The complete team at Nordstrand and a new raptor species.

Good evening to all our fellow birders and bird enthusiasts,

To start this blog, we need to catch you up on the northern lights excursion last night. Well to sum it up in three words: it was short. Simon drove us to Nordstrand but as soon as we stepped on the dunes we realised they weren’t any to be seen at that time. Simon just being back from his trip and meetings with other Danish ringers and our evening meeting still yet to be done, we decided to just go back to the lighthouse.

Then, today bright and early we went back to Nordstrand and the same dunes to start morning observations. All of us were present as well as Knud which hadn’t happened since our first day here altogether! We divided the task with Knud and I taking care of sea migration and Hanelie, Alice and Robbe in charge of land migration. However, we quickly realised that three people were not so necessary for the land birds, and as numerous as some species might be, one person was left with not much to do. Therefore, Alice used this opportunity to go check out the cormorant lake just behind our counting location. As some of you probably remember she is already well-acquainted with it as she had to cross it a couple of times in waders to retrieve the live streaming camera. But this time, one of her main goals was to see Bearded Tits (Skægmejse). Unfortunately, this mission was not a success this morning, but it is only postponed. Luckily, however, Alice was also still with us when we had the chance to see an adult male Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge). Later on, we saw another individual but this time an adult female. Robbe felt quite tired today and decided to go back early to get some rest so Alice took over for the rest of the morning session. Towards the end, Jørgen and Igor as well as Susanne and Bjarne, our two guests, also came to the dunes to observe some of the daily migration. Red Kites (Rød Glente) and multiple Common Buzzards (Musvåge) were also seen today. On the sea, Whooper Swans (Sangsvane), Great Crested Grebes (Toppet Lappedykker), and Red-throated Divers (Rødstrubet Lom) were resting. A couple of Red-breasted Mergansers (Toppet Skallesluger) and Goosanders (Stor Skallesluger) were also observed flying past. One other noticeable observation made this morning was a Bohemian Waxwing (Silkehale) spotted by a local birder which unfortunately did not come by our telescopes.

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

Now that we knew some Waxwings (Silkehale) are around, Alice and I rode back slowly and stopped along the way to check out reeds in the hope to see them and Bearded Tits (Skægmejse) which we both have not seen yet. Jørgen also joined us to scan the reeds and he confirmed this could be a nice place for the tits in particular. So, this is now added to the places we want to check out regularly.

Once we were all back, Hanelie made us a nice mixed salad while Alice and I combined all the data in one place. After our bellies were full, Hanelie and I started entering the daily observations and Robbe and Alice went on a short walk to try and see some raptors migrating. Meanwhile, Susanne and Bjarne went to town and also walked along the beach where they saw many Eurasian Siskins (Grønsisken) and Ravens (Ravn) as well as some Kittiwakes (Ride) and Barnacle Geese (Bramgås). Simon talked with representatives from Aarhus about different aspects of the radar and raptor projects which are both coming along and he also officially set up a new picture archive using a server rather than a single hard drive like it currently was.

Later in the afternoon, we also opened the mist nets in the garden and put out the rock pipit trap again. But today was another empty day with no individuals captured. Hopefully, we will start morning ringing sessions soon so you should keep an eye out for what we might capture then.

Alice will be making dinner tonight and, in the meantime, Robbe will be placing a recorder out for the first time. This way, we will be able to have audio records for the entire night and review them to identify which species have been migrating during the night. We will of course keep you updated on what we find out, but this might be in a few days as going through the whole night’s record will take us some time. But for you to have an idea of what we will be looking at, here is an image of a sonogram representing a Common Linnet (Tornirisk), with Yellowhammers (Gulspurv) and Eurasian Siskins (Grønsisken) in the background, taken from the recorder we set out today during the observations.

Simon also placed a recorder on the night between the 2 and 3 of March and now uploaded the results on Trektellen as you can find on the link below.

Night flight calls registered on Trektellen.

Tomorrow we will go to Grenen and maybe see some exciting and new species.

Have a nice evening everyone,

Marion

 People: Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Kabel & Igor, Simon S. Christiansen, Robbe Cool, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Susanne Olsen and Bjarne Johansson.