Lots of Birthday Partying!

It did not seem like promising weather today with both rain and mist in the early morning but we were all up with our usual early alarms hoping for the best. Although Simon Jr and Magnus did not stay at World’s End 1 for long, they counted an impressive 65 Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle) and also saw three Black-throated Divers (Sortstrubet Lom) roosting in the Kattegat. Due to the low numbers of birds migrating and the increasing fog over the sea, they then joined us at Kabeltromlen instead. It was very fun to have all five of us in one place for once! We started Isis’ birthday celebrations early with plenty of cookies!

Simon and Magnus continued the count from Kabeltromlen and counted two Rosefinches (Karmindompap) and five Golden Orioles (Pirol). The highlight however was a Turtle Dove (Turteldue) attempting to migrate. A great spot by Simon Jr! Sadly this species is declining across northern Europe; this was the first individual seen in Skagen since 2022.

Thanks to the change in weather conditions we finally had more birds in the ringing. Highlights were two Icterine Warblers (Gulbug), four Spotted Flycatchers (Grå Fluesnapper) and seven Pied Flycatchers (Bruget Fluesnapper). We also caught our first two Marsh Warblers (Kærsanger) in the ringing this spring.

Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger)

We also found a very interesting spider on the Kabeltromlen which, after some research, we found out was called ‘Pumpkin Spider’ in German and ‘Cucumber Spider’ (Agurkehjulspinder) in Danish and English. It’s colouration was stunning!

Cucumber Spider (Agurkehjulspinder)

On our way back to the station we bumped into Jørgen, Hans and Knud who had been out at World’s End 3 counting birds whilst also celebrating Bob Dylan’s birthday. We hear it was quite the party out there with music and plenty of cake! They very kindly gave us their leftover birthday cake, which was very very good, tak!

But it wasn’t just for Bob that we were celebrating today! As it is also Isis’s birthday (happy birthday Isisi!!) our party continued later in the afternoon with Simon Sr joining us with champagne, flags and singing the traditional Danish birthday song.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with raptor summaries, data entry, fixing bird bags and more birthday celebrations – the guitar came out and the party continued! We also received information about the colour-ringed Waxwings (Silkehale) which were read earlier in May in Skagen. The two birds were both originally ringed in Scotland in November 2023 and one was also re-sighted in Derbyshire, England in January this year. Fascinating stuff!

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet):

Total: 41

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.

People: Seán Walsh, Hayley Land, Isis Khalil, Magnus Houen Lauritsen, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen, Kirsten Bregn.