Autumn Migration In full Swing

A change in the wind direction led to the wind coming from the southwest, a noticeable change to the recent days. Today, the wind felt noticeably colder, but with sunny intervals it was rather warm when you tucked yourself away. The change in temperature and cold weather sinking through Sweden and Norway resulted in a very nice movement of birds noted across the Skagen area.

Today started with Mara, our intern Carl, Simon, and me going to Kabeltromlen. We managed to open just over half of the nets due to the weather and were very vigilant with the gusts. Mara’s hands froze this morning with the wind. However, it was all good and a decent number of birds were caught and processed. The highlights were the first ‘northern’ Bullfinch [Stor Dompap] of the season, a large, beasty male who made the ‘southern’ Bullfinch [Lille Dompap] look quite small in comparison. There was also a good movement of Chiffchaffs [Gransanger], Goldcrest [Fuglekonge] and Robins [Rødhals] with numbers of each seen and caught throughout the morning. The session was complete just after midday and was timed by Ragnar arriving and saying there was a Great Grey Shrike on the other side of the track, which unfortunately we did not see when we were leaving the site.

Meanwhile, Ragnar, Rosa, Mara, and Emma went to migration counts. Many Gannets [Sule] were feeding just offshore with over 4000 birds seen this morning which sounded incredible. The videos of the birds diving in front of the sunrise looked stunning and we hope they attract the Brown Booby [Brun sule]. Other highlights included Black Guillemot [Tystie], a passage of birds arriving in off the sea including Swallow [Landsvale] which flew right over the observers heads; 2 Mute Swans [Knopsvane] which are an unusual species to see from the tip; an Arctic Skua [Almindelig Kjove]; a juvenile and adult Common Terns [Fjordterne], the latter age a bit of a weird one for this time of year; a passage of passerines heading in at the tip throughout the morning; the first big movement of waterfowl with geese flocks coming from the south; and 2 late Arctic Tern [Havterne].

On arrival to the observatory, we said goodbye to Carl and wish him well with his future studies and birding adventures. Lunch was had, the weather deteriorated, and so everyone completed their personal tasks. This included momentarily saying goodbye to Ragnar who went off to meet up with friends for the day; Rosa found out one of the Great Black Backed Gulls we resighted recently had been resighted near her house a couple of years ago at the nearby Lidl, now on the point before having an interview and went for a walk where she saw flocks of up to 300 Pink footed Geese migrating south [Kortnæbbet Gås]; Mara warmed up from earlier and completed some university work before doing some data inputting with myself; and Emma took it nice and easy after here recent travels to Estonia for migration counts out there.

The team completed their relevant ‘office’ tasks and had a relaxed afternoon ready for nightcatching later.

Highlights from the observatory:

• An impressive 4000 Gannets [Sule] off the point
• A continuous arrival of migrant passerines and waterfowl this morning.
• A flock of 8 Bearded reedlings [Skægmejse].
• A Blackcap [Munk] ringed in Autumn 2022 was caught and processed in September 2024 in Surrey, near London, England.

Ringing totals

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Total: 40

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Michael Ancher, Thomas Weston, Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Mara Glane, Rasmus Matthiesen, Emma Fabré, Carl Simonsson, Natacha Gaedecke, Simon Sigaard Christiansen.