Sweet Treats

We woke up around 5am this morning to very calm weather. The flag was barely moving in the wind and there was a nice fog around the lighthouse. Tue and I opened nets and Lucas joined us shortly after (after a deserved sleep-in) for ringing. Ringing was steady with a total of 14 birds ringed and 2 recaptures. Lucas was excited to ring his first (or maybe second) Song Thrush (Sangdrossel). Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen joined us for a bit and brought us some very nice cinnamon cake (sweet treats are always welcome during ringing if you're ever considering visiting). We managed to not eat all of it so we could share it with the observers. Aske Salling Guldberg also arrived midway through the morning and will be staying with us for the week. He is doing a challenge with the scouts where he has to wear shorts for a full year, hopefully 5am windy Skagen mornings won’t stop him from completing his goal!

Last known picture of this sweet treat

The observers, Cora and Rasmus, had a slow start with the fog but ended up seeing some nice birds. From World’s End I they were able to see two Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove) and a few Rough-legged Buzzards (Fjeldvåge). We’re hoping one of the buzzards will be one that has a GPS tag that we’ve been tracking. It was pinged yesterday slightly south of here so it’s likely it flew over us today. Update: we did in fact see it.

You can identify Song Thrushes (Sangdrossel) by how lovely their spots are

In the afternoon, we did a little birding. Rasmus attempted to find a Golden Eagle (Kongeørn) but was unsuccessful. I went on a short walk and saw the usual suspects. I also saw an interesting fungus which I’ve identified (hopefully correctly) as a False Puffball. It’s a sad world when you can’t even expect truth from a puffball fungus. A few people also went to the store to stock up on food.

The most dishonest fungus you will ever lay eyes upon

This evening a group from the Lion’s Club will be here for a tour. We’re hoping a bird will fly into our garden net so we can show them some ringing. We’ll also be showing them around the station and explaining the operation here.

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Observation Highlights

Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) – 2

Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge) – 3

Glaucous gull (Gråmåge) – 1

Bar-tailed godwit (Lille Kobbersneppe)

Eurasian Curlew (Storspove)

Ringing

Gransanger – 1

Rødhals – 7

Gærdesmutte – 2

Blåmejse – 1

Rørspurv – 1

Sangdrossel – 1

Solsort – 1

People: Cora Köberle, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Tue Baaner, Lucas Corneliussen, Aske Salling Guldberg, and Simon S Christiansen