A Richard's Pipit

Last night we opened two owl nets with sounds playing for Short-eared Owl (Mosehornugle) and Tengmalm’s Owl (Perleugle). We were very hopeful as a Short-eared Owl (Mosehornugle) had been seen roosting at Grenen earlier in the day. Gustav did the night checks but unfortunately there was no sign of any owls. Meanwhile, Thomas and I took a hand net to the beach and caught another Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle) on the Sandormen track. Such a nice bird!

It was a great morning at the migration count today. Thomas and Gustav joined Knud at World’s End 3 and counted over 2000 Razorbills (Alk) and over 100 Fulmar (Mallemuk)! Lots of species of duck were also seen migrating including the usual Common Scoter (Sortand), Velvet Scoter (Fløjsand) and Eider (Ederfugl) plus Wigeon (Pibeand), Tufted Duck (Troldand), Long-tailed Duck (Havlit) and Greater Scaup (Bjergand). Other highlights were a Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) roosting on the beach and three Sooty Shearwaters (Sodfarvet Skråpe) migrating.

We were lucky enough to spot one of the Sooty Shearwaters (Sodfarvet Skråpe) and the Greater Scaup (Bjergand) from Kabeltromlen where Simon Jr and I were ringing with Karen and Søren. It was a bit windy so we only had the more sheltered nets open. To start with it was very quiet, with only one or two birds per round, but then it started to pick up a little bit. One of the highlights was a small flock of four Siskins (Grønsisken) in the net; two males and two females with really nice yellow-green plumage. We also ringed another northern Treecreeper (Nordlig Træløber, spp. familiaris) and our first Bullfinch (Stor Dompap) of the larger subspecies (spp. pyrrhula). Simon’s photo below shows a male of the smaller subspecies (spp. europaea) on the left and a female of the larger subspecies (spp. pyrrhula) on the right.

Whilst we were ringing Søren also went for a walk to the beach to do some birding. He took these amazing photos of a Common Scoter (Sortand) and a Golden Plover (Hjejle).

In the afternoon, Simon went to spend some time with his family, whilst Thomas, Gustav and I headed out on more birding walks. Thomas found a big pipit near World’s End 1 so Gustav and I joined him to try and help confirm the species. We walked up and down the dunes a few times and finally we heard it call too. There was no doubt, it was a Richard’s Pipit (Storpiber)! The same bird was seen yesterday and is only the second record for Denmark this year so a very exciting find. We also saw a flock of Twite (Bjergirisk), a Marsh Harrier (Rørhøg), and lots of Reed Buntings (Rørspurv) and Meadow Pipits (Engpiber). A very good afternoon!

Later on, Simon also headed out to try and see the Richard’s Pipit (Storpiber) and Gustav wrote a description of the bird for DOFbasen. Thomas walked into Skagen to get some shopping and the ringing data was entered. Gustav prepared for a night tour this evening with Niels who is the Chairman of the board of directors for the Fuglestation. The tour has 32 people attending and the plan is to try and find some deer (hjort), seals (sæl) and waders, and to show the visitors how the thermal binocular works.

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet):

Total: 23

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

People: Hayley Land, Gustav Nyberg, Simon Kiesé, Thomas Weston, Knud Pedersen, Niels Eriksen, Karen Marie & Søren Leth-Nissen.