The storm before the quiet

Because of the windy weather, the ringing team decided to keep the nets closed today. With wind gusts up to 63 km/h the prospect for catching birds was very low. Nevertheless, the observation team headed motivated and with tailwind to Nordstrand. We chose this obs locality because we expected the strong eastwinds to push all the birds out to the west. However, we did not presume any passerine migration. This was already on our way to Nordstrand proved wrong- we saw several flocks with finches, fighting above our heads with the wind. Im contrast to the finches the geese and swans were intimidated by the wind and occurred in very low numbers.

The first hour went over with a high number of common scoters (sortand)- 1500 of them were migrating east. In general, the majority of todays birds was migrating east. Continuing yesterday’s trend we saw many goosanders (stor skallesluger). A highlight of the seabirds was a pair of garganeys (atlingand) migrating close to the shore. They were the first for the season and compared to other years very early. It was only the fourth March record for Skagen, the earliest one here is from the 17th of March 1973.

It was not that cold, but with the wind we were all happy that we brought handwarmers with us. During the count we also made some ten-second walks to warm our feet. Then the observation went on again. In general, we are here very exposed to the weather. Luckily it was often sunny during the last weeks. In today´s sun we could watch many of the birds very beautifully. One highlight were two hen harriers (blå kærhøg). We saw an adult and a young male flying around and showing up every now and then in the sun. Especially the adult, grey-black male was a sight for sore eyes.

Close above our heads- sometimes on eye level- there were finches over finches. It was impressive to see so many of them so close. The finches flew over in small flocks, however they added up to several thousand.

When we came back, Chris and Mara were waiting for us with hot cocoa. Lucas had meanwhile left. He is now for a week in the south, searching for wheatears and bustards. In the afternoon Mara, Cora and I went on a walk to overhaul the electricity fence around a radar tower. That was a nice walk and we were able to see a common snipe (dobbeltbekkasin) and several frogs.

At the radar tower

After sunset we tried to catch some plovers. Since the fox was already on the beach before us, the plovers were all well hidden. Therefore, we did not found any plover. It was still nice to be outside, listen to all the night noises and watch the stars.

Hope to catch a Snipe

Highlights from the observation

• 2 very early Garganeys (Aatlingand)
• 10 migrating Kestrels (Tårnfalk)
• 3300 Chaffinches (Bogifnke)
• 7 Red Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb)
• 2110 Siskins (Grønsisken)

Link to todays observations in Dofbasen from the Skagen area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Janna Ouedraogo, Mara Glane, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Knud Pedersen