I dag var der meget roligt herude på hukket, både på stationen efter endnu en weekend med mange folk, men også over havet og i nettene. Observatørerne var meget afklarede med de få fugle, men fremhævede alligevel, at de trods alt fik set endnu en Almindelig Kjove (Arctic Skua, Stercorarius parasiticus) og havde en rastende Sortterne på stranden. Begge arter er jo altid en fornøjelse herude, så det er lige det rigtige til at holde humøret i gang på en ellers lidt kedelig obs. Alle dagens observationer fra hukket kan ses her. 

Splitterne med madpakke. Foto: Louis

Ringmærkningen var også rolig, med nogle enkelte undtagelser. Først fik vi fanget en fin Sortmejse (Coal Tit, Periparus ater), endnu en lifer for Strummer. Derefter fik vi fanget en flot ung Spurvehøg (Sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus), endnu en ny art for efteråret i nettene. Derudover var det roligt, en dag domineret af Dompapper (Bullfinches, Pyrrhula pyrrhula), og efter standard fik vi lukket og fokuseret energien på at dobbelttjekke data, så det hele er korrekt og ordnet til de næste ringmærkere, eftersom at jeg forlader stationen igen i morgen. 

Dagens fine spurvehøg. Foto: Merit

Det har, som altid, været en fornøjelse at være her, og jeg kommer til at savne den virkeligt gode stemning, de næsten daglige pandekager og de dejlige dejlige fugle herude. Hvis vi ikke får høgesangeren i morgen, så håber jeg, at de andre får den en af de næste dage.
Jeg ønsker jer alle en god efterårssæson fyldt med vilde trækdage krydret med et hit her og der! 

Folk på stationen: Louis Poulsen, Merit Lenk, Strummer Edwards, Joseph Stephan

Even though ringing was slow, we were still able to catch quite a few birds to practice the techniques we've gone over during the weekend.  As we were closing the lighthouse, we also caught a Crossbill (Lille Korsnæb) which Louis was very happy to ring (his first time getting one in hand!). Once we finished ringing for standard time, we headed back to the station to view some wing pictures before everyone left.  Merit and I kept the station nets upon for a bit longer hoping to get a lucky find to end the day.  We didn't much but incredibly, Merit flushed a Wryneck (Vendehals) into one of the nets! Lisa was absolutely overjoyed about this catch, after finally getting her first in hand yesterday we were definitely not expecting she would have a chance to ring one.  

The obs also had some great birds today.  We had quite a few people, with Henrik, David, and Alex helping Joseph and Louis.  Our best bird of the morning was a nice male Kentish Plover (Hvidbrystet Præstekrave) which is impressively our fourth bird of the season.  We also had multiple Little Gulls (Dværmåge) and a single Velvet Scoter (Fløjlsand) which where very nice. 

People at the station Louis K. Poulsen, Joseph Stephan, Merit Lenk, and Strummer Edwards

Obsen i dag var rigtig fin - ikke crazy, men god. De største highlights er 3,5 Fiskeørne (Osprey, Pandion haliaetus), 1 Mellemkjove (Pomarine Skua, Charadrius hiaticula), samt 317 Store Præstekraver (Ringed Plover, Charadrius hiaticula), hvilket åbenbart er rekord. So nicee! 
Alle dagens obs kan ses her. 

Dagens ringmærkning blev til i alt 54 nye fugle, primært Havesangere (Garden Warbler, Sylvia borin) med 24 inden for en tidsperiode bestående af standard +1,5 time. 1,5 time ekstra lyder måske ikke af meget MEN det var virkeligt det værd, for den sidste fugl, vi pillede ud af nettene, var en helt frisk og flot ung Vendehals (Wryneck, Jynx torquilla) - altid en fornøjelse i hånden, meget passende til weekendens fokus på lidt mere kompliceret aldersbestemmelse, og for Lisa en længe ventet og ønsket art at se i hånden. 

Dagens Vendehals (Wryneck, Jynx torquilla). Foto: Merit Lenk

Til eftermiddag har der været oplæg om alt fra etik ved ringmærkningen hen til aldersbestemmelse af småfugle på baggrund af kraniet (skull ossification/pneumatisation). Det har været enormt spændende, og nu er vi alle meget trætte efter en lang og lærerig dag. 

