With sunrise creeping ever earlier, Johanna, Lauren and I started our morning observation at 6:30am. Luckily, yesterday’s heavy rain has melted most of the snow although it still felt like winter up at Verdens Endes 1. Our highlights of the morning were 6 Buzzards (Musvåge), 3 Red Kite (Rød Glente) (hopefully representing the start of the raptor migration), the first White Wagtail (Hvid Vipsjert) of the year, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Sildemåge) (also the first of the year) and 31 Mistle Thrush (Misteldrossel).

Red Kite and gulls by Lars

Meanwhile Yehonatan headed to the harbour to collect some bait for the raptor project we are undertaking here at Skagen Fuglestation. Back at the station, Simon hosted the board of the bird observatory for a productive meeting. 

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia, Lars, Anette

Today's observations by observers in the area

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

Hi everyone!

We saw a lot of really interesting birds today; raptors, owls, a great variety of passerines and waders… but all of them would just stare at us, not moving or flying at all… they were stuffed ones! Simon brought them over, they are supposed to be part this year’s exhibition.

As it was raining all day long, we weren’t out observing, it was a really slow day. We just spend most of the day working on our laptops. Each of us has to prepare a presentation for the others about a specific topic, and I started doing my research on that today. It also turned out that Lauren is really talented in drawing.

Now Lauren and Yehonatan are out in the field nightcatching. I hope they will have success! I will update the blog later when they are back.

Update: They saw one Woodcock (Skovsneppe) but unfortunately didn't catch anything. 

Todays observations of observers in the area

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

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia

We started the morning going to do morning observtions all of us together (Yehonatan, Dante, Lauren, Joana ) at Worlds end 1 .  We had anoter slow morning with not much going on, good numbers of Red throated divers (Rødstrubet Lom) and a few very distand Fulmars (Mallemuk) and very few passerines

Reed bunting feeding, Grenen. Photo: Yehonatan ben aroia

Later that day our lovely guests Lars and Anette arrived to the station, Dante and Lauren went to look for some birds, with not many around the station right now, and Joana coocked a lovely dinner, i (Yehonatan) went once again to visit the Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge).

 Later the weather got worse with very strong winds and some snow, and we all stayed in.

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

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia, Lars, Anette

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Hi everyone!

Finally it was possible to do the morning observation as its usually done, so Dante, Lauren and Yehonatan went out in the morning for 4 hours. Their highlight was the adult male Goshawk (Duehøg) and a Shag (Topskarv).

I started cleaning in the morning (Saturday is our cleaning-day) and locked myself out of the flat by accident, which was not that nice… But I was glad to meet Michael Ancher, who came around in the morning to bring some things for the stations use, thanks!

In the early afternoon I went out for a long walk again. Unfortunately I didn’t see so many birds, only some Goldcrests (Fuglekonge) accompanying me on my walk threw the forest and a Ringed Plover (Stor Praestekrave) at the beach. Still it was amazing to spend the afternoon in the beautiful, snow-covered landscape, while it was quite sunny and almost no wind.

Iceland Gull by Yehonatan

Dante and Lauren went to the harbour in the afternoon, to see the juvenile Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge) again, which is still there. They saw a Peregrine Falcon (Vandrefalk) as well.

We had a nice dinner together, Yehonatan cooked Lasagne for us.

Det Grå Fyr in the evening

Looking forward to welcome our first guests for the apartment tomorrow!

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

Todays observations of observers in the area

People at the station: Lauren Evens, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan Ben aroia

It is still feeling like winter here in Skagen… Migration has mostly been thwarted for now. Johanna went for a long walk to Nordstrand and back this morning. She saw 12 Bearded Tits very close (Skægmejse) near the car park at Nordstrand. Yehonatan and Lauren opened the nets opposite the Lighthouse, they did not catch anything but saw a Woodcock (Skovsneppe). Lauren and I went to the harbour around midday, we were pleased to find a juvenile Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge).

Iceland Gull

The same Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) from the other day was showing well too, both species alongside each other at times.

Caspian Gull (below) with Iceland Gull

Simon, Yehonatan and Johanna successfully twitched both birds, a new species for both Yehonatan and Johanna. 

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

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia

After the glorious sunshine of yesterday, we thought we’d seen the last of the snow but alas, we were wrong. Heavy snow, freezing temperatures and fog meant the typical morning observations were impossible. As soon as the weather improved slightly, Yehonatan and I trudged through the snow to clear the snow and ice below some nets as well as replenished the seed mix to support the wintering passerines in this cold period. I then carried on to Ellekrattet and enjoyed my best views yet of a very vocal pair of Bearded Tits (Skægmejse).

