Autumn equals seabirds

Westerly winds are finally upon us, so with high hopes and closed nets, we went out to world end 3, with everyone out there plus some company, but even though we got good numbers, no rarities dropped by. Gannets (Sule) were the dominating bird with over a thousand migrating and feeding in both Kattegat and Skagerrak, other good birds were two arctic skuas (Almindelig Kjove), Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge), Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Måge) and a very nice 1k Honey Buzzard (Hvepsevåge) that came in the from see and passed by in perfect light.

Cover from the wind is essential for seabird watching

After the obs ended, we had sadly had to say goodbye to Frederik, though he was only here for a relatively short time, he surely managed to hit the nail on the head bird-wise with his stay! After he left, we only managed to sit down indoors for a short time before leaving again, to do some more obs at World End 1.

Autumn season looking so bright, we have to wear sunglasses

With the strong winds from south, surely some seabirds must be pushed out of Kattegat. Augustin had been talking about wanting to see shearwaters and this seemed as a good time as any other time. And boy we weren’t disappointed! Within 20 minutes we had booked our first Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe) and within the hour we had seen two. Rosa joined us and we feared that the show was over, but thankfully it wasn’t, two hours of sea bird watching in periodic rain and strong winds booked us a total of four Sooty Shearwater, one Manx Shearwater, eight fulmars (Mallemuk), three arctic skuas and nice numbers of other cool species, and we managed to get good views of them all, weather permitting. After a quite successful evening obs, we went back to eat some homemade dinner cooked by Mara and enjoy the rest of the evening. What a perfect way to end a windy autumn day.

Intense staring at the Kattegat, hoping for that straight winged silhouet passing through the scope view at high speed

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Total: 0

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Augustin Sticksel, Frederik Johansen, Mara Glane, Helge, Inga