know if you know where it is at :-) Thank you!

People: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Simon S. Christiansen, Snäphor, Toh Ying Ying, Martin & Kristine.

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Ringing (Skarvsøen CES):

Wren (Gærdesmutte): 3

Robin (Rødhals): 2

Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger): 1

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger): 1

Blackcap (Munk): 7

Chiffchaff (Gransanger): 13

Willow Warbler (Løvsanger): 15

Bearded Reedling (Skægmejse): 1

Reed Bunting (Rørspurv): 1

Total: 43

We all had high hopes that the switch to strong southerly winds and rain overnight would bring a few more birds to Skagen, and we were not disappointed. As soon as the rain stopped just after sunrise, Yehonatan and I sped over to Kabeltromlen to open the nets whilst Dante and Michael headed up to World’s End. Both the ringing and observing team had an excellent morning. Joined by our guests Martin and Kristine, Yehonatan, Simon, and I caught 32 birds including 2 Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat) which have returned to Kabeltromlen this year after migrating south for the winter. The highlight of the morning was undoubtedly an adult, male Ringdrossel (Ring Ouzel), the first to be caught at the site this year and a new species in the hand for Yehonatan.

Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat).

Ringdrossel (Ring Ouzel).

Meanwhile, up at World’s End, Dante, Michael and the other birders, had a brilliant morning with 2000+ Sjagger (Fieldfare), 77 Ringdrossel (Ring Ouzel), 64 Tinksmed (Wood Sandpiper), 3 Sortklire (Spotted Redshank), 5 Islom (Great Northern Diver) and Hvidnæbbet Lom (White-billed Diver).

The afternoon was spent entering data, upgrading ringing licences and making the final preparations for our first CES session of the year tomorrow until we heard that Lisa and Simon had caught a Husskade (Magpie) in their garden! They kindly bought it down to the observatory for us to ring and learn to age as this was a new species in the hand for all 4 of us volunteers.

Husskade (Magpie) from Lisa and Simon's garden!

In other news, this evening we welcomed our newest volunteer, Ying, who will be with us for the week and is visiting from Aarhus University.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Martin & Kristine.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat)- 2

Gransanger (Chiffchaff)- 12

Rødhals (Robin)- 5

Løvsanger (Willow Warbler)- 5

Gærdesmutte (Wren)- 1

Jernspurv (Dunnock)- 1

Munk (Blackcap)- 5

Sangdrossel (Song Thrush)- 3

Ringdrossel (Ring Ouzel)- 1

Ringing (Minervavej):

Husskade (Magpie): 1

Total: 35

Dear blog Readers

This morning ,we went to jennesø an unusual site for us to conduct our standard morning ringing .Unfortunately ,the weather was not in our favor as it was quite windy with a strong north-west wind. This was not ideal for catching birds , but we opened our four nets at 7:00 am and started our morning ringing routine . In between net round , I took the opportunity to do some birding around the area . I was able to spot some interesting species such as crossbill , long tailed tit and siskin , along with the common ones like blue tit, great tit, and jays. How ever, the most exciting sighting for me was the red squirel .

During our ringing , we managed to catch three redpoll/ lille Grasisken .we close the nets at 10:15, am and we were only three volunteers at the ringing site, including Yehonatan, Lauren and Michael.

As we were heading back to the station , Simon send us a text message , informing us that the tent at the ringing site in kabeltromlen had fallen down . He asked if we could go and fix it and we did . we have new guest that have cheek in today in the apartment they are Kristine Martin and Carl Anker.

Unfortunately ,due to the strong winds , the observation this morning was not as good as we hoped. Most birds were not seen , and Dante who was at the observation side , there was little migration, reported few sightings ,

White-billed Diver / Hvidnaebeh lom  

Great Northern Diver / Islom  1

Black-throated Diver / Sortstrobet lom  1

Red-throated Diver / Rodstrobet lom  116

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Raptor summary of the day can be found here

Ringing Totals Jenne Sø:

Lesser redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) - 3

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Martin & Kristine.

