Raining Cats and Dogs... and Wheatears

Hi folks!

In the UK, we have the saying “it’s raining cats and dogs” for heavy rain. I’ve asked Fredrik, and he says in Denmark, “det star ned i stænger” is more popular than “det regner med katte og hunde!” But, regardless, rain is certainly what it did today.

The rain came in from about 7:30, so we closed the nets at Kabeltromlen after 2 net rounds, and a mere 6 birds. Meanwhile, Ragnar was on observations and had reported migrating passerines moving in from the sea to avoid the poor weather conditions. This included a red-backed shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade), which he spotted from quite some distance. Hearing the news of these landing passerines, me and Ragnar headed out to Elle Krattet to see what was seeking refuge in the woodland. Between us we noted 8 spotted flycatchers (Grå Fluesnapper), 2 pied flycatchers (Broget Fluesnapper), 3 common redstarts (Rødstjert), 1 icterine warbler (Gulbug), a few whinchat (Bynkefugl), and over 30 wheatear (Stenpikker)!

A lesser whitethroat (Gærdesanger) in the beautiful Kabeltromlen sunrise.

 

Today was Andrew’s last day, so while we were out looking for passerines across Buttervej and beyond, he was buying souvenirs – mainly in the form of lots of licorice! But while we will be saying goodbye to Andrew tomorrow, we were joined by the lovely Fredrik Johansen, who is keen to be back at the station.

We then got on with some admin tasks before setting off Aalborg-bound for another night of great snipe (Tredækker) catching. With the car packed with slightly more jackets and coffee than last time, we drove south, where we met Sean.  There were fewer birds about this visit, and the wet weather made spotting the birds difficult in the thermal. However, we caught a great snipe (Tredækker), a common snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin), and 2 skylarks (Sanglærke). It was especially nice to be able to see the great snipe next to the common snipe and observe the morphological differences. We only saw 3 more great snipe, so it seems a few have moved on with their migration, leaving the sites. We’re hoping the younger birds could still be yet to pass through in the coming weeks.

 

A first year common snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin), photographed before being released.

 

We were grateful to Simon’s mum, for kindly offering us drinks and biscuits before heading out as well as a place to stay at the perfectly reasonable bedtime of 5am – thank you!

The team doing some essential preparation before the night catching.

 

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Tornsanger: 1

Løvsanger: 2

Rørsanger: 2

Gærdesanger: 1

 

Ringing (Lindenborg)

Tredækker: 1

Dobbeltbekkasin: 1

Sanglærke: 2

 

Ringing Total: 10

 

Link to todays observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Andrew Commins, Fredrik Johansen, Sean Walsh, Simon Sigard Christiansen.