A family gathering

Hello everyone!

Today was a beautiful day for ringing birds. This was my first-time ringing. Rosa, Asia, Lucas, and I got up early to set up the nets for ringing. We set our nets open at 4:30 in the morning and began to get equipped at Kabeltromlen for ringing any birds that flew into our nets. We were happily surprised to hear from the observers that there was a Crested Lark in the parking lot. Lucas and I ran down after the nets were opened and observed the bird in the middle of the lot.

Toplærke (Crested Lark), Grenens P-plads

The first few net checks in the day were slow, with a couple Chiffchaff (Gransanger) being the solo species for the first portion of the ringing. After a couple of net runs the activity began to pick up as we ringed Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger), Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger), and Reed Warbler (Rørsanger). The highlight of the day for the ringers came on the last run as Lucas and I encountered a family of five Great Tits (Musvit). Although these small passerines enjoy biting the hands of ringers as they are extracted from the nets, they brought some excitement to the end of a long morning of ringing. Three of the Great Tits that we caught were recaptures from Skagen!

Grenen in the morning

The observers, Ragnar and James, went out to World’s End 3 just before sunrise to observe wader and seabird migration along the coast. Highlights for them included a little gull on the beach, a flock of European Golden-Plovers, a Black Guillemot, a Razorbill, and a probable Pomarine Jeager.

Later in the day, Rosa visited Skagen Klitplantage and observed 16 Honey Buzzards on the way, a positive sign for raptor migration.

With inspiration from Rosa’s Honey Buzzard observation, James and Lucas set out in the afternoon to look for Red Kites and Common Crane, with success viewing both species. Along the way they also picked up Eurasian Nuthatch, Carrion Crow, and a probable Dunnock.

The weather looks to be interesting the next couple of days and we are excited to see what birds the winds will bring in!

Link to observations in the Skagen area in Dofbasen from today

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger) – 7

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) – 2

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) – 1

Blackcap (Munk) – 2

Great Tit (Musvit) – 2

Total: 14