I (Yehonatan) was very exited to be able to join Oluf and Maybritt, for long awaited day trip to the island Hirsolm today.  The small island is home for around 10,000 breeding birds, such as Black head gull (Hættemåge), Sandwich tern, (Splitterne), Brent goose (Knortegås), Red breasted merganser (Toppet Skallesluger) and the island most famous one with around 1000 breeding pairs, Black guillemot (Tejst). I had an amazing time around island (On the way back got a little seasick, but still) and was lucky join a group of expirienced birders.

What a cool bird, had some amazing time with the local Black Guillemots.

Some of the breeding Sandwich Terns in diffrent stages of making the next generation.

Brents taking off.

Meanwhile at the station Dante and Lauren went observing as usuall, while Michael join Michael Anker to try and ring some birds in Jenne Sø. Not many highlights from observations due to not so nice weather and strong winds and rain, but 3 Great northern divers (Islom) always make your day nicer. Meanwhile in Jenne Sø, The Michaels had a lovely morning with the first Lesser whitethroat (Gærdesanger) that we ringed this spring, and some Redpollls (Gråsisken) as you must have while ringing in Jenne sø!

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Raptor summary of the day can be found here

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Lauren Evans, Dante Shepherd, Hans.

Jenne Sø Ringing Totals:

Robin (Rødhals - 1

Redstart (Rødstjert) - 1

Song thrush (Sangdrossel) - 1

Lesser whitethoart (Gærdesanger - 1

Chiffchaf (Gransanger) - 1

Lesser redpoll (Lille gråsisken) - 13

A clear, cold start to the morning gave way to a beautiful, warm and sunny day as Yehonatan and Michael headed to open the nets at Kabeltromlen. They were kindly joined again by Oluf whilst Simon is away, as well as our guest Hans, and had a good catch of 20 birds including a Rørspurv (Reed Bunting) ringed at another site in Denmark.

Lauren and I headed to World’s End 1 and joined the large group of birders out to observe this morning. Although it was rather quiet in terms of number of migrants, we still had an excellent morning with a summer-plumage White-billed Diver (Hvidnæbbet Lom), a Red-rumped Swallow (Rødrygget Svale) (both found by Jakob Engelhard), a Serin (Gulirisk) and an immature Golden Eagle (Kongeørn).

Our typical counts were interrupted early however, when I heard a Siberian Chiffchaff-like (Sibirisk Gransanger) call in the willows behind me. I quickly located the bird which immediately looked too yellow and pale legged for a Siberian. A small crowd gathered and we considered the possibilities. The call sounded descending and Iberian Chiffchaff (Iberisk Gransanger) felt like the best fit, we were still unsure though and decided to put the bird out as a possible Iberian. Unfortunately the Ringing Centre were not able to give us a permission in time to catch the bird, very frustrating. Afterwards I contacted Magnus Robb, an expert on bird sounds, who replied that he did not think the call was descending enough for Iberian. Very interestingly though he suggested that the bird could be brevirostris, a subspecies of Chiffchaff from the Anatolian peninsula. This subspecies would be a first for Denmark, but we will probably never be able to prove it as such…

Unidentifed Chiffchaff by Daniel Palm Eskildsen x2

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Lauren Evans, Dante Shepherd, Hans & Birthe.

Kabletromlen Ringing Totals:

Gransanger (Chiffchaff)- 8

Fuglekonge (Goldcrest)- 1

Løvsanger (Willow Warbler)- 2

Rødhals (Robin)- 1

Musvit (Great Tit)- 2

Rørspurv (Reed Bunting)- 3

Bogfinke (Chaffinch)- 1

Solsort (Blackbird)- 1

Gulspurv (Yellowhammer)- 1

Total: 20

The strong north-westerly winds meant it wasn’t possible to open the nets at Kabeltromlen this morning, so Yehonatan, Michael and Simon spent the morning catching up on entering ringing data and preparing the paperwork ahead of the first CES session next week.

