Raptor day

Plenty of rain in the early hours and the promised switch to strong westerly winds had us all up and raring to head out. As soon as the drizzle stopped, Yehonatan and Michael, later joined again by Oluf, headed to Kabletromlen and managed to open all the nets by 8am. In just a short session, they managed a respectable catch of 18 birds, including more 3 Løvsanger (Willow Warbler).

Meanwhile, Lauren and I headed to the outer dunes adjacent to World’s End 3 for what ended up being 8 hours counting! We had a brilliant day for raptors including four Pallid Harriers (Steppehøg), two 2cy, one adult female and one adult male, one adult Greater Spotted Eagle (Stor Skrigeørn), three White-tailed Eagles (Havørn), one immature Golden Eagle (Kongeørn), one Hobby (Lærkefalk) and at least nine Rough-legged Buzzards (Fjeldvåge). It was also a great day for Hirundines with at least 46 Swallows (Landsvale), 7 Sand Martin (Digesvale) and 6 House Martin (Bysvale).

The most dramatic sighting of the day was near the end of our 8-hour observations when at 15:19, I spotted a distant raptor I didn’t immediately recognise. Here is my official description of the bird and my sighting.

"1516-1519 Possible Booted Eagle. Viewed from Grenen. First picked up very high up above Kattergat gliding south-west with a large group of buzzards and kites. Immediately felt ‘alien’ to me. Always silhouetted. First seen quite side on though already going somewhat away from me. Views continually got worse as it started getting further and further away from me to the south-west. About the same size as a kite. Seen gliding alongside a Black Kite briefly. Long tail, about as long as the width of the base of the wings, with sharp corners and no fork. Long, broad wings held down at the arm. Rather large and broad looking head. It did not flap its wings very often. The wingbeats felt stiffer and more powerful compared to a kite which I feel have more bouncy and elastic wingbeats. It circled only once, though very far away, probably between the Grey and White Lighthouses over Fyrvej. It then continued with speed gliding south-west. From the view of it circling, again the head felt too large and broad and the tail too convex when spread to be a Black Kite. The wings were broad and parallel sided. This is when I put the first Zello message on Skagen birding. I have never seen a Booted Eagle before and I was not going to call this as definitely one on poor views. I see Black and Red Kites, Marsh Harriers, Rough-legged and Common Buzzards here almost everyday and I find them all easy to identify with prolonged views, even at a distance. This really did not feel like any of those species. I took the approach,’ why isn’t this a Black Kite?’, when watching the bird and I can be sure it wasn't one. Hopefully it is seen again…1539-40 Oluf Lou sees a raptor gliding south-west from his balcony in Skagen Stadion. His initial impression was Booted Eagle too but it sounds like his views were much more brief than mine. He did manage to photograph the bird he saw. See attached."

Possible Booted Eagle photographed by Oluf Lou.

We also said goodbye to our guests Jakob and Birgit who we’ve really enjoyed spending time with this week and welcomed Hans and Birthe to the apartment.

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

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Hans & Birthe.

Kabeltromlen Ringing Totals:

Fuglekonge (Goldcrest)- 3

Løvsanger (Willow Warbler)- 3

Gransanger (Chiffchaff)- 7

Musvit (Great Tit)- 2

Jernspurv (Dunnock)- 1

Rødhals (Robin)- 1

Rørspurv (Reed Bunting)- 1

Total: 18