Snow, Pirates and a Fulmar

Hej!
I am back at the bird observatory for three weeks and am really happy to be here again. It’s just like I never left. The weather also behaves like it did in December – lot’s of wind and snow. When we went out this morning, full of hope for good 4 hours of bird migration, we quickly realized that that was not going to happen. The snow only got stronger on our way to World’s End 3 and after we observed for 10 minutes the visibility has gotten really bad. So after 30 minutes of sitting in the snowy cold we decided that we should just head back. We did see two Greylag Geese (Grågas) and counted some Scoters (Sortand) and Eiders (Ederfugl) though.

Enjoying the snow

Back at the station we took our time to warm back up again and worked on some chores, constantly checking outside the windows in hopes of seeing the snowfall decrease a little. Around 11 it almost stopped snowing, so we headed out to Grenen again, hungry to find some birds. The gulls on the beach held no surprises but we saw a couple of Bullfinches (Dompap) flying over and calling. We took a little detour to find a secret bunker, that Thomas told me about in autumn, but that I never actually went to. After an adventourous slippery "bridge" crossing we eveually spotted the hidden etrance. Inside the bunker we found some pirate treasures and wintering moths. After returning to the surface and on our way through Elle Krattet a group of Chaffinches (Bogfinke) and Siskins (Grønsisken) fed on the ground and we could get pretty close to them. They all were round and fluffed up because of the cold – so cute.

Three ghosts in a pirate bunker

Scoliopteryx libatrix - Herald moth

The rest of the afternoon was spent resting, playing games and watching birds though the windows. Some of us went on little walks later in the eveing when it completely stopped raining. I went out on a walk around the lighthouse to see the sunset, when I spotted a dead Fulmar (Mallemuk) lying on the beach, basically right in front our doorstep. So after fetching a bag, gloves and Rasmus for help, we picked up the poor thing and put it in the freezer. It now can be used for research of the Aarhus univesity to gather information about the effects of plastic pollution on the diet and causes of death in Fulmars (Mallemuk).

Dead Fulmar (Mallemuk) on the beach in front of the lighthouse

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, Mara Glane and Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl