No storm petrels but we got nightjars!

Hello all!

Last night we attempted to catch storm petrels once again, with none showing up this time, but we will not give up! A nice consolation to the lack of Storm-petrels were two Nightjars, an adult female and a juvenile recapture, seen late during the night.

Today Asia and I got up before sunrise to open the nets for another day of ringing. After the nets were up, Lucas and Simon joined us. We had a decent number of birds today with a Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) and many Common Whitethroats (Tornsanger) making appearances. The highlights of the day didn’t end up in the nets. Early in the day, Lucas spotted a Goshawk on a perch against the dunes. This was a new bird for me, the Eurasian variant of the recently split goshawk species. Later in the morning, Simon led a tour for a group of birdwatchers from Finland where we showed them the ringing process and Simon talked about what we do here in Skagen.

A tour group obesrving a bird being rung

Ragnar was solo on observations today at World’s End 3 and he witnesses loads of seabirds passing by the tip of Denmark. He observed good numbers of Fulmars and a possible shearwater that he later deemed to be a fulmar. A highlight for him today was observing a two-meter-long tuna jump out of the water! He also saw 25+ migration attempts from raptors in the area.

Lucas and Rosa did some birding individually in the afternoon. Lucas observed an early season rock pipit, heard by Ragnar as well, near the lighthouse. Rosa took a bike ride and saw a spotted flycatcher, two red kites and some Honey Buzzards.

A returning volunteer, Robbie, arrived this evening and he will be staying with us for several days helping out with observations. He spotted a Red-backed Shrike near the sandworm track during a walk after he arrived.

We will be attempting again to catch Storm-Petrels again tonight for the third straight night, fingers crossed we’ll get one!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Marsh warbler (Kærsanger) - 3

Chiffchaff (Gransanger) – 3

Willow warbler (Løvsanger) – 1

Common whitethroat (Tornsanger) – 5

Blackbird (Solsort) – 1

Lesser whitethroat (Gærdesanger) – 2

Reed warbler (Rørsanger) – 1

Reed Bunting (Rørspurv) - 1                                    

Great Tit (Musvit) – 1

Total: 18

Ringing (Det Grå Fyr)

Eurasian Nightjar (Natravn) - 1

Total: 1

People at the Station: Asia Kane, Joe Zeno, Lucas Corneliussen, Rosa Hicks, Robbie Lawler, Simon S. Christiansen, Mette Møller Christiensen

Link to today's observations from the Skagen area