Finally some nice passerines!

Hej!

The observations today were done by Emma alone this morning. Luckily, or not, the counting of birds was very well possible to do alone, as not many birds were flying by World's End 3. Emma got some company by Knud and Jørgen. They saw a Great Skua/Storkjve, a Great Northern Diver/Islom flying and 3 Turnstones/Stenvender resting at the beach. Ragnar and Simon in the meanwhile had a look again at the 'Eastern' Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger to take some better photos of it. 

'Eastern' Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger

At Kabeltromlen Thomas and I had a busy start to the ringing morning, as a flock of Redpolls/Gråsisken flew in one of our nets. Also a couple of Bearded Reedlings/Skægmejse got ringed in that round and released together. But it didn't get boring after that round, as we caught a Firecrest/Rødtoppet Fuglekonge.

Goldcrest/Fuglekonge and Firecrest/Rødtoppet Fuglekonge

In between the rounds we enjoyed to watch the passerine migration, with Hawfinches/Kernebider flying over and many Blackbirds/Solsort migrating. In a later round we caught another Redpoll/Gråsisken. Becuase Emma really wanted to see a Redpoll up close she stopped migration count for a bit and came over to Kabeltromlen. While ringing all the Blue Tits we also caught in that round, Thomas voiced his suspiciuons about the Redpoll, it gave Arctic Redpoll/Hvidsiskin vibes. But because we where so busy with the other birds, we took some pictures and send it on his way. We later concluded that it was indeed an Arctic Redpoll! It was quite a good ringing day with 38 new birds.

Artic Redpoll/Hvidsiskin

In the still grey and cloudy afternoon, Ragnar had a walk and found a White Wagtail/Hvid Vipstjert on the beach south to the lighthouse, but other than that nothing special came across his path.

White Wagtail/Hvid Vipstjert

Thomas spent the afternoon with Lone in Skagen to do some food shopping and they enjoyed a hot chocolate in a cafe. Perfect activity for weather like this. I spent my afternoon freezing on the beach, as I tried to catch some Rock Pipits/Skærpiber, they of course only showed up after I took down the trap. Thomas joined me later as the sun was setting (in theory, we never even saw the sun today), to try and catch Purple Sandpipers/Sortgrå Ryle. Emma spotted and photographed them on her walk earlier. We indeed found the flock of 5 individuals resting on the beach, but one catching attempt and they all flew of, probably to the harbour.

 

Purple Sandpiper/Sortgrå Ryle

Highlights from the observations:

Great Skua/Storkjove

Great Northern Diver/Islom

White Wagtail/Hvid Vipstjert - very late individual

'Eastern' Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gærdesmutte - 1

Rødhals - 2

Solsort - 5

Fuglekonge - 5

Rødtoppet Fuglekonge - 1

Skægmejse - 2

Blåmejse - 7

Bogfinke - 2

Hvidsisken - 1

Nordling Gråsisken - 2

Lille Gråsisken - 7

Total = 38

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area

People at the station: Thomas Weston, Emma Fabre, Mara Glane, Knud Pedersen, Jorgen Hulbaek, Ragnar Smith, Lone & Lars, Simon Sigaard Christiansen