Ducks, Skuas and Orcas

With a weather forecast almost identical to the one yesterday, we knew what to expect. Rosa and Mara went to Kabeltromlen as per usual while me, Augustin and Emma went out to Worlds End 3. The sea was somewhat quiet, but we got some good looks at migrating Black-throated Divers (Sortstrubet Lom), Mediterranean Gulls (Sorthovedet Måge) and Little Gulls (Dværgmåge). Again today we also had some good migration of passerines with highlights being Grey Wagtail (Bjergvipstjert) and this autumn seasons first siskins (Grønsisken). Far away a perching Goshawk (Duehøg) 1k caused some initial headaches, but the migrain of the day was when Augustin, while covering the inland migration, called out “Pochard!”. I immediately swung the scope in the general direction he was looking and I simply couldn't find the bird. While I was looking he started saying strange stuff like “It looks like a Red-crested Pochard (Rødhovedet And)” and right before it went below the bushes above the Cormorant Lake I saw a dark duck with seemingly pale/whiteish wings. Red-crested Pochard is more rare than Black-browed Albatros (Sortbrynet Albatros), with only one record ever in Skagen. After some quick deliberation I jumped on the mountainbike and went to the track that leads to the Cormorant Lake and started walking. After some wet shoes and quick walking, I was finally at the lake, but no Red-crested Pochard. Instead a nice female-type Garganey (Atlingand) was swimming around! Not as rare as the pochard, still a really good bird in Skagen during the autumn, with three autumn records ever in Skagen, it was a nice consolation price.

From a strictly local perspective, this is the bird of the day, but in broader sense, long-tailed got it beat.

While looking for the pochard I received a call from Erik about a Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove) 1k roosting in reef out of the tip, so I called Augustin and told him that there was a Long-tailed Skua at the tip, but they had already seen it and videoed, nice! I started my long walk back, and out at the Simon was out with us looking for the Long-tailed Skua, but they hadn’t seen it for some time. Otherwise it was quiet, except the Snow Bunting (Snespurv) had returned and we could see from close range feeding until a Wheatear (Stenpikker) scared it away!

confiding small snowball, though this one is a bit early

When the standardized period was over, Emma went back and Augustin went to the Cormorant Lake to look for the pochard, while I stayed back. It resulted in some of the best views of a Long-tailed Skua I have ever had. After two hours I went back to the station, cleaned up and went to the Skagen Art Museum to experience something other than birds. Sadly the birds followed me as I found a taxidermied Spectacled Eider (Brilleederfugl) female! Quite a surprising location to a taxidermied individual of a species that is otherwise restricted to the NE parts of far east Russia and NW most Alaska, combined with the fact that is a relatively small population makes we wonder where this specific individual is from…

A live one would be quite the sensation, as there is only five records in the western palearctic, all of them from Northern Norway

After watching art and eating ice cream I returned back to the station to have a half-way meeting with Simon about my stay at the station, as I have now been at SKAF for two months and three days. The others had also returned, Rosa had also been out for a walk and have had a meeting with Simon, Mara was out with her boyfriend and Augustin didn’t find the pochard. A quick evening meeting later we were down at the birders club to hear a special talk about the orcas (Spækhugger) in Skagerrak by Peter Østrin, a very interesting presentation with some very interesting data, thank you so much Peter! Now we are all heading back to bed after a long day.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gærdesmutte - Wren: 6

Rødhals - Robin: 14

Jernspurv - Dunnock: 2

Munk - Blackcap: 5

Rørspurv - Reed Bunting: 1

Gransanger - Chiffchaff: 5

Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 2

Rørsanger - Reed Warbler: 2

Total: 37

Highlights from the observation:

Long-tailed Skua - Lille Kjove 1 1k light morph, very scarce migrant, third recorded by SKAF this autumn

Garganey - Atlingand 1 female-type, very rare autumn visitor, third autumn record ever

Mediterranean Gull - Sorthovedet Måge 2, still hanging around

Possible Red-crested Pochard - Rødhovedet And 1, second record for Skagen if refound

Goshawk - Duehøg 1k, scarce autumn visitor

Snow Bunting - Snespurv 1, still hanging around

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Augustin Sticksel, Mara Glane, Emma Fabre, Simon S. Christiansen, Erik Christophersen, Peter Østrin, Jean Østrin