A Rose (Starling) in amongst the (Seabuck) Thorns

We started the morning full of pep for the week ahead. As the sun rose, the nets were opened, and the scopes were raised to the skies.

The ringing started with a Water Rail (Vandrikse), several Wrens (Gærdesmutte), and a few Chiffchaffs (Gransanger). While we were busy looking for moult limits within the feathers to age the chiffchaffs, we received a very exciting message – “Rosenstær ved Sandormen sti.” Just as Mara and I had figured that this might be a Rosy Starling (Rosenstær), with our Duolingo-limited Danish, Ragnar called to confirm this, much to our excitement. Having finished processing the birds and with a bit of time to spare between net rounds we took our waders on a rare excursion from Kabeltromlen and managed to spot the beautiful bird in the flock – success!

The young Rose-Coloured Starling (Rosenstær), photographed by Ragnar.

The remaining ringing was steady, with 21 new birds processed. The highlight was a Jay (Skovskade), a new species for both Mara and me. It was super cool to see the blue of the covert feathers, but just as cool to see the blue tones elsewhere that you can’t see in the field – on the tail, the forehead, and the iris!

The Eurasian Jay (Skovskade) caught at Kabeltromlen.

The observers were joined by Knud this morning. After the excitement of the Rosy Starling (Rosenstær), they had a quieter second half of the observations, seeing a Great Skua (Storkjove), Red Kite (Rød Glente), and the same young Black Tern (Sortterne) that's been hanging around Grenen.

We came back home to a lunch of fried rice cooked by Augustin in an attempt to use some of the 2kg of rice Ragnar cooked last night – good job the fried rice was delicious, as we barely made a dent in our rice-stock.

In the afternoon, Augustin went to Buttervej, while I headed South of Skagen to Sandmilen. Our trips were quiet bird-wise, aside from Stonechats (Vestlig Sortstrubet Bynkefugl) and a Purple Sandpiper (Sortgrå Ryle). Meanwhile, Ragnar got on with some admin, and Mara her university assignment. Before long we had arrivals in the form of new guests and lovely Emma, a new volunteer from France who will be with us until the end of the season. We’re about to head off for an early night’s sleep, excited to see what tomorrow will bring and show Emma the ropes of observations at Skagen!

Highlights from the observations:

• Black Tern (Sortterne) 1k - 1
• Great Skua (Storkjove) - 1
• Arctic Tern (Havterne) - 5
• Rose-Coloured Starling (Rosenstær) 1k - 1, the eigth autumn record for Skagen!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Vandrikse - 1

Lille Gråsiskin - 1

Tornsanger - 1

Skovskade - 1

Musvit - 1

Blåmejse - 2

Gærdesmutte - 4

Jernspurv - 1

Rødhals - 1

Gransanger - 8

Total = 21

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Augustin Sticksel, Mara Glane, Knud Peterson, Emma Fabre.