Wind & White Caps

We knew it was coming. The strong winds from the west picked up today as expected, but not in the way we envisioned. With our alarms waking us up at 6 AM, we quickly ate a nice breakfast and packed some coffee for the road and cycled out to Grenen. Arriving just after 7 AM, we were greeted by a small flock of Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) migrating north towards their breeding grounds in northern Scandinavia. The first of many in the morning. Fortunately, the wind had not quite picked up the way we were expecting and the crew had several good hours of counting without the elements interfering dramatically. 

The morning watch

The surprise of the morning was a 2k (1st cycle) Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge) found amongst the large gull flock at the end of the Sandormentrak. Unfortunately, only a few of us were able to see the bird before the gull flock flushed and sent most of the gulls to hunker down from the wind elsewhere. Of other note, unlike the last few days, far fewer Jackdaws (Allike) made their way out to Grenen today with a mere two-hundred compared to the two to three thousand the previous days. That said, Guillemot (Lomvie) numbers were much better today with nearly five hundred being recorded across the four hour count period.

In search of Iceland Gull 

Passerine numbers, much like the Jackdaws, were also a bit lower today with fewer Snow Buntings (Snespurv), Eurasian Siskins (Grønsiskin) and Eurasian Skylarks (Sanglærke) being recorded. We did have a Fieldfare (Sjagger) and several Common Buzzards (Musvåge) attempt to migrate across Kattegat which was nice. 

By the end of the morning, the wind severely picked up at began to cover our gear with sand. The ride back to the station was not super easy today but it was still nice to be out in the sun!

The remainder of the day was fairly quiet around the station with the only other major project being the entering of the daily data from the morning and followed by the first deep clean of the apartment of the spring season. Tomorrow is forecasted to be even more windy than today so for now the volunteers are preparing for another cold morning of counting! And so, another day at Skagen Fuglestation passes, what will tomorrow bring – we will have to wait and see.

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:

- Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge) - 1 2k

- Guillemot (Lomvie) - 468

- Black-legged Kittiwake (Ride) - 48

- Red-throated Diver (Rødstrubet Lom) - 200+

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Roman Spilldooren.