This morning Hanelie and I went to grenen. The wind was quite strong today and migration was a bit slow. Jesper and Mette joined us once again, and after a while went to the bunker to find shelter and continue observing. They saw que a few Eiders (Ederfugl). On our side we didn't get any interesting birds.

Black kite from Eric Christophersens

Good evening fellow birders,

This morning we all woke up to an unexpected sighting: snow on the ground all around the station. While we already had a bit of snow falling down a few days ago, it didn’t stick on the ground at all so this was our first time seeing a somewhat white Skagen. This weather meant that none of us was out this morning as the strong wind made ringing impossible and the rain/snow discouraged us from going to Grenen for morning observation.

We still woke up at around 8 and enjoyed a chill breakfast in the living room. Once that was done, Hanelie and I went to sew more nets. Well actually we had a net that was in such terrible condition it was past the point where we could save it, so we cut the net off and just kept some hooks and lines. Manuel also joined us and all three of us also cut up another net. Meanwhile, Robbe and Mathilde were cleaning their Airbnb and Alice entered all the data from the nocturnal migration recording on Trektellen.

Night flight calls registered on Trektellen from the night of the 30th to 31st of March

The station’s exhibition also opened today so you should all come and check it out like many people already did today. Jesper and Mette also visited the exhibition after seeing the previous one the past year. Then, we had a nice lunch altogether which consisted of yummy wraps prepared by Mathilde and Robbe. Afterwards, all 6 of us decided to go up to the lighthouse while Simon, Jesper and Mette focused on the raptor GPS project which is currently running. The weather had already gotten better by that point, so we had a nice view across the peninsula and the sea.

Mathilde and Robbe went on a quick walk before Mathilde had to leave and they saw two Common European Vipers (Hugorm) which had been a goal of Robbe for a while! Manuel, Alice, Hanelie and I also went on a little bike tour to enjoy the nicer weather and so that Manuel would discover a bit more of the surroundings. We started at Jennes Sø where we enjoyed the nice view from the pontoon. Then, we attempted once again to see some Bearded Reedlings (Skægmejse) at the reeds near Nordstrand but none of them seemed to be around. Our last stop was the Cormorant Lake where we could see the resting or breeding Cormorants (Skarv), Red-necked Grebes (Gråstrubet Lappedykker), Black-Headed Gulls (Hættemåge), Mute Swans (Knopsvane) and Goldeneyes (Hvinand). On our way back we also got to observe some Red Kites (Rød Glente) from really close by.

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Shortly after we were all back, we got the chance to meet Lisa who is also a ringer and arrived from Germany. Then together with Jesper and Mette, we all took part in a short lecture given by Simon on the ageing of Chiffchaffs (Gransanger) relying on moulting strategies. To see how well we retained all the information and make it more interactive, Simon had also prepared a Kahoot quiz that we played at the end. Alice was the winner and got all answers right but one! She got a nice price from Simon, a little pin he received when he was at school and looked thrilled about it.

But the day is not over yet, some of us will be heading outside to go night catching once again in the hope of getting some Jack Snipes (Enkeltbekkasin) or other locally resting species. Tomorrow, morning observation and laser shooting will take place, so we are hoping to have a variety of exciting sightings.

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

Good night everyone,

Marion

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Robbe Cool, Manuel Tacke, Mathilde, Lisa Vergin, Jesper and Mette.

Today, it was Simon that woke up the earliest. No later than 2h30, he was awake. Apparently, he fell asleep during the night while waiting until we came back with a cool bird and at that time we were all asleep already. Fortunately, he had some more sleep at home.  Mathilde and I started our day a bit later with a big Danish brunch. We took our time to enjoy the morning and went to the station in the early afternoon. Meanwhile, the others took advantage of the rainy weather and had a quiet morning too. Except for Hanelie. She was, as usual, the first person to wake up and finished her report. Because Simon’s haircut-agenda was too full, she tried to find a hairdresser in the city. Unfortunately, they were also fully booked until the end of April. Now, she has a good excuse to recruit Simon as her personal hairdresser.

Although we were not so active during the morning, there were a lot of people around the lighthouse because today the exhibition opened. Some special guests were present for the opening such as the major, the minister of culture, the director of Birdlife Denmark (Sigrid Anderson) and the chairman of the observatory’s board (Niels Eriksen).

