A day full of surprises

I start this blog where it ended yesterday. Hanelie, Gustav and Simon went to Frederikshaven for nightcatching but unfortunately they did not catch anything. In the meantime Alice was finally doing her long-standing task: the picture archive and I fixed a hanger for the waders. To have a good rest, I went on ‘holidays’ in the apartment next door.

It soon became morning again. Hanelie, Marion and Alice went to Kabeltrommeln by the time I woke up. Gustav and I went to World’s end 3 for another morning of observations. The land migration was very slow again but in no time, we were surprised by the first highlight of the day: a glaucous gull “Gråmåge”. This was a new species for Gustav and made him very happy. In no time, we had our next moment of joy. A female merlin “Dværgfalk” was sitting on the beach and every now and then, she tried to catch some of the local birds. Unfortunately, that did not work out for her.

(merlin female)

In the meantime, Erik came to the tip and tried to score a shag. His patience did not pay off but he got an equally good consolation prize: an Icelandic gull “Hvidvinget måge” foraging just in front of him.

(icelandic gull and hooded crow by Erik Christophersen)

When we saw the Icelandic gull, I was still recovering from the last minutes. I did the most unforgettable sighting since my stay so far. When scanning the sea, I suddenly saw 6-8 sea mammals with big fins. I first thought I saw dolphins but I was not totally sure. I made a drawing and announced it on Zello in the hope Erik could see them too. The modern technology did not work out for us and unfortunately, he could not find them. When he came back, he looked at my drawings and he told me I definitely saw killer whales “Spækhugger”! One of my Skagen dreams came true! While I am writing this, I am still getting goosebumps when thinking about this morning.

The morning observations ended with some woodlarks “Hedelærke” migrating out. Together with the gulls, the woodlarks contributed to the 3 new species Gustav saw. Tired but satisfied we both went back to Grenen.

At Kabeltrommeln, the morning started busy with a big flock of tits in the nets. Alice was happy to see them and she used this opportunity to improve her extracting skills. The continuation of the morning was quiet. The most exciting catches were the male brambling “Kvækerfinke” and female blackcap “munk”, which were both the first for the ringing season. Alice came back earlier to work on her online courses about tracking, but Marion and Hanelie stayed at Kabeltrommeln to perfect the ringing area by cutting the branches around the nets.

Today’s ringed birds:

Goldcrest “Fuglekonge”: 1

Chifchaff “Gransanger”: 1

Dunlin “Jernspurv”: 1

Robin “Rødhals”: 1

Wren "Gærdesmutte": 1

Blue tit “Blåmejse”: 6

Brambling “Kvækerfinke”: 1

Blackcap “munk”: 1

Great tit “Musvit”: 7

Blackbird “solsort”: 1

At noon, everyone was busy with different task but those tasks came to an end when the first osprey “Fiskeørn” was announced on Zello. We ran outside and I found him immediately in my scope. We were all pleasured by this amazing creature.

(Osprey by Erik Christophersen)

Hanelie continued her afternoon with working on the nocmig and she almost finished it except for some mysterycalls. Simon had a meeting with two other observatories. Marion was continuing working on her assignments and Alice drew some nice eagles as preparation for the bonelli’s eagle we hope to see one of the next days. Gustav profited from his time he is spending in Skagen and went for a cycling tour. He found a firecrest “rødtoppede fuglekonge” between the goldcrests “fuglekonge”. When Alice was finished, we went for a walk at Bufogedskoven in the hope of finding a rarity. We really enjoyed walking in the forest as tall trees are quite rare in this neighbourhood. We found some treecreepers ss. familiaris “nordlig treelober” and learned to recognize some new bird calls. In our way back we did groceries. Back at the station, we were stunned by the see that suddenly turned purple by sunset. We enjoyed our last minutes outside and surprisingly found a northern wheatear “Stenpikker” on the rocks between the rock pipits “Skærpiber”. This is only the second record for Denmark this year and the first for Skagen.

 

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

Unfortunately, we could not stay longer because the evening meeting was about the begin. Among other things, we talked about doing a boat tour for sea mammals and birds, but could not find anyone with a boat. Hereby a warm call for those who can arrange a pelagic for us.

When we were done, I started cooking a nice pasta with mushrooms, leek, walnuts and thyme. Hanelie was too tired to eat and went to bet earlier than usual. We all hope, she will get a good night’s rest. Now I am in the sofa, finishing the blog and looking back to a wonderful day. Sometimes, I still cannot believe what a fantastic experience I am having here. Thanks to the beautiful birds and great volunteers (and Simon!) to make this already so memorable.

I hope you all had a lovely day too!

Robbe

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