Birding Before Afternoon Heavy Rain

Knowing that there was rain with thunder and lightning was forecast to hit Skagen in the afternoon we all decided to get some birding done in the morning, except for Michael who focused  on packing as he leaves tomorrow morning (we are all going to miss having him here).  Lauren went out for a run and also checked for Ringed Plover Stor Præstekrave chicks along the beach. Dante went raptor watching at Batterivej and I later joined him at around 10am. He had 29 Honey Buzzard (Hvepsevåge) before I got there and by the end of our watch he finished on 66, which is a decent total for late June. They provided a great opportunity to try out ome different settings on my camera after being given some very useful tips from Dante. He also had a Spotted Redshank (Sortklire) and together we had a couple of Greeshank (Hvidklire) and 1 Crested Tit (Topmejse). Just after we had packed up to go back to the observatory before the start of the rain a presumed female Red-footed Falcon flew north past us, but it was just too distant for us to say fo certain using just our binoculars. In the afternoon we all stayed inside the observatory and kept out of the rain, but I was a bit disappointed we did not get the thunder and lightning that had been predicted on the weather radar. Then in the evening thankfully the rain had stoppped, and we all went round to Magnus's house (who works at the lighthouse) s he had kindly offered to cook us some dinner. We all had a very good time and the food was very tasty. We got back to the observatory quite a bit later than what our normal routine has been for so long so I doubt we will be out early tomorrow morning!

Link to today's sightings.

Skagen Bird Observatory: Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Michael Colley, Zach Pannifer

Grey Heron (Fiskehekre) by Zach Pannifer