In the afternoon, Alice finished the nocmig and showed Simon the last mystery calls. The biggest surprise was the nocturnal flight calls of common scoters "Sortand".

When Mathilde and I arrived at the station, we immediately joined Simon to work on the raptor project. On our way, we also picked up Hanelie who was totally soaked by the rain. From Sunday on, our raptor project will even be more exciting because a Belgian expert will come to help us with all his knowledge and tools.

In the late afternoon, Manuel arrived at the station. He is a new volunteer from Germany and will stay until halfway through June. He gained a lot of experience in bird migration by joining the count of amazing migration bottlenecks like Eilat (Israel) and Batumi (Georgia). He is currently working for Birdlife Germany, but he decided to spend his holidays in Skagen. After a short introduction to the station and the evening meeting, we went together with Mathilde to world’s end 3. We were really surprised when we looked into the sky because it was full of passerines and raptors. Surprisingly, there were no buzzards but at least 2 ospreys "fiskeørn" and 11 marsh harriers "Rørhøg". I called them out on Zello and the other girls could see them from the station as well. When we continued our walk, the marsh harriers seemed to search for a roosting place at Grenen.

Once arrived at the station, the dinner prepared by our guests was ready. They spent the whole afternoon buying and preparing food and it was really worth it! Because they are unlucky with the weather during their stay, they decided to go to the art museum in the morning. After dinner, Mathilde and I went to our Airbnb to enjoy our last evening together.

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

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

I hope the spring birds arrive soon!

Robbe

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Robbe Cool, Manuel Tacke, Mathilde, Jesper and Mette.

Yesterday we left you with the news of us going night catching, I would love to say that we caught many birds but unfortunately we barely got close to them. They all flew away as soon as we would light the torch. Thanks to this though we could go to bed rather early. So this morning all three of us went to Grenen, accompanied by our guests Jesper and Mette. There was little happening on the sea, apart from the Scoters (Sortand) which were more numerous. The only highlight of our morning is a Long-tailed duck (Havlit) which flew pretty close to the shore. The laser binocular was also with us, unfortunately, land migration was nonexistant, we did the transects but had nothing to shoot. After four hours in the cold, we decided to come back to the warmth of the station.

Hello everyone,

To no surprise to most of you probably, whether you are from Denmark or elsewhere, the weather was not so great today. It seems Europe is catching up with some cold and rainy days it missed this winter. The combination of rain and wind made it obvious that we would, yet again, not be able to go ringing this morning. The risks of the birds getting too wet in the nets, as well as the nets getting damaged by the wind, are just too high and the slow days we’ve had at Kabeltromlen in the past week were just one more reason to avoid it. As for the morning observations, they could still have happened as some birds are not deterred by these weather conditions and some bunkers could have provided some shelter. But we decided to sleep in instead this morning as we preferred to keep some energy for days where migration would be more abundant. Jesper and Mette, the new guests who arrived yesterday evening, also made the same decision and slept in this morning.

Everyone woke up on their own time and once we were all up, we decided to play Wingspan again. With the greatest score so far, Alice won this game! I guess this means we will need to offer Robbe another chance for him to get this revenge as today was not the day for it. This was followed by hard goodbyes for Robbe who is leaving for Aalborg today although only for two days. I will let him tell you more about that when he is back. Then, we all attended to our own personal tasks and took some time to chill as well. Alice tried to get started on this week’s nocturnal migration (NocMig) recording but after trying to open the file for a while and trying different laptops, it turned out the file was corrupted. Thankfully, this is all fixed now and she will be able to work on it from now on. Hanelie finished writing of her university report about her time in Denmark and only has a few details to add such as sources. She also helped a bit more with the bird quiz that will be used for the exhibition, notably the German version of it. On my side, I made progress on the statistics for my internship using every biologist’s beloved program R.

While we all stayed inside, which felt weird and is uncommon, Jesper and Mette were brave enough to face the wind and went for a walk to Grenen. They saw some Northern Gannets (Sule), some Sanderlings (Sandløber) and a couple of seals. Just like us, they are hoping nicer weather will be back soon and the migration will start to pick up again.

Tonight, we are going to Hirtshals again for another try at night catching! So, cross your fingers for us and we are hoping to have more successful news to give you tomorrow this time. We will also be at Grenen for morning observations and the laser binoculars will be out again, ready to shoot some more birds.

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

But for now, good evening or good night to all of you.

