No Rest for the Wicked

We have been hoping, planning and preparing for this day to come. For over a week the volunteers at the station have been watching the weather and noticed that for the first time in many days, the wind has slowed dramatically down from 14 m/s to 5 m/s (SW). With that we were expecting good things. 

Waking up at 6 AM with the hopes of reaching Worlds End 3 fifteen minutes before dawn, we quickly hopped on our bikes and cycled quickly out. Arriving with time to spare we waited. And not long after, it started. Passerines began to fly over us in great numbers, with nearly 2000 Jackdaw (Allike) in the first hour and lots of Reed Buntings (Rørspurv), Eurasian Siskins (Grønsiskin), European Starlings (Stær) attempting to migrate. The first hour was also quite hectic with waterfowl with many geese migrating Northeast towards Sweden. Greater White-fronted Geese (Blisgås) comprising the majority of the flocks, but also including good numbers of Barnacle (Bramgås) and Pink-footed Geese (Kortnæbbet Gås). The sea, however, was quite slow this morning as visibility was quite bad further offshore, but a nice Black Guillemot (Tejst) and a male Long-tailed Duck (Havlit) made up for it. 

Pink-footed and Barnacle Geese migrating!

By mid-morning the passerine migration was beginning to wind down, but with the light southwesterly wind, many buzzards began to attempt to migrate via Grenen. We tallied 146 total Common Buzzards (Musvåge). We also got the first Eurasian Goshawk (Duehøg) of the season, a 2cy. individual quickly flew over near Worlds End 1 attempting to migrate. Further we also had several Red Kites (Rød Glente), one of which had a GPS tag on it. It was ringed and tagged on Fyn the 26th June 2023 by Hans Rytter as a young bird in nest. Which mean it's now a 3cy. Since it was ringed it has been on a trip to northern Spain. The bird is part of the project EuroKite. On their website you can find latest positions on their tagged Kites.

We opted to stay and extra 45 mins at the observation point as the buzzard migration continued, and fortunately for us we did as a Shore Lark (Bjerglærke) attempted to migrate over our heads. A lifer for Cora. 

Red Kite, part of the raptor show!

Heading back to the station at 11:45, Ragnar and I took a small detour and decided to spend a bit of time birding in Elle Krattet in search of vagrant woodpeckers and early migrants. We ended up finding a few Crested Tits (Topmejse), two or three Eurasian Treecreepers (Træløber) and accidentally flushed a Eurasian Woodcock (Skovsneppe). We then returned to the station and right as we were walking inside a White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) flew over headed towards Grenen. 

When we finally got inside, we quickly did our morning data and then headed back out to bird around Storsig and Jennes Sø. We did not find anything too crazy, but a pair of Common Cranes (Trane) were nice as well as some lingering raptors from earlier in the day.Out on the walk to Jennes Sø

Now we are preparing to head out this evening to try and do some nocturnal ringing with the hopes of finding snipes and woodcocks! But with the weather looking even better tomorrow morning than today we may not be out all that late!

And so another day passes at Skagen Fuglestation, what will tomorrow bring? We will have to wait and see!

Highlights:

- Long-tailed Duck (Havlit)

- Horned Lark (Bjerglærke)

- Common Buzzard (Musvåge) - 150+

- White-tailed Eagle (Havørn)

- Treecreeper (Træløber)

- Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) - same bird as the last few days

- Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) - 1 (2k), 1 adult 

- Eurasian Goshawk (Duehøg)

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

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

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