Dante and I headed out for observations at sunrise although it quickly became apparent that it would be a rather quiet day. We decided to check a few sites in the hope of seeing some migrants sheltering from the cold northwest wind. Our highlights from our nearly 19 km loop included a Hawfinch (Kernebider) in Elle Krattet, a Shorelark (Bjerglærke) on the beach at Nordstrand, and a Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge). A Hoopoe (Hærfugl) was seen migrating east over World’s End 1 whilst another (or possibly the same individual) was seen later in the day north of Det Grå Fyr! I headed out this evening with the hope of seeing this individual but unfortunately no luck for me today. A Griffon Vulture (Gåsegrib) was seen by one birder at Hulsig and our guests Hans and Birthe undertook a very long walk from Hulsig back to town attempting to refind it but there have been no further sightings. We’re all extremely hopeful it will come our way tomorrow!

Griffon Vulture (Gåsegib) at Hulsig today. Photo by the finder: Poul Henrik Pedersen.

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Hans & Birthe.

Very cold morning, brought up some memories from March, not much moving around birdwise, but it's always nice to be out in the field. In the ringing we had very few birds and after cutting down some bushes for better view of the birds from the ringing table, we decided to close the nets early, due to a very long day ahead oh us, as we planned to go all together to Skarv sø, to prepare our new CES ringing site. It was also one of slowest days so far for observations, with almost non passerines migrating or attempting to migrate.

Around noon, we arrived to Skarv Sø, equiped with saws, cutters, ropes, new nets, and alot of ringing poles, ready to set up our new ces ringing site, and after 3 hours of hard work, sweat, and avoiding snakes, the new ringing site is ready for the upcoming CES season starting next week.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Hans & Birthe.

Kabeltromlen Ringing Totals:

Chiffchaf (Gransanger) - 3

Robin (Rødhals) - 4

Dear blog Readers

Today my morning started with ringing, with a lot of expectation which were high because it cloudy most of the birds move that time nets where open 5:45 and it was 18 nets of 10 meters each.

The first round was so positive because we caught 12 birds which was good that I was hoping for that to continue, but the ringing could not continue as I Tod because later in the morning was so windy and there were a bit of rain which proud us to close our nets early because the nets were so visible. We had 9 species

The people who were at the ringing site were Simon, Yehonatan , Loran and Michael, there were some gest that include HANS CHRISTOPHERSEN who is a bored member of Skagen bird observatory .

The migration observation Dante was there and he has seen good number of different species the less follow

Grater Spotted Eagle / Stor Skireorn  1

White Billed Diver / Hvidnabbet Lom 2

Pallid Harrier / Steppe Høg 1

Wryneck / Vendchals 1

Fulmar / Mallemuk 2

In the afternoon we had a big shopping because it was loran birthday ,  when we return from there Dante and Loran were busy cooking for our dinner. I went with Yehonatan for bird witching because we told the Short-Eared Own has been seen around the beach yesterday and today, yesterday night we went for lamping for about two hour but we not see any. I was has happy this evening we were able to see about 7 of them which make me so happy because I have seen this bird for first time in my life.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Hans & Birthe.

Plenty of rain in the early hours and the promised switch to strong westerly winds had us all up and raring to head out. As soon as the drizzle stopped, Yehonatan and Michael, later joined again by Oluf, headed to Kabletromlen and managed to open all the nets by 8am. In just a short session, they managed a respectable catch of 18 birds, including more 3 Løvsanger (Willow Warbler).

Meanwhile, Lauren and I headed to the outer dunes adjacent to World’s End 3 for what ended up being 8 hours counting! We had a brilliant day for raptors including four Pallid Harriers (Steppehøg), two 2cy, one adult female and one adult male, one adult Greater Spotted Eagle (Stor Skrigeørn), three White-tailed Eagles (Havørn), one immature Golden Eagle (Kongeørn), one Hobby (Lærkefalk) and at least nine Rough-legged Buzzards (Fjeldvåge). It was also a great day for Hirundines with at least 46 Swallows (Landsvale), 7 Sand Martin (Digesvale) and 6 House Martin (Bysvale).

The most dramatic sighting of the day was near the end of our 8-hour observations when at 15:19, I spotted a distant raptor I didn’t immediately recognise. Here is my official description of the bird and my sighting.

