Man vs. Nature

This morning I went out at Grenen observing seabirds together with Knud. We had a successful observation with a number of different migrating and resting birds. Since we had seen two Caspian Gulls (Kaspisk Måge), I have another new bird species during the stay here in Skagen. Furthermore it was impressive to watch an Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) heisting the fish of a Common Tern (Fjordterne). It is so mean but yet spectacular to observe. During the observation and the rest of the day the wind was getting stronger and the storm “Knud” was making its presence felt.

Besides the seawatching we finished this day some indoor tasks, like the report for the rarity committee, due to the catch of the Arctic Warbler (Nordsanger) and the observation of a Stone-curlew (Triel) at Råbjerg Mile. Moreover the Bird Observatory got visited by students from Aalborg, having a project on ringing data. Sadly Sasha left us at noon together with Gunnar.

The storm was predicted to get strongest at midnight. Together with the rain that could be perfect conditions for a night catch of waders. That’s why Molly, Lisa, Simon and I went out as soon as it got dark. It was a fight between human and nature. It is pretty sure that nature had won this fight by far. Thanks to the chest waders we got two times pretty close to an Oystercatcher (Strandskade), but the catch never succeed. The way back was worst, because we had to walk against the storm. The sand was hurting our face and due to the strong wind it was very hard to make a steps forward. Although we had no success it was actually fun.

Pic.: motivated catching crew.

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Gunnar Simonsen, Knud Pedersen, Molly Brown, Sasha Munters, Lisa Vergin and Daniel Bloche