Fieldfares, Ring Ouzels and a Magpie

We all had high hopes that the switch to strong southerly winds and rain overnight would bring a few more birds to Skagen, and we were not disappointed. As soon as the rain stopped just after sunrise, Yehonatan and I sped over to Kabeltromlen to open the nets whilst Dante and Michael headed up to World’s End. Both the ringing and observing team had an excellent morning. Joined by our guests Martin and Kristine, Yehonatan, Simon, and I caught 32 birds including 2 Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat) which have returned to Kabeltromlen this year after migrating south for the winter. The highlight of the morning was undoubtedly an adult, male Ringdrossel (Ring Ouzel), the first to be caught at the site this year and a new species in the hand for Yehonatan.

Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat).

Ringdrossel (Ring Ouzel).

Meanwhile, up at World’s End, Dante, Michael and the other birders, had a brilliant morning with 2000+ Sjagger (Fieldfare), 77 Ringdrossel (Ring Ouzel), 64 Tinksmed (Wood Sandpiper), 3 Sortklire (Spotted Redshank), 5 Islom (Great Northern Diver) and Hvidnæbbet Lom (White-billed Diver).

The afternoon was spent entering data, upgrading ringing licences and making the final preparations for our first CES session of the year tomorrow until we heard that Lisa and Simon had caught a Husskade (Magpie) in their garden! They kindly bought it down to the observatory for us to ring and learn to age as this was a new species in the hand for all 4 of us volunteers.

Husskade (Magpie) from Lisa and Simon's garden!

In other news, this evening we welcomed our newest volunteer, Ying, who will be with us for the week and is visiting from Aarhus University.

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

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Martin & Kristine.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat)- 2

Gransanger (Chiffchaff)- 12

Rødhals (Robin)- 5

Løvsanger (Willow Warbler)- 5

Gærdesmutte (Wren)- 1

Jernspurv (Dunnock)- 1

Munk (Blackcap)- 5

Sangdrossel (Song Thrush)- 3

Ringdrossel (Ring Ouzel)- 1

Ringing (Minervavej):

Husskade (Magpie): 1

Total: 35