"1516-1519 Possible Booted Eagle. Viewed from Grenen. First picked up very high up above Kattergat gliding south-west with a large group of buzzards and kites. Immediately felt ‘alien’ to me. Always silhouetted. First seen quite side on though already going somewhat away from me. Views continually got worse as it started getting further and further away from me to the south-west. About the same size as a kite. Seen gliding alongside a Black Kite briefly. Long tail, about as long as the width of the base of the wings, with sharp corners and no fork. Long, broad wings held down at the arm. Rather large and broad looking head. It did not flap its wings very often. The wingbeats felt stiffer and more powerful compared to a kite which I feel have more bouncy and elastic wingbeats. It circled only once, though very far away, probably between the Grey and White Lighthouses over Fyrvej. It then continued with speed gliding south-west. From the view of it circling, again the head felt too large and broad and the tail too convex when spread to be a Black Kite. The wings were broad and parallel sided. This is when I put the first Zello message on Skagen birding. I have never seen a Booted Eagle before and I was not going to call this as definitely one on poor views. I see Black and Red Kites, Marsh Harriers, Rough-legged and Common Buzzards here almost everyday and I find them all easy to identify with prolonged views, even at a distance. This really did not feel like any of those species. I took the approach,’ why isn’t this a Black Kite?’, when watching the bird and I can be sure it wasn't one. Hopefully it is seen again…1539-40 Oluf Lou sees a raptor gliding south-west from his balcony in Skagen Stadion. His initial impression was Booted Eagle too but it sounds like his views were much more brief than mine. He did manage to photograph the bird he saw. See attached."

Possible Booted Eagle photographed by Oluf Lou.

We also said goodbye to our guests Jakob and Birgit who we’ve really enjoyed spending time with this week and welcomed Hans and Birthe to the apartment.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Hans & Birthe.

Kabeltromlen Ringing Totals:

Fuglekonge (Goldcrest)- 3

Løvsanger (Willow Warbler)- 3

Gransanger (Chiffchaff)- 7

Musvit (Great Tit)- 2

Jernspurv (Dunnock)- 1

Rødhals (Robin)- 1

Rørspurv (Reed Bunting)- 1

Total: 18

After a few days ringing at Jenne sø, we were excited to get back to Kabeltromlen this morning. Yehonatan, Michael and I had the nets open at sunrise at usual and we delighted to catch a young, female Sjagger (Fieldfare) before we’d even finished unfurling the nets. We were shortly joined by Oluf Lou, who kindly agreed to join us since Simon is away for the weekend, and our guest Jakob & Birgit. Overall, we had an excellent morning ringing with a total of 56 birds of 13 species, including 6 Vindrossel (Redwing), our first three Løvsanger (Willow Warbler) of the year, and another Rødtoppet Fuglekonge (Firecrest)- less than a week after our first one!

Yet another Rødtoppet Fuglekonge (Firecrest) ringed at Kabeltromlen today (not that we’ll ever get bored of them!).

Dante joined the local birders at Grenen for observations and had an good morning with a diverse set of species seen including; two Topskarv (Shag), Stor Skrigeørn (Greater Spotted Eagle), Lærkefalk (Hobby), Sort Spætte (Black Woodpecker), two Bjerglærke (Shorelark) and Mudderklire (Common Sandpiper). The last week of persistent easterly winds, clear skies, and plenty of sun is fairly unsual for this time of year in Skagen, and we’re looking forward to what tomorrow’s rain and change in wind direction may produce.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Micheal Colley, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Jakob & Birgit.

Kabeltromlen Ringing Totals:

Gransanger (Chiffchaff)- 11

Løvsanger (Willow Warbler)- 3

Fuglekonge (Goldcrest)- 13

Rødtoppet Fuglekonge (Firecrest)-1

Gærdesmutte (Wren)- 6

Rødhals (Robin)- 9

Sangdrossel (Song Thrush)- 1

Vindrossel (Redwing)- 6

Sjagger (Fieldfare)- 1

Bogfinke (Chaffinch)- 1

Lille Dompap (Bullfinch)- 1

Rørspurv (Reed Bunting)- 2

Solsort (Blackbird)- 1

Total= 56