Fog, Dissections & Oman

It was dark and foggy when Laia and me opened the nets at Kabeltromlekrattet this morning, while redwings (vindrossel) were flying over us. Because of the fog the birds flew fairly low and many seemed to come down as well - calling out of the bushes around us.

Together with the rest of the team (Simon, Henning, Judith and Koen) we went started to collect the birds from the nets at sunrise. This morning was the best so far this autumn in terms of bird numbers. Robins (rødhals) were clearly the number one species with 41 newly ringed birds, but also 13 goldcrests (fuglekonge) were a good number. Most of these were caught in the first round, which meant that we were busy with ringing and taking measurements and therefore deployed for the first time this autumn two ringers working simultaneously. Britta, Lotte, Anne and Karin joined us out at Kabeltromlekrattet as well.

The fog didn't lift during the entire morning, so it was tricky to do observations during the ringing. Anyhood, we saw a flock of 11 bearded tits (skægmejse) and heard more calls of that species throughout the morning. A grey wagtail (bjergvipstjert) overflying was also fine.
Unfortunately we had to stop shortly after 10, because the fog turned into rain.

This afternoon we had our annual dissection event. Many families attended and used the chance to see and learn about the inside of a bird. From the many dead birds that people find and bring to us, we chose a herring gull (sølvmåge), a razorbill (alke), a tawny owl (natugle), and a common buzzard (musvåge) for public dissections.

In addition we examined some smaller songbirds and a bat species. We also started to prepare the head, feet and wings of several of the birds. Laia also boiled the head of a bat to get a skull for educational purposes in the future.

Just before sunset, I went out to Kabletromlekrattet again to deploy the night microphone. For the first time of the day, the sun was visible in between the clouds and many birds were pretty active before going to sleep. Among others, I happened to stumble upon a yellow-browed warbler (hvidbrynet løvsanger) along the tractor tracks and a great grey shrike (stor tornskade) at Kabeltromlebakken.

In the evening Hanne and Jens presented their experience (birdwise and more) from living for many years in Oman. The talk was well attended and many friends of the bird observatory came by.

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet):

Goldcrest - Fuglekonge - 13
Common Chiffchaff - Gransanger - 3
Eurasian Blackcap - Munk - 3
Dunnock - Jernspurv - 2
Eurasian Wren - Gærdesmutte - 9
European Robin - Rødhals - 41
Redwing - Vindrossel - 3
Common Blackbird - Solsort - 1

Total: 75

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Koen Stork, Henning Hvid Ettrup, Britta, Lotte & Anne, Karin Christiansen, Hanne Eriksen, Jens Eriksen, Friends of Skagen Fuglestation.
Thanks to Rie Voetmann for providing us with an awesome chocolate cake as well!

Writing music: The Receiving End of Sirens - Between the Heart and the Synapse