Interesting migration out to sea

Looking at the weather last night, we knew it was going to be a change to the recent days of sun and calm winds and that was very correct. The day started very dark, and it was a long time before we saw any sign of the sun, and even at the time of writing we still have not seen the sun. The wind was a breezy SE wind, and this increased throughout the morning making it difficult conditions for our surveys. There were some impressive waves and more prolonged rain in the late afternoon/evening.   

Today started with Mara and Rosa setting off from the observatory just after 6am to open the nets and start ringing at Kabeltromlen before 7am. The wind and showers lead to the team closing around 10:30, having only caught 10 birds in the 3.5hrs of ringing. Their highlights were Goldcrest [Fuglekonge], a few new Blackcaps [Munk] and a Blue Tit [Blåmejse]. They decided to come back and complete some data inputting and checking of the recent ringing activities as well as lunch and chill.

 Meanwhile, Ragnar, Rasmus, our week intern Carl, and I decided to walk to migration counts due to the weather. A short period of time passed before the birds started moving and this continued on and off throughout the morning with some highlights throughout. The seabirds were moving throughout with a high count of 678 Gannet [Sule], a few Kittiwakes [Ride], Guillemots [Lomvie], Black Guillemots [Tystie], and Razorbills [Alk] were all seen. There were some shorebird movements with 4 Grey Plover [Strandhjejle], an arrival of 4 Ringed Plover [Stor Præstekrave], an increase in Dunlin [Almindelig Ryle] and a slight increase in Sanderling [Sandløber] too! We had an unidentified Shearwater species [Skåpe spp] fly by, a Sandwich Tern [Splitterne] fly SW, 2 Caspian Gulls [Kaspisk Måge] with the roosting gull flocks, and a migrating Yellow legged Gull [Middelhavs-sølvmåge] SE. For Ragnar, the highlight was a Pochard [Taffeland], a rare duck for Skagen, for Rasmus and Carl the highlight was the Middelhavs-sølvmåge and for me a pair of Light-bellied Brent Geese [Knortegås ssp Hrota] that flew close SW.

A Pied Wagtail [Hvid Vipstjert ssp. Yarrelli] in the carpark.

After the four hours, the migration team walked back to the observatory to join the ringing team. By walking through the carpark, Ragnar found a Pied Wagtail [Hvid Vipstjert ssp. Yarrelli] feeding between the cars. The bird was not associated with the local White Wagtails [Hvid Vipstjert ssp. Alba] and was the first in Denmark this Autumn. Back at the observatory, a quick lunch before Simon arrived, and evening meeting was undertaken early. The team completed their relevant ‘office’ tasks and had a more relaxed afternoon ready for nightcatching later.

Highlights from the observatory:

• A Pochard [Taffeland] flew NW
• Yellow-legged Gull [Middelhavs-sølvmåge] – 4^th individual recorded this year
• A Pied Wagtail [Hvid Vipstjert ssp. Yarrrelli] in the carpark – 1^st of the Autumn.

Ringing totals

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Total: 10

Ringing (Jennes Sø)

Total: 5

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Michael Ancher, Thomas Weston, Ragnar Smith, Mara Glan, Rasmus Matthiesen, Carl, Simon Sigaard Christiansen.