Wind and Rain

What can I say? It is a bit too windy to open the nets and with the rain, seawatch is not so easy. We still went out this morning and afternoon and did see some birds. Actually, Grenen beach is quite nice, because it is flooded again, and the number of shorebird species is increasing. Only, we don’t have pictures because with the rain you try to not take out electronic equipment, if not necessary.

This morning on the beach there were several dunlins and sanderlings (almindelig ryle og sandløber), as there used to be, but in addition to that: 2 red knots (islandsk ryle), 1 ruff (brushane), 3 curlew sandpipers (krumnæbbet ryle) and a couple oystercatchers (strandskade), next to the ever present ringed plovers (stor præstekrave). In the afternoon, Simon junior went there again and saw that one of the red knots has a ring. We ringed a couple last year, so maybe it is ours. Maybe tomorrow we can get a picture and try to read the ring…

Also, in the afternoon, Simon saw a temminck’s stint (temmincksryle), a little stint (dværgryle), and a redshank (rødben), which I did not see in the morning. I think I saw a flock of about 60 redshanks migrating in the morning, but I could not get a good enough look to identify them for sure. But there is definitely quite a lot of shorebird movement, despite the wind.

Also, despite, or because of, the wind, the gannets (sule) are having a feast and I saw them for the first time just in front of the lighthouse. We can literally watch them fishing from the kitchen window!

(Archive Picture, because of the weather of today…)

And Simon was also happy to see some shearwaters (skråpe), two of which were manx (almindelig) and one unfortunately had to stay unidentified.

In the evening, we had dinner together with our guests from the apartment and started a betting round when would be the best time to go bird watching tomorrow. I think, since the weather forecast can’t be relied on, your best bet is to just wake up at 4 and see what it says then, and then maybe sleep for another hour or not, depending. Anyway, I believe that tomorrow morning Grenen beach can be very good for shorebirds, so I will definitely want to be there before the tourists come. As for other birds, we will have to see, if anything still moves – which will also depend on when the storm really picks up.

So enjoy the birding in the – way too early – autumn storm and stay safe!

People: Martina Hillbrand, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Karen and Henrik Toft

 A link to today's observations from volunteers and local observers.