A Golden Eagle, an Eagle Owl and a Black-headed Gull...

A beautiful calm and sunny morning meant Yehonatan, Lisa and I had the nets open at Kabeltromlen for sunrise. We had a good catch of 33 birds including plenty of Wrens (Gærdesmutte) and Robins (Rødhals). Meanwhile, Dante headed to Verdens Endes for morning observation with a small crowd of other birders. His highlights included one Golden Eagle (Kongeørn), three Osprey (Fiskeørn), one Hen Harrier (Blå Kærhøg), one Puffin (Lunde), 11 Shags (Topskarv) and thousands of migrating finches.

In the afternoon, Lisa and Yehonatan set up the raptor net with the stuffed Eagle Owl (Stor Hornugle) in the hope of catching a migrating raptor. The stuffed owl acts to lure to birds towards the net and then when we catch the raptors, we hope to fit them with a GPS as part of the project we are undertaking with Aarhus University. Although we didn’t manage to catch any raptors today, an adult Black-headed Gull (Hættemåge) ended up in the net, and was swiftly ringed and released. We had lots of interest in our owl and net from visitors to Skagen, and so it made for a great opportunity to engage the public in the projects we’re currently working on.

Yehonatan with the raptor net and stuffed Eagle Owl.

Adult Black-headed Gull ringed today at the station.

To end the day, Yehonatan and I set up a few more nets in some reeds in Kabeltromlen and we’re looking forward to seeing what this slightly different habitat will produce.

We also said goodbye to Emilia, who has been staying in our guest apartment for the week- you’ll be sorely missed!

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben aroia, Dante Shepherd & Lauren Evans

Kabeltromlen Ringing Totals:

Blackbird (Solsort)- 8

Robin (Rødhals)- 8

Wren (Gærdesmutte)- 9

Bullfinch (Dompap)- 1

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge)- 3

Dunnock (Jernspurv)- 1

Blackcap (Munk)- 2

Blue Tit (Blåmejse)- 1

Total: 33