Merry almost-christmas

With the wind blowing and the wet cold clawing its way through clothes like a knife through butter, it certainly doesn’t entice anyone to go out to the tip to do migration count, so instead me and Simon once again went to the harbour to do some gulling. Simon had picked up some bread, but when we arrived at the harbour it started raining so we went to Simon’s second favourite spot in Skagen after the observatory: The fishmonger. We picked up some sandwiches, but while waiting it was fun to see some of the fish on display, it brought up some memories from when I was younger and used to fish with my grandfather on Faroe Islands.

Goofy-looking Common Ling (Lange)

After the rain passed we went straight to the eastern pier where we checked the harbour mouth and the roosting gulls, quickly we found a Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) 1k, but rather fast we refound the King Eider (Kongeederfugl) 1k male that has taken up residence in the harbour. From here we could see that it was quite close to the western pier so we hurried back to the car and drove down there, which was a smart decision! There we could see at relatively close range (300 meters) and get a good look at this rare bird showing an even rarer plumage.

Close enough for the 300mm lens, what a cool bird. King Eider (Kongeederfugl)

The King Eider joined an assemblé of Common Scoters (Sortand) and a Black Guillemot (Tejst) 1k

After a few minutes we were joined by Karsten Klausen and as he was putting up the scope, the bird took flight and flew further away from us. With plenty of birds in the bassine, we decided to go to central pier to feed some gulls, to see if we could pull another rabbit out of the hat, preferably in shape of an Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge) or something rarer. Instead we were treated to close views of the aforementioned Caspian Gull.

Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) with the hundreds of herring gulls (sølvmåge)

But as the weather turned for the worse we went to Skagen Bryghus to grab a beer, before doing a last stop at Højen Fyr. Højen Fyr turned out to be a bust with not that many birds, so we went back to the observatory to relax. Tomorrow I will be leaving for Sjælland to celebrate Christmas and new years eve, before returning in start January, as I will be staying till end January/start February.

A beer named "Ragnar" strong, pale and dry - which is essentially just a description of me

So happy Christmas and happy new years eve from Ragnar and Skagen Bird Observatory.

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Simon S. Christiansen