On the lookout for Waxwings (Silkehale).

Hello everyone,

This morning Hanelie, Alice and Julie woke up early to go to Grenen for migration count. It had been a while since we counted there, but today’s wind conditions were more appropriate for Verdens Ende 3 than for Nordstrand. However, they were quickly reminded that this location makes passerine migration count harder as individuals fly higher up there and use many different paths. They still managed to see many Eurasian Jackdaw (Allike), Hooded Crows (Gråkrage) and Wood Pigeon (Ringdue). Robbe also joined them later to help out with the land migration as he is the most experienced with it and he recognises most of the common species calls. On the sea, the first two hours were rather busy although no new or surprising species flew by. Numerous Common Buzzards (Musvåge) finally migrated today after many migration attempts in the past week and their number increasing around Skagen. A Red Kite (Rød Glente) also passed by really close to the counting volunteers, but this individual ended up turning back so you might also get a chance to see it in Grenen or in the surroundings tomorrow. During the observations, they also had set up a trap for Snow Buntings (Snespurv), but this was yet again unsuccessful.

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

In the meantime, Susanne and Bjarne, unfortunately, had to leave Skagen Bird Observatory and will be travelling home today, stopping in nice places along the way. It is sad to see lovely guests leave again, but they left a very sweet message in the station’s guestbook that we can look back onto to remember their stay here. This week, the guest apartment will be empty which will leave a bit of a void, but thankfully this weekend Julie and Esben are with us so the flat will still be full of life.

Simon was, as always, busy this morning with different meetings and workshops. One of the meetings was concerning a project with the hunter society to mitigate the number of raptors killed by spreading awareness.  I also worked for part of the morning to make some progress on my data analysis for the internship. Once everyone got back, we had some quiet time. Some people enjoyed a warm shower or some rest and Robbe and I were writing the blogs with calming music in the background. Then after lunch, Alice, Julie and I decided to go to town for the groceries and to look for Bohemian Waxwings (Silkehale). But this time we did not ride our bikes but drove there thanks to our driver Alice and Simon’s car!

While our Waxwings (Silkehale) excursion was a fail this time, we got the chance to see a Hawfinch (Kernebider) spotted by Alice! This was particularly exciting for me as I have been out multiple times in the past year specifically to look for them but never managed to find them. This individual was resting by a bush, so we even had the chance to observe it for a little while and see its impressive bill and colours. It was also a good walk to clear our minds and enjoy the warmth now that the sun is back. Back at the station, Robbe was finally building the compost which was a long-awaited project.

The groceries done, we came back to the station, and all took some time to go through how we enter the morning observations into DOFbasen with Simon to figure out if we could make the process faster. We figured some little details that might make it faster, but we might just have to accept it will still remain a lengthy daily process. Simon then also went through the night recordings with Robbe and Alice to help them identify calls they could not recognise. Their findings will soon be uploaded on Trektellen and we will put the link on the blog so you can check it out if interested. Meanwhile, Hanelie was entering some more of the observations and, Julie and I went to the lab. Our task there was to take photos of the puffins’ heads with rulers placed so the bill measurements were visible. These photos will be sent to a researcher in the United-Kingdom for a related project of his.

Once this was all completed, Alice got started on the dinner. On the menu tonight is a great vegetarian take on Mexican fajitas. If we find the time, we might also play Wingspan tonight which is a boardgame showcasing dozens of American and European bird species. I have not yet played it but from Hanelie and Robbe’s praises, it sounds very promising.

Tomorrow, we will go to Grenen again for morning observations and in the afternoon we will put up the nets for the ringing season.

Marion

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Robbe Cool, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Julie Kokholm, and  Esben E. Hansen.