Snow, wind, sand and more sand

Probably everyone thought that the weather couldn´t get worse after yesterday, but Johanna and Magnus experienced today, that it was possible. In the last day there was really cold wind and a lot of flying sand. Well, what is missing to that, to make it even more uncomfortable? Right, rain and snow. Nevertheless, Johanna and Magnus went out today to make the morning observation at Worlds End 3 and they stayed out for two hours. Due to the weather, there was no much migration going on, but they saw a Great Northern Diver (Islom) and some Common Scoter (Sortand) migration near the coast. But the rest of us was also really into finding rare birds, as you can see in the photo below.

In the afternoon we went out with Simon C. and Lisa to find the Red-breasted Goose (Rødhalset Gås) that was reported near Råbjerg Kirke. We saw a flock of ornithologists, but the Red-breasted Goose didn´t show up, although we looked at a stubblefield with some different geese (White-fronted Goose (Blisgås), Greylag Goose (Grågås), Barnacle Goose (Bramgås), Shelduck (Gravand)) for quite a long time. Probably it sat in the stubble field and laughed at all the people around the field, with scopes, binoculars and cameras.

If you can’t look at a red-breasted goose, you have to find other things, so there was a bet about the number of Red Polls (Gråsisken) in a flock. You can see a picture of the flock below, so everyone can estimate, how many birds are there. The solution, you find in the end of this blog entry, Magnus and Simon counted every bird in the flock shown in that picture.

While I am writing this blog entry and Johanna is making dinner, Magnus and Simon are out, with the big goal to catch a Bittern (Rørdrum). They already caught a Woodcock (Skovsneppe), a really active one. Now there are out again, and we will see what the evening will bring. We will keep you updated if they catch a bittern or fall in the swamp. Or probably both…

P.S.: They fell in the water. Not for a Bittern (Rørdrum), but for a Greylag Goose (Grågås), we ringed with Simon C. and Lisa afterwards.

Solution: There are 1013 Redpolls in the flock.

People: Johanna Veentjer, Isis Khalil, Magnus Houen Lauritsen, Simon Kisé, Mira Kieckbusch, Lisa Vergin and Simon S. Christiansen

Link to todays observations from observers in the area

Sum of the Raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen the same day