If There Are 5000 Mosquitoes For Every Bird Ringed, How Many Birds Did We Have If There Were 15000 Mosquitoes?

Hello again! Unfortunately, this will be my last blog for the season, so I wanted to start off by saying thank you to everyone; from all the wonderful people who joined us at the station, to all the visitors we had at Kabeltromlen, to the birds, the bugs, and everything in between, Skagen is a very special place and I’m grateful to have called it home this season. While I can’t make promises, I hope to come back sometime and reconnect with this wonderful community again. 

 

Moving on to our regular scheduled content… This morning Simon “C-License” Kiesé (get it? Because he has a C-License, so we need him for ringing) and I peeled our sticky eyelids off our eyes so that we could open the nets at Kabeltromlen “one last time”. While we were both tired, and our bodies protested heavily against returning to the standard routine, the biggest obstacle we faced was the insufferable discomfort of mosquitoes and the damp devastation of humidity. We thought the night at the Skagen Klitplantage was bad, but today was another level of suffering. To answer the title of this blog, by the time Simon (Jr) had made his mosquito joke, we had only caught 3 birds (15000/5000 = 3). Misery!

 

We did have a cute Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) which offered some consolation, but a Eurasian Blackcap (Munk) would have certainly made the day a bit more colourful (they are soooo cute!). Luckily, yesterday the jazz band that played downstairs used some Eurasian Blackcap (Munk) birdsong in their music, so I didn’t feel too withdrawn from them. Tak! Great performance! (And I am in no way biased). 

 

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken).

 

And when we thought things couldn’t feel more melodramatically horrible, we were knee deep in bog water when the Zello message came that there was a Rosy Starling (Rosenstær) in town. Needless to say, those nets were closed, rolled, and tied in a dizzy haste. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the bird, but we remain hopeful that we will get another chance. 

 

Simon (Sr) made an effort to see the Rosy Starling (Rosenstær) from Stald Grenen, but he also had no luck. 

 

Seán spent the morning at World’s End 3 attempting to do a migration count. His efforts felt rather pointless, but he did get to hear a Common Redstart (Rødstjert) singing and see some Wagtails (Vipstjert) potentially migrating South. 

 

In the afternoon, I opened the nets at the lighthouse garden for a guided tour. Unfortunately, not enough people joined the tour so Lucas and Seán went to close the nets again, but we still caught a Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) and showed it to some lucky tourists!

 

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger).

 

Simon (Sr) and Lisa had a visit from some friends (and previous guests) from Germany. They enjoyed a meal together in the garden. It looked very hygge. Then he brought us some breakfast bread leftovers, very yummy! Mange tak!

 

Sandra, Dirk, Lisa, and Simon. 

 

In the afternoon we focused on data entry and checking, picture archive updating, and got to meet Simon (Jr)’s family. 

 

Then Seán prepared a three course meal (starter, main course, and dessert), which was absolutely fantastic! Tak for mad.

 

And now my blog reaches its close, once again thank you for your support and good company.

 

Vi ses!

 

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet)

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) - 1

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) - 1

Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger) - 3

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) - 1

Total: 6

 

Ringing (Fyr)

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) - 1

Total: 1

 

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: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Lars Bo, Dirk and Sandra