What a difference a day makes: the Grey Lighthouse (Det Grå Fyr) yesterday evening (top) and this morning (bottom).

Johanna birded the local area while both Dante and Simon checked the large flocks of Common Scoter (Sortand) and Eider (Ederfugle) resting in the Kattegat. They’re highlights were two male Long-tailed Ducks (Havlit) and a winter plumage Black Guillemot (Tejst).

We also received the ringing recovery information for the Swedish-ringed Common Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken) we caught last week with Michael Anker at Jenne sø. It was originally ringed as a first calendar year bird on 7^th July 2021 at Grisgarmen, Degernäs, Sweden.

The original Swedish ringing site and the recovery site (Skagen) of the Common Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken).

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

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Johanna Veentjer, Yehonatan Ben aroia, Dante Shepherd & Lauren Evans

Today we had a really calm and sunny day at Skagen bird observatoy, a good chance to go out after the snowstorm we had yesterday and expole the snowy area. 

Dante and Lauren went to try and do some sea watching, but as with almost no wind at all, and a very calm sea, not many sea birds we present.

meanwhile i (Yehonatan) went for walk around the staion are, where there is a feeding station for deer, but also many passerines came there to feed and fatten up to handle the cold weather, mostly Yellowhammers (Gulspurv)

Later on Joana Lauren and Yehonatan, went for a trip with simon to look for some raptors in the snow, but unfortunately, did not find any that are roosting at the area.

at that time Dante went to the harbor to look for some special gulls, but had no succes aswell.

we all had a nice evening meeting back at the station, and Johanna made a lovely dinner.

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

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

People:  Yehonatan ben aroia, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd and Lauren Evans.

Hi everyone!

Today, an immense snowstorm reached Skagen, such an incredible weather phenomenon!

Due to the heavy snowing, storm and fog we could not go for the morning observation, so we started the day a bit later. Dante and Lauren went out in the snow to see if they can spot any birds and check if the nets didn’t got loose from the storm. I met them later on their way back, while I was walking to Verdens Ende. It was incredible, the snow came nearly horizontally in my face while I was walking. It were around 28 knots, which is more than 50 km/h and I was astonished by the big waves from the Baltic Sea as well. I really liked walking at the beach in the stormy and cold weather, its just important to stay save and have the fitting equipment of course! Would have been cool to see some more birds, but there were only a few gulls and some Sanderlings at the beach.

When I came back to the station, I made some cookies (thanks to Solenn for the recipe!). We were sitting in the living room, doing some tasks on our laptops in the afternoon. Dante was out trying to see some more birds, but unfortunately he did not see anything special. I went for a second walk as well, this time over the Tractor Track to the beach. Almost the complete beach was flooded so I had to go threw the dunes and snowdrifts. It was very special to be there, just seeing how powerful nature can be. The pictures can not really represent the experience, but you might get an impression of how it was out there.

Beach covered by snow and water

Snowdrifts at Grenen

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia

Hanelie left early this morning for Gedser Fuglestation, good luck Hanelie! Yehonatan and I had spent the morning making migration observations at Grenen. It was ideal weather conditions to see Shag (Topskarv), calm winds and sun, but they never came. Both the sea and overland migration were very quiet. The slow days make the good days even better though! Johanna, Lauren and Michael went ringing at Jenne Sø whilst we were counting, a Swedish controlled Common Redpoll (Nordlig Gråsisken) being their highlight. Yehonatan and Lauren enjoyed their first ever Northern Long-tailed Tit (Nordlig Halemejse) shortly after the mornings activities. In the afternoon I decided to walk along Nordstrand. My first Danish Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) was nice to see, it has been a record winter for this species at Skagen with 5-10 individuals.

Caspian Gull by Dante

Meanwhile Yehonatan, Johanna and Lauren went to look for woodland birds and found several Waxwing (Silkehale) and Parrot Crossbill (Stor Korsnæb). Forecast snow and strong winds over the next few days should mix things up a bit…

Waxwing by Yehonatan

Skagen Fulfillment: Yehonatan ben aroia, Hanelie Sidhu, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd and Lauren Evans.

Jenne sø ringing totals (Michael Anker):

• Blue Tit (Blåmejse) 1
• Common Redpoll (Nordlig Gråsisken) 9