Amazing raptor migration and best ringing day so far!

After the amazing migration day yesterday, the hopes were high for another great day in the observations and ringing. In the end it ended up being a very good day. Laima, Rasmus and I went ringing this morning and finally it wasn´t too windy, so we opened all our 23 nets. The morning started amazing with a beautiful sunrise from Kabeltromlen (I really enjoy these 30 min after opening the nets and just sitting there watching these stunning sunrises over Grenen) and a quite good thrush migration. Some of them also went quite low so we were hoping to catch some of the thrushes. Our hopes got satisfied in the first round with three thrush species (one new one for the season): one Redwing (Vindrossel), two Song Thrushs (Sangdrossel) and a Fieldfare (Sjagger). We all were really happy about the Fieldfare, it´s a really pretty thrush and so powerful. Also, we don´t catch that many of them. During the net opening I had a Long-eared Owl (Skovhornugle) flying just a few meters over me, always a crazy moment. Moreover, several Sparrowhawks (Spurvehøg) were hunting just by the net site, so we were hoping to catch one again. I was really happy when I came to the last net (one of the new ones) on the Northern site and saw that there was a big bird in the net. Finally, I got to extract my first Sparrowhawk. It went actually very well, I didn´t got clawed like when I extracted the Owl a few days ago and feel more confident handling these raptors. Every time again just an incredible experience to hold and ring these fantastic birds! Later we caught a second Sparrowhawk in the same net, I had to run for it but again got it out quite easy from the net. Both Sparrowhawks were females, so quite big birds, and the first one was a 3K bird, because it retained a few juvenile feathers in its wing which was nice to see. Also, Rasmus got to hold both birds, which was quite cool, since that was his first time handling this bird. Simon and his mother joined us in the beginning of the ringing. Later on during the day Jørgen and Igor, Andreas Egelund Christensen, the guests, Anders and Elisabeth, came by for a visit in the ringing. Another Highlight of the ringing was, that Rasmus got to ring his first two birds, two Robins. After the first hours it slowed sown a bit, so Laima and I had some more time to help Rasmus ringing his first birds. He did really good. Besides the birds in the ringing we had also great migration observations from Kabeltromlen. Simon counted 11 Green Sandpiper (Svaleklire) and later on during the noon the raptor migration started. Andreas reported a Steppe Buzzard (Steppevåge) from Ellekrattet, so we tried to watch out for it between ringing and doing the rounds. We didn´t saw it but enjoyed the raptor migration anyway. It was amazing to see all the Common Buzzards (Musvåge) and Red Kites (Rød Glente). Besides these ones we also had several other raptor species, e.g. my first Black Kite (Sort Glente) for this year. It was circling together with a Red Kite close to Kabeltromlen, a observation I remember to already had quite exactly like that last spring when was here. We ended up ringing from 05:30 until 14:20. The time was just flying by, since the birds in the nets only slowed down but never really stopped and the raptor migration was so amazing to observe. In the end we ringed 88 birds, that’s the best for the season so far. While closing the nets, Laima and I had a Hobby (Lærkefalke) flying over us, a really nice observation in the end of a long and great ringing day.

Sparrowhawk

Rasmus ringing his first bird

Meanwhile Michaëla and Jonas went out observing together with Knud from Nordstrand. They had a really good day, Michaëla enjoyed the observation, spotted her first Artic Skuas (Almindelig kjove), had several chances to get good comparisons of Pallid Harriers (Steppehøg) and Hen Harriers (Blå kærhøg), counted a lot of Common Scoters (Sortand) and got many new species, like Black Kite, Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge), Common Tern (Fjordterne) and Wheatear (Stenpikker). Jonas had also a good day, his 3^rd best day up here. Besides the nice raptor observations from Nordstrand, they also had again many finches, in less intensity though compared to the last two days. However, there was again a Whale spotted from Nordstrand. This time it was a Minke Whale, first they were in doubt if it might be a Orca. However, Jonas had no doubt when he got to see it. Unfortunately, not everyone got to see the Whale from Nordtrand and also, we couldn´t find it from Kabeltromlen. Afterwards Michaëla and Jonas went to Kap Gadagung to get some more raptors really close. Just when Jonas got frustrated for not finding the Steppe Buzzard and they were about to call it, Michaëla found the probable Steppe Buzzard and even got the chance to take some pictures.

In the afternoon we had a very late lunch, due to the long and amazing ringing/observing day, however it was great to finally eat and drink water. While Michaëla, Laima, Jonas and I enjoyed some ice cream, Rasmus went out to Flagbakken with his uncle. After ice cream, Michaëla, Jonas and I went for a swim, which really nice and refreshing.

Afternoon swim

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):
Spurvehøg 2
Vindrossel 1
Sjagger 1
Sangdrossel 2
Dompap 1
Musvit 1
Rødhals 31
Gærdesmutte 3
Jernspurv 9
Rørspurv 2
Bogfinke 1
Fuglekonge 20
Gransanger 14

Sum: 88

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

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Anders og Elisabeth, Jørgen Kabel, Knud Pedersen, Andreas Egelund Christensen, Michaëla Berdougo, Laima Bagdonaite, Jonas Pedersen, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl og Daniel Bloche