A mix of wind and sun

Today was a windy day. Therefore, we had to observe the birds from underneath the dune top. Our observation started around 7:10 in the morning. In the beginning it was foggy far out the ocean and much sand was in the air. Due to the wind there were waves that made it hard to see resting ducks. The birds were also not happy about the conditions Therefore, we saw many migration attempts, but many of the birds headed back after a short while on the ocean.

Observing in the dunes

After a while the sun came out and the circumstances got better. The colors occurred very beautiful- the white of the breaking waves, the grey-yellowish sanddunes with green and yellow grass on it, the dark blue of the ocean together with the paler blue of the sky- all gleaming in the sun. We had some time to look at the different plumages of the resting great crested grebes (Toppet Lappedykker). Subsequently a group of snow buntings (Snespurv) flew directly in front of us and showed nicely in the sun.

Dune atmosphere

In the last two hours some kittiwakes (Ride) occurred. Knud explained us how to distinguish them from common gulls (Stormmåge) if they are far away. I am looking forward to apply this in the following days.

A species that surprised us with high numbers was the red-throated-diver (Rødstrubet Lom). In the last two hours we counted over 167 of them.

With these great observations we forgot that it was a bit cold and the time went on very quickly.

In the afternoon we baked an apple cake. After that we checked the netlanes for the ringing- which will start in some weeks. While checking the lanes we found many interesting animals. Directly at the beginning we found an adder (Vipera berus) that was bathing in the sun. Than we found a moth called dotted border (Agriopis marginaria) and a moor frog (Rana arvalis). They may stand for the beginning spring. We are curious which animals we will see in the following weeks.

Link to today´s observations in Dofbasen in the Skagen area

Sum of the Raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen.

Highlights from the observation:

- Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) - 1

- many red-throated-divers (Rødstrubet Lom) - 167

- some kittiwakes (Rides) - 8

People: Roman Spildooren, Janna Ouedraogo, Cora Koeberle, Lucas Corneliussen and Knud Pedersen