Greenish Warbler, Green birds on Dofbasen and bittersweet tern

24th august was another exciting Skagen-autumn day!

The day started with the ringers going out opening the nets and me and Frederik going out to World End 3 to do the counting. The weather changed as the wind blows, but we ended up with some really good birds! Highlights from the counting were such as Manx Shearwater (Almindelig Skråpe), several Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove), Great Skua (Storkjove) and the “usual” three Mediterranean Gulls (Sorthovedet Måge). With the Arctic Skuas there was a fun surprise hidden. We saw a 3cy. dark morph Arctic Skua that was colour-ringed and Knud went down to read the ring while Eric Christophersen got some really good photos of it. The ringing data was sent almost immediately to the relevant ringing authority and we got almost immediate answer. And what an answer we got! But a bit backstory first, 4^th august 2022 an 1cy. Arctic Skua was found on the beach in front of Worlds End 3, the earliest recorded 1cy. Arctic Skua ever recorded in Skagen! And this one was also colour-ringed and we found out that it was ringed on the 23/6-2022 in southern Norway and 79 days later it was seen in Denmark, it was one of two ringed juveniles in the same clutch. Now 794 days later this one was seen at the same beach and apparently it was the sibling to the one we saw in 2022! What a crazy coincidence and is a great showcase of why colour ringing is such a great tool in monitoring and data collection within ornithology.

 

Ringing data for the skua from today

Ringing data from the one seen 4th august

The colour-ringed Arctic Skua 3cy. dark morph from today

But while we were having fun at Worlds End 3, Kabeltromlen were their fair share of fun. First they caught a nice 1^st year male Bluethroat (Blåhals) and had a singing and calling Greenish Warbler (Lundsanger)! 41^st record in Skagen and 13^th autumn record, quite the rarity and everything was called out on Zello for everyone to hear. But for some reason none of us at Worlds End 3 got the Zello messages, so imagine my surprise when Simon calls me and nonchalantly tells that the Greenish Warbler is stilling hanging out at Kabeltromlen. So I picked up my bike and went down to see it and hopefully photograph it, and while I was there they also told me they had a Bluethroat?! Thankfully I have seen both but imagine if it was something crazier and we missed it. I got the Greenish Warbler thankfully though the photos left a lot to desire. I went back to the obs and it didn’t take too long to find a Manx Shearwater, what a combo.

1st cy. male Bluethroat

Greenish Warbler! notice the bigheaded impression, bright, strong supercilicum and dark loral stripe

If it wasnt for the leaf, the wingbar would probably be visible, but here the mossy green upperparts are also visible

 

Recording of the Greenish Warbler

After an exciting obs we went back to the observatory to regroup and then we went to Højen Fyr trying to do some seabird watching, while on our way Frederik told me he needed a Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe) for his self-found list. And almost immediately when we arrived he found one! We saw it very well and not long after he found another one! We left from there quite happy and immediately went to Worlds End 1 as the wind turned southeast, which means that seabirds are being pushed out from the Kattegat. There we managed to see a very nice Sooty Shearwater that came quite close and two Great Skuas.

You sit a bit low at Worlds End 1, so to peep over the tall grass you have to be creative

We were quite happy, but we were still hoping to find something like a Cory’s Shearwater (Atlantisk Skråpe) or something crazier, and we did almost. Like having a wish granted by a Monkey’s Paw, I found a strange tern while we were packing our bags around 1740, it was flying with a Common Tern (Fjordterne) and immediately I was struck by it flew with lackadaisical wingbeats going straight up and down, compared to common terns more focused and energetic wingbeats, shorter tail, heavier build and a short bill, I was completely blank and yelled out “check this tern” and he got on it and then we followed it fly away. Here we saw a grey back, grey wings with paler coverts, no obvious dark in the primaries, broader, more roundish primaries and when it reached the outermost dunes it turned around where it showed grey outertail feather and no obvious streamers and again a short, thick bill, like a heavy arctic tern bill. It looked like it went down, and we just stared at each other. What was that??? We discussed it and concluded that it could be a Whiskered Tern (Hvidskægget Terne) and after discussing what we each had seen, we walked towards the beach trying to refind it, while also putting it out on Zello as a possible Whiskered Tern with several birders also heading out to the beach looking for it. We spent 1 ½ hours looking for it, but no dice. It would have been the second or third autumn record ever for Denmark and the first record for Skagen since 1983! A great day with a bittersweet finish, but this is what we live for as birders.

Video of migrating Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe) from today

 

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Rødhals (European Robin) - 1

Bynkefugl (Whinchat) - 1

Blåhals (Bluethroat) - 1

Kærsanger (Marsh Warbler) - 2

Rørsanger (Reed Warbler) - 3

Gærdesanger(Lesser Whitethroat) - 2

Tornsanger (Greater Whitethroat) - 3

Munk (Blackcap) - 3

Gransanger (Chiffchaff) - 2

Løvsanger (Willow Warbler) - 7

Total: 25

Link to today's observations from observers in the area