I morgen giver vi det så en sidste skalle til ringmærkningskurset med forsøg på at øve os i den nye metode så længe vi stadig har erfarne til at hjælpe med netop det. Observatørerne giver desuden deres typiske forudsigelser: Joseph, evig optimistisk pessimist, siger shitty day (for så er alt man ser en dejlig overraskelse), og Louis, realistisk optimist, siger det bliver ret fint (baseret på vejrudsigt med vejrskifte og stille vind). Vi håber på, at Louis får ret, og begge bliver glade :)

Folk på stationen: Louis Poulsen, Merit Lenk, Strummer Edwards, Joseph Stephan, Simon Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Michael Hansen, Michael Bjerregaard, Børge Rasmussen, Børge Petersen, and Susanne Primdahl

After a tranquil and restful night, Merit, Strummer, Michael, and Susanne set up the mist nets, while Louis and I headed out to the sea for our daily morning observation.

On our way to the "Pælerækken," we enjoyed the morning ambiance, accompanied by a gentle eastward breeze (5m/s) and a cloudy sunrise that painted the sky in mesmerizing shades of orange. We began our observations at 6:00 AM and spotted a total of 351 Oystercatchers (Strandskade), 453 Barn Swallows (Landsvale), one Razorbill (Alk), and the highlight of our day, a Caspian Tern (Rovterne). You can find a comprehensive list of all observations here.

Caspian Tern migrating southward - Foto: Louis Poulsen

Simon and Lisa, who are leading the ringing course over the weekend, had a successful day together with the participants of the ringing course, where they caught 23 birds, and gained a lot of useful knowledge. They captured and ringed two Common Redstarts (Rodsjert), seven Garden Warblers (Havesanger), one Eurasian Blackcap (Munk), one Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger), three Willow Warblers (Lovsanger), one Spotted Flycatcher (Gra Fluesnapper), six European Pied Flycatchers (Broget Fluesnapper), one European Greenfinch (Gronirisk), and one Eurasian Bullfinch (Dompap).

After a delectable lunch shared by all of us, Simon and Lisa held an informative lecture on bird aging as part of the ringing course.

Lecture on bird aging by Simon and Lisa

To cap of this fantastic day at the Fuglstation, we indulged in delicious Fish & Chips and enjoyed cold beverages. The weather conditions are looking very promising for tomorrow; therefore we are looking forward to wake up early once again.

People at the station: Louis Poulsen, Merit Lenk, Strummer Edwards, Joseph Stephan, Simon Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Michael Hansen, Michael Bjerregaard, Borge Rasmussen, Borge Petersen, and Susanne Primdahl.

Today was by far our best day of ringing so far in the season, with exactly one hundred new birds ringed today! We were hoping we would have a nice day after we weren't able to ring the day before but needles to say, this went above and beyond our expectations! 

The day started off relatively slow but very quickly we began catching up to over 20 birds in a single net run! Without a doubt the highlight of the first portion of the morning, a collared dove (Tykerdue) flew into the net and we were able to keep it in the pocket and extract it without much problem.  It may not have been anywhere close to a wood pigeon (ringdue) in terms of size but it was still a great suprise and Merit's first time ringing one! 

Besides everything else that was incredible about this bird, the red eye on this dove was so striking! 

One of the great parts about ringing that day was the number of true migrants we were getting.  Our most common captures were Willow Warbler(Løvsanger with over 30 ringed) and Pied Flycatcher (Brogget Fluesnapper with over 20 ringed) and while we have been getting Willows infrequently all season, the flycatcher was a much more uncommon capture prior to ringing today.  We also caught a few other nice suprises, including a Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper) and a (lifer) Wood Warbler (Skovsanger)! The Wood Warbler was a particularly nice suprise as we only catch a few every season.  

While we did catch less birds as the day went on, we were getting some very nice birds.  At one point Bent even noted that he had spotted Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb) by the nets though it seemed very unlikely we would catch them.  

We were also able to find some very nice herps while waiting for the next net runs, Bent was even able to find an Anguis fragilis while we were preparing for our next net run which was a nice suprise in between all the birds we were getting.  

Shockingly enough, the highlight of the day would not come until later when we were able to catch not one, but two Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb) in the pond net! They were both adult females with one of them even having evidence of a brood patch!  After we went past 100 new rings (at which point it was very late in the afternoon), we decided to close the nets for the day.  

It was rather faint but I felt like the crossbills had a strong smell reminescet of pine needles 

We'll be hosting some visitors for the next few days who are attending the advanced ringing course, hopefully our streak of catching some nice birds will cotinue with them! 

People at the station

Joseph Stephan, Louis K. Poulsen, Merit Lenk, Strummer Edwards, and visitors for the advanced ringing course

Der var ingen ringmærkning idag pga vind. Derfor gik Merit med Joseph og jeg i sabinebunkeren til morgen-obs..

