Two Pallid Swifts together for the first time in DK!

The day started with Christina and Martin opening the nets. After a few days with no ringing, it was very nice to come back. I joined them with Amelie for the first round and we had the first two blackbirds. Amelie then nun back to the lighthouse to tag them with Simon.

In the meantime, Christina, Martin and I carried on ringing. We didn’t have many birds but enough to keep us busy. In the second round, we got another blackbird and then Christina had to go back to the lighthouse to tag it.

The ringing was quite slow but some southern treats kept us excited ! Jørgen found a swift flying over the Reservatet. While looking at it with Martin, they realised that there were actually two Swifts flying together and at least one where looking like a Pallid Swift. Around an hour afterwards, the Swifts were relocated while looking at the Shrike and it appeared that both of them were Pallids !! Crazy ! It's the first time in Denmark that 2 individuals are seen at the same time ! up to 2019 there has been only 18 previous records in Denmark for that species, and those birds are number 4 and 5 in Skagen.

Photos of the Pallid Swift: Erik Christophersen

Another surprise was awaiting for us, a Red-Backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade) roosted at the Grenens parking lot. Normally this species migrate to Africa and now it is to late for them to be here, so at first, we hoped that it was a different species and hopefully a more interesting one, however that was not the case. But it's the latest record ever in Skagen and maybe even in Denmark? In 1992 a 1 cy. was seen in Skagen between the 20th and 25th of October which was the latest until today.

The last surprise of the day for me was a Tree Sparrow (Skovspurv). Where I live in Bristol these species are very uncommon, I had never seen one before at my area, and of course, I had never ringed one. Today that changed and I had the pleasure to hold and ring one, making this my 96^th species of bird ever ringed. I was wishing to hit the 100, but since I am leaving tomorrow this seems unlikely.

After lunch, we spent some time installing the antenna for the Blackbirds (Solsort) tracking, but it was quite challenging due to the specifications of the equipment. A provisional installation was done but we will have to move it in a few days.

Migration counting was not too successful due to the low numbers of birds, so Chris and Knud had the opportunity to spend more time looking for the Shrike and the Pallid Swift.

One more time the team went to the city centre to try to spot the Waxwing (Silkehale), and one more time with no luck, however, we heard them by the lighthouse, still, we didn’t see them.

Tomorrow is my last day at the Skagen Fuglestation. I have had an amazing time, I have learned things I didn’t know and have made friends, I think I have accomplished by far my objectives.

Until the next time Skagen!!

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Aurora Gonzalo-Tarodo, Chris Ketola, Martin Grienenberger, Knud Pederson, Amelie Zeller, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Leif & Lisbeth 

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):