Marion

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Robbe Cool, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Jesper and Mette.

Because of the snowfall in Central Europe, no new birds are arriving. This meant a very slow morning again for Marion and Hanelie who went to World End 3. Their only motivation was the black-browed albatross “sortbrynet albatross” that had been seen at Hanstholm yesterday. Unfortunately, the only thing that kept them concentrated was a series of Simon imitations they made during the observations. Alice and I took a morning off. Alice looked for the possibilities of taking a boat somewhere and began looking for new studies. I went to see Marion and Hanelie with the hope that I could see the albatross as well. Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything either but had some talks with Jørgen and Eric. My cousin and girlfriend joined us too and said goodbye before going to Råbjerg Mile.

The rest of the day, Jørgen give us a nice road trip and brought us to some other good places to watch the raptor migration.

In the afternoon, we went to an oak and beech forest, agricultural fields and a stream. Jørgen told us about all the rarities that were found there, but today we were not lucky to see any of them. Instead, we saw some curlews “storspove”, a kestrel “tårnfalk” and marsh tits “sumpmejse”. Along the beach, Jørgen also showed us the hostplant of an endemic subspecies of the northern brown argus “Sortbrun blåfugl” (Aricia Artaxerxes subsp. vandalica).

(curlew “storspove”)

Once we came back, we were all up for a delicious snack. Alice made some nice cookies we could enjoy today. Hanelie continued entering data while Alice and I explored some new bunkers. The tide was low so we could enter the bunkers close to the sea. It was quite an adventure and it resulted in some really nice pictures. While recovering from our last climb in a bunker, the Icelandic gull “Hvidvinget måge” flew along to its sleeping place in the harbour, wishing us a good night.

Now we are waiting for the guests with our stomachs full of Hanelies delicious meal.

Good night!

Robbe

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: Robbe Cool, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Simon S. Christiansen, Erik Christophersen and Jørgen Kabel

Thanks to our well-adapted sleeping rhythm, most of us woke up around sunrise. Although we could sleep a bit longer today. Alice and I joined Knud for the morning observations at Nordstrand because easterly winds were predicted for today. We missed the first hours, but luckily, we could help Knud out in the last hours because the cork of the migration bottle was removed by the sun. The siskins “Grønsisken” didn’t fly in groups, but they started to fly in streams. The effect at the seaside was smaller with increasing numbers of red-throated divers “rødstrubede lom”, 6 long-tailed ducks “havlit” and an adult male hen harrier “blå kærhøg”.

When we finished the morning observations, we decided to warm up at the cormorant lake and count the occupied nests. We could count 19 so far. I was hoping to see a viper in the meantime but until now, it’s still a shame species for me.

When we came back to the station, Marion had already arrived from the laser shooting. Marion and Hanelie went together to Thomas in the morning to help him with the laser binocular project. On their walk, they met a pretty male yellowhammer “gulspurv” who didn’t seem to be disturbed by their presence.

When arrived, Marion was happy to finally try the binoculars despite the lack of birds to shoot. She was impressed by the amazing shooting skills Thomas had developed already. Unfortunately for her, she missed the highlights of the day when she left. The increasing temperatures pushed some nice raptors towards world’s end 2. It began with a rough-legged buzzard “fjeldvåge” and a peregrine falcon “vandrefalk” but in the end, she had two golden eagles “kongeørn” in her sights. She was happy to shoot them. Although it sounds a little weird if you say it out of the context, it doesn’t affect the birds!

The two golden eagles were close to the lighthouse but Alice and I were just too late to see them because we couldn’t understand the Danish zello messages. Fortunately, we were comforted by some hugs from Igor.

In the afternoon we tried to assemble the new bike trailer we got. It took us some time to mount it on our bicycle but it survived our extensive shopping tour to the Netto. In the meantime, Marion could finish her assignment for her university which is a big relief for her.

In the evening, our guests made a great meal, named Dhal, for us. They talked about their lovely walk to Jennes Sø and how they enjoyed the bird sounds around there. Simon joined us too for the meal. He has been busy with meetings today. His first meeting was with birdlife Denmark for the project: Birds for all. In his second meeting, he talked about next week when some school classes will come to learn about nature education. Now, he is home and we are relaxing a bit before we start a busy day tomorrow because we go ringing again.

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

See you tomorrow!

Robbe

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Robbe Cool, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Thomas Kjær, David, Bent and Åse.