Allerede igår aftes, var der med udsigt til vestenvind snak om massere Strandskader [Oystercatcher] og kjover [Skuas.].. og det fik vi så også ..og meget andet..

Allerede på turen langs stranden til sabinenebunkeren, fløj næsten 200 Strandskader [Oystercatcher] forbi os.

Der gik ikke længe før 3 Almindelige Kjover [Arctic Skua] kom flyvende sammen mod syd og de  blev ikke de eneste, 8 kom vi op på, og nogle super fede lyse fugle og nogle som kom på rigtig fin afstand.

Foto Joseph Stephan, Obs i sabinen.

Lidt over 7 opdagede Merit en rigtig fin Sodfarvet skråpe [Sooty shearwater] flyvende mod syd, og på skråpe-forholdsvis rigtig god afstand. Mega fed fugl!

Blot 20 minutter senere ser jeg i vandkanten en lille lys vadefugle som jeg godt nok syntes ligner en Hvidbrystet Præstekrave [Kentish plover], men jeg var ikke 100% sikker, så jeg hopper op af stolen og prøver at følge den med skopet og den lander så heldigvis, hvor vi alle ser den og kan se at det er en Hvidbrystet.

Ny art!;)

Jeg sniger mig hen for at få nogle billeder og den var heldigvis rigtig medgørlig hvad det angik.

Foto: Louis Poulsen, Hvidbrystet Præstekrave [Kentish plover]

Vi blev alle efter at standard tiden var slut, da der stadig kom flokke af Strandskader [Oystercatcher], og det var heldigt, for der kom mange sjove fugle derefter. Blandt andet 1K Dværgmåge [Little Gull], 6 i alt, en 1K Sortterne [Black tern], samt 3 Alke [Razorbill]

Foto: Louis Poulsen, Strandskader [Oystercatcher], samt en enkelt Alk [Razorbill], kan du finde den?;)

Af andre bemærkelsesværdige totaler kan der nævnes hele 518 Almindelige Ryler [Dunlin], hvoraf hele 444 var 1K fugle, altså unger som er født i år. Og hele 134 Stenvendere.

Klokken 1106 beslutter Merit og Joseph sig for at gå hjemad, blandt andet fordi vi i dag skulle tage “Dværgterne-hegnet” ned. Lige som de skal til at gå kommer minsandten endnu en Hvidbrystet Præstekrave [Kentish Plover] trækkende i strandkanten! Denne landede ikke, men jeg nåede lige at få et billede inden det forsvandt mod syd.

Foto: Louis Poulsen, Hvidbrystet Præstekrave [Kentish Plover], sammen med Stor Præstekrave [Ringed plover] og Sandløber [Sandløber]

Jeg blev i bunkeren til 15. tiden for at tælle Strandskaderne [Oystercatcher], da der stadig kom kontinuerlige flokke. Ved 15. tiden var det som om at det stilnede lidt af, og jeg så derfor mit snit til at gå hjem, jeg så kun en flok på turen hjem, så det var vist et okay tidspunkt.

Hele 3679 kom vi op på!!, om aftenen fik dagstotalen op på 3757!

Overordnet en rigtig, rigtig fin dag;))

Se alle observationer fra i dag her:

Folk på stationen: Louis Poulsen, Merit Lenk, Strummer Edwards, Joseph Stephan

Endnu en dag, endnu en obs. I dag gik observatørerne all in, hvis nu det skulle blive en lang og lækker dag. Gutterne stod nemlig klokken halv seks i køkkenet og stegte franske toasts og lavede de mest overdådige sandwich, som nogensinde er blevet taget med på en morgenobs. En lang obs blev det ikke, men der var da noget der levede op til den lækre madpakke, nemlig 3 Krumnæbbede Ryler (Curlew Sandpiper, Calidris ferruginea) samt en kort rastende Klyde (Avocet, Recurvirostra avosetta). Alle observationerne kan ses her.

Klyde på stranden, et ægte dokufoto gennem skop. Foto: Louis Poulsen

Ringmærkningen var også ganske fin, og vi fik i alt 28 fugle, heriblandt sæsonens første Rørsanger (Reed Warbler, Acrocephalus scirpaceus) og Stære (Starling, Sturnus vulgaris).

Jeg fik også ringmærket min første Træløber (Treecreeper, Certhia familiaris), en rigtig lækker fugl, som dog ser lidt mærkelig ud, når man ser den lige i ansigtet. 

