Sunday Fun-day

Hi folks!

Today has been a quieter day after yesterdays’ bird surprises. The day started with Fredrik and me opening the nets at Kabeltromlen, only to get halfway around opening and having to pause our pursuits as a rain shower passed. Luckily the rain quickly stopped, and we could open the remaining nets… only to have to close some more an hour later with the increasing wind speeds! Although we weren’t able to ring many birds today, this was a valuable lesson in reading the weather and online forecast.

Ringing under the shelter of the tent. Luckily it was a quickly passing shower so we could continue ringing the birds safely.

While we were out at Kabeltromlen, we had some notable observations including a short-eared owl (Mosehornugle), young (1k) goshawk (Duehøg), and hearing the greenish warbler (Lundsanger) again. This was the first greenish warbler for Fredrik in 4 years, and the last one he’d seen was in the exact same place in Skagen! Before packing up, we were joined by Ezra, a new volunteer from the UK who will be with us for a week. We appreciated his enthusiasm to help close the nets, especially after a long morning of travel.

Meanwhile, Ragnar was out at World’s End 3 conducting the daily observations. His counting began with some wader migration, before he spotted a few arctic skuas (Almindelig Kjove), and a mediterranean gull (Sorthovedet Måge). The highlights for his morning were a shearwater species (Skråpe-art) and a rock pipit (Skærpiber).

Photo: Hans Christophersen. A little stint (Dværgeryle) at Grenen today.

Inspired by yesterday’s successful afternoon sea watch, we all headed to Højen Fyrvej to watch over the North Sea. Species diversity was low and numbers even lower, with a single fulmar (Mallemuk), arctic skua (Almindelig Kjove), and two early pink footed geese (Kortnæbbet Gås).

The SKAF crew out at Højen Fyrvej, sea watching in the afternoon sun.

We’re now sat doing some admin and mulling over tomorrow’s weather forecast while Ragnar is cheffing up a “meringue Nutella cake with a biscuit bottom” – tune in tomorrow to see how it turns out!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Løvsanger: 2

Gærdesanger: 1

Kærsanger: 1

Munk: 1

Tornsanger: 1

Havesanger: 1

Total: 7

Link to todays observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Fredrik Johansen, Ezra Sherwell, Simon Sigard Christiansen, Hans Christophersen.