Sabine's Gull!!!

The last few days have been amazing, especially with the sheer amount of shearwaters, divers and other rarities/scarcities and today was no different.

The day started as usual with Rosa and Mara going to the Kabeltromlen and me, Thomas and Emma going to Worlds End 3. With the strong winds from east I was a bit worried about where to find cover from the wind, so we could actually do the observation, but in the end we managed, especially as the wind slowly died down. Good numbers of migrating kittiwakes (Ride), some divers and a nice Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) with Simon, Lisa and Joanna joining us at the obs, with Simon and Lisa going back some time after. But October in Skagen means that now there will be good birds every day, and today was no exception! At 1024 I spot a weird looking small gull 700 meters out migrating southeast, it doesn’t look like a kittiwake but more like a mix between a tern and kittiwake, with broad wings and tail, flappy and fast wingbeats, a uniformly dark back and forewing with a large white area in the wing like a kittiwake and also a dark neck and head that extends down the side of the neck, BOOM Sabine’s Gull (Sabinemåge) 1k! A dream species of mine and one I have been talking about every day for the last three months, something that all the other volunteers can attest to, with me saying every evening, that tomorrow looks good for Sabine’s Gull. Almost everyone got onto the bird, and we saw it disappear into Kattegat.

A field sketch of todays star

What a nice bird and now I can open the champagne that I got as gift when I found the Brown Booby (Brun Sule) in august. While smiling about the Sabine’s Gull, Thomas called out a Great Northern Diver (Islom) going southeast, what a day. While we were having fun in the wind, the ringers had a more quiet morning as the wind made ringing difficult with seven birds in total.

A nice Purple Sandpiper (Sortgrå Ryle) found by Thomas during the NOVANA counting

Back at the observatory we did some cleaning, admin work and then went out to do NOVANA counting at Kattegat, Nordstrand and the cormorant lake, late in the evening. Now Simon and Lisa has gone nightcatching, hopefully bringing back a Crested Lark (Toplærke), and we are enjoying a nice glass of champagne, hopefully it comes back tomorrow, otherwise there will probably be another good bird tomorrow, it is after all Skagen we are talking about!

Celebration with some nice champagne at the obs, we deserve it

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Sangdrossel - Song Thrush: 4

Rødhals - Robin: 1

Gærdesmutte - Gærdesmutte: 1

Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 1

Total: 7

Highlights from obs:

Sabine’s Gull – Sabinemåge 1 1k migr. SE, in recent decade, less than annual autumn visitor, though this is the second one seen this year. Last record from 2021.

Great Northern Diver – Islom 1 3k+ migr. SE

Caspian Gull – Kaspisk Måge 5 roosting

Link to today's observations from observers in the area