A Redpoll, a Fox and a Halo

Next day – next morning obs at Grenen. After a nice sunrise, it seemed like today will be a strong day with many birds.

Unfortunately, after some minutes the sun hid behind a layer of clouds and the number of migrating birds normalized. Over the morning there were more than 500 Redpolls (Gråsisken) attempting to migrate. It is really nice to see those again, trying to get back to their breeding range after seeing the big influx in autumn. Since they flew in front of the light sky, it is very hard to see their coloration, but the ones I saw well enough were all Common Redpolls (Stor/Nordlig Gråsisken) - the main species from the influx. It would be interesting to see if there are some Arctic Redpolls in between (Hvidsiken), maybe the results in the ringing will show soon.

A young White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) did not hesistate to leave Denmark and head towards Sweden. One fox walked along the path, but only Isis was lucky enough to get a view on the nice mammal. The highlight of the first hour was a Shag (Topskarv) heading northwest. With their smaller size, the thin neck and the rounded wings they look very different from Cormorant (Skarv) if you get a good view on them. A nice halo surrounded the sun.

After three hours in the coldness, Mira, Isis and I were relieved by Johanna and Magnus. They brought some cake, which was a super nice breakfast and reward for counting so concentrated. In the next hour, migration went a bit better again and the local young Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) showed up very close again.

In the meanwhile, us three count-starters had a breakfast and a nice nap. The afternoon was – like always – super productive and we did a lot of stuff like checking the new nets at KAB, setting up the tent for ringing or entering the data. Simon Sr. is back and there were thousand points to talk about. In conclusion, we look very forward to start the ringing season the day after tomorrow!

People: Isis Khalil, Magnus Houen Lauritsen, Simon Kiesé, Mira Kieckbusch, Johanna Veentjer, Simon S. Christiansen.

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

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