Fuglekonge, Gulirisk & Høgeørn

A light southeasterly wind and clear blue sky meant we all had high hopes for the day to come as we headed out for sunrise. Dante and I, headed to Verdens Endes 1 for morning observations, while Yehonatan, Michael, Lisa and Simon opened the nets at Kabeltromlen. The ringing team had a brilliant catch of 84 new birds including an incredible 32 Goldcrest (Fuglekonge), and 26 Robins (Rødhals).

Meanwhile at Verdens Endes 1, the highlights of 8 hours observing include: 2 Black Kite (Sort Glente), 8 Rough-legged Buzzards (Fjeldvåge), 12 Hen Harriers (Blå Kærhøg), 1 Golden Eagle (Kongeørn) and 1 Serin (Gulirisk) which represents the first of the year and 3 Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade), as well as plenty of finches and thrushes. I had such an incredible day, as we simply do not have migration like this anywhere in the UK.

Mid-afternoon we received the news that the GPS-tagged, third-calendar-year, female Bonelli’s Eagle (Høgeørn) had been spotted further south and was heading our way. Dante and I were just leaving Verdens Endes 1 at this point, and raced for high dune. Unfortunately, the bird turned around and headed south at Flagbakken, not quite making it as far as where we were eagerly scanning. It did, however, give wonderful views to those who were already at Flagbakken and Simon happened to be at the right place at the right time and saw it.

An incredible photo by Erik Christophersen of the Bonelli's Eagle (Høgeørn) over Flagbakken. See more of Erik's photo's here: https://ecskagen.blogspot.com/

Esben, a former volunteer from 2019 and 2020, arrived at the station in the evening and will be staying with us for the weekend.

An excellent day for both ringers and observers at Skagen Fuglestation!

People: Yehonatan Ben aroia, Micheal Colley, Dante Shepherd, Esben Hansen, Lauren Evans, Lisa Vergin, Simon S. Christiansen, Uffe Damm Andersen, Jørn & Marianne.

A full list of observations in the area can be found here.

Sum of the Raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen the same day

Kabeltromlen Ringing Totals:

Solsort (Blackbird)- 4

Gærdesmutte (Wren)- 10            

Fuglekonge (Goldcrest)- 32

Gransanger (Chiffchaff)- 6

Rødhals (Robin)- 26

Jernspurv (Dunnock)- 1

Bogfinke (Chaffinch)- 1

Rørspurv (Reed Bunting)- 1

Musvit (Great Tit)- 1

Vindrossel (Redwing)- 1

Total: 84