Catching a Blyth's Pipit?

You know, that your sleep it over, when Simon calls and tells you, that the weather is good enough for ringing, even if rain and wind is forecasted. And usually Simon is right, so we left our warm Observatory to do bird stuff. 

Gustav decided to go to Nordstrand for the migration count. It was quite slow, but it was very interesting to compare the numbers of birds and species you get there and at Grenen. For example Gustav got many birds closer and due to this he could identify a high percentage of the Razorbills/Guillemots (Alk/Lomvie), but he did not get many of the Kittiwakes flying out of Kattegat. This shows, that it's hard to compare the numbers from Grenen to Nordstrand. Eric was also out there and found a White-billed Diver (Hvidnæbbet Lom). There was also a Swallow, probably a Barn Swallow (Landsvale). Crazy to see these "summerbirds" in November!! 

Yesterday we had also one late House Martin. At this time of the year this is super exciting and you should always try to take pictures of those. I tell you why: There is the super rare Siberian House Martin, which could come late in the year. It had in general a bigger white rump, but siunce this is hard to judge in the field, pictures are necessary. Since it is just a subspecies of our House Martin and it's super rare, this might not be the biggest problem. But there is also the chance for a Asian House Martin, which is a seperate species and has several records in Europe. Unfortunately, it looks even more similar to our Eurasian House Martin and the slightly more brownish appearence with a slightly streaked rump is unidentifeable in the field. So since there is the chance, that at this time of the year one of the super rare easterly House Martins turn up, try to get pictures. It could be worth it!

Otherwise the highlight where many Whooper Swans (Sangsvane). We also got many at Grenen, so everybody of us could enjoy these amazing birds with their nice flight calls.

In the meanwhile, KAB ringing was slow. Very slow. Two birds, that's it. But at least this nice Blackcap (Munk) is mentionable, which has now a nice danish ring but Thomas. 

The Simons used the time to set up nets for Water Pipits (Bjergpiber) at Grenen Lake, but unfortunately, there were no Water Pipits today. So we set up a second net at the favorite place of the now for three weeks present Blyth's Pipit (Mongolsk Piber). After a short while the bird flew over and landed directly in front of the net. You could see our excitement in our eyes and we started running towards the net to flush the bird inside. Simon Sr. had the perfect position, this has to work!! But than the Blyth's just flew away on the other side of the net. It must have walked under the net, what a shame! This was a very good try, but it is a bit sad, that it did not work. At least we had good views on this rarity. As a pipit fan I really enjoyed it. Btw - it's tail feathers are growing, so the destroyed tail is no longer a good feature to recognize this bird.

In a few minutes our new volunteer - Mathilde - will arrive. We are all looking forward to meet her. Since it is rainy now, we can directly proof her Wingspan skills. Is that a good plan? We will see!

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet):

Blackbird (Solsort) - 1

Blackcap (Munk) - 1

Total: 2

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Gustav Nyberg, Simon Kiesé, Thomas Weston, in a few minutes Mathilde, Lorne and Lance, Simon S. Christiansen.