Skagen Hedehøg Record

Strong south-easterly winds meant it wasn’t possible to open the nets at Kabeltromlen in the morning but bought warm temperatures and a fantastic day for migration to make up for it. Lauren and I started the morning by leading a guided tour for a Birdlife Austria tour group, comprising of 20 visitors and our guests from the station apartment, Jesper and Mette. We head out through Grenen and along the tractor tracks to the beach and showed our group Gul Vipsjert (Yellow Wagtails), 2 Hedehøg (Montagu’s Harrier), 1 Steppehøg (Pallid Harrier), 2 Gøg (Cuckoos) and had amazing views of 4 Fjeldvåge (Rough-legged Buzzards) which were resting on the beach.

After our tour, Lauren and I headed back out to join Rolf, Alex and Henrik among the Grenen outer dunes. We had a fantastic few hours with 11 Biæder (European Bee-eaters), incredible views of an adult, male Aftenfalk (Red-footed Falcon) and another Hedehøg (Montagu’s Harrier). Throughout the day, a total of 11 different Hedehøg were seen in the area which represents a Skagen (and possibly a Danish?) record.

2k Steppehøg (Pallid Harrier). Photo: Erik Christophersen. https://ecskagen.blogspot.com/

Michael spent the afternoon out at the Aarhus University radar station with Snäphor using the laser binoculars and radar. They had a productive afternoon estimating the flight height and distance of migrating Rørhøg (Marsh Harriers), Hvepsevåge (Honey Buzzards) and Spurvehøg (Sparrowhawks).

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

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan Ben Aroia, Michael Colley, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Jesper & Mette.