Dagens skønne Træløber. Foto: Merit Lenk

Folk på stationen: Louis Poulsen, Merit Lenk, Strummer Edwards, Joseph Stephan

After a restful night, Strummer and Merit set up the mist nets just before sunrise. Meanwhile, Louis and I headed to the beach for our daily morning observation.

The weather was quite pleasant, so we settled by the shore in our new comfortable chairs and thoroughly enjoyed observing and admiring the birds that graced us with their presence. We continued observing beyond the regular time, spending three more hours, before returning to the station to take a break. I dozed off and had a refreshing nap, while Louis returned to the beach for another five hours of observation, a testament to his dedication that earned him the nickname "Legendary Louis." In total, 1.622 Common Terns/Arctic Terns (Fjordterne/Havterne), 400 Sandwich Terns, 3 Black Terns, 896 Oystercatchers (Strandskade), 115 Turnstones (Stenvender), 20 Common Redshanks (Rodben) and 1.111 Red Knots (Islandsk Ryle) were observed migrating southward today. All observations can be found here: 

Red Knots migrating southward - Foto: Louis Poulsen

Merit and Strummer also had a highly successful day of bird ringing, capturing 16 new birds, including a Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) with a beautiful moult limit. Additionally, they netted one Tree Pipit (Skovpiber), one Eurasian Wren (Gaerdesmutte), one Dunnock (Jernspurv), one Icterine Warbler (Gulbug), four Common Whitethroats (Tornsanger), one Garden Warbler (Havesanger), two Willow Warblers (Lövsanger), one Great Tit (Musvit), and five Eurasian Tree Sparrows (Skovspurv).

Common Whitethroat with a beautiful moult limit - Foto: Merit Lenk

To cap off this wonderful day at the Fuglstation, Merit prepared a delightful Risotto for dinner, and all of us relished every bite. With hopes of favorable weather tomorrow, we anticipate an influx of splendid birds in Blåvand, and an early awakening once again.

People at the station: Louis Poulsen, Merit Lenk, Strummer Edwards, Joseph Stephan

Jeg, Joseph og David talte morgen-obs, Merit og Strummer passede nettene og Andreas havde igen i dag vader-kursus med FeltUd.

I nettene var der ikke vildt med fugle, 8 blev det til i alt.

På obsen havde vi taget plads i “hullet” for at sidde i læ for den i dag lidt kraftigere vind fra ssv.

Der skete ikke det helt store indtil at de fra sabinebunkeren hvor FeltUd havde taget plads, meldte en ung Sortterne (Black tern) som fløj ned til os. Det var til stor glæde og henholdsvis ny årsart og ny art for Joseph, lidt tid efter kom også en gammel fugl rigtig fint i strandkanten.

Dagens højdepunkt var dog da vi så en ung Duehøg (Goshawk), først flyvende ud over stranden hvorefter den forsvandt ned i klitterne. Kort tid efter vendte den dog om og kom lige i vores retning, hvor den først landede på toppen af en bunker 30 meter fra os, og derefter fløj LIGE over hoved på os. Mega fedt!

Foto: Louis Poulsen, Duehøg (Goshawk)

Efter en gang pandekager gik vi ud for at kigge efter ænder ved sydhukket, de var der dog ikke rigtigt, men der trak en del vadere forbi, så Joseph og jeg satte og ned i strandkanten hvor vi havde fint med Strandskader (Oystercatcher) og Islandske Ryler (Knot) som kom lige forbi os i strandkanten.

Aften-obs på stranden.

Se alle observationer her:

Folk på stationen: Louis Poulsen, Joseph Stephan, Strummer Edwards, Andreas Pedersen, Merit Lenk, David Manstrup, + FeltUd kursus

After the insane day of ringing yesterday, we were all hoping that today would also bring some great birds.  Even though we started the morning catching less, we were still consistenly getting 3-5 birds per run.  We were ringing many of our common captures (Sangdrossel, Tornsanger, Løvsanger, and Jernspurv) but the highlight of the  morning was definitely a Stonechat (Vestlig Sortstrubet Bynkefugel) we caught in the lighthouse garden.  Even though we catch a few each season, there aren't many ringing locations in Denmark that get them so it was Merit's first time ringing one in Denmark.  It was a very nice 1k (first year) male that was a bit further along in it's moult compared to the ones we've caught previously during the season.   

Later in the morning we also had a pretty sudden movement of fog, which was promising for potentially increasing the number of birds we capture (if visibility is low enough birds may stop migrating and will hopefully fly into the nets).  While the fog can mean great things for us ringers, it made it much harder for the observers and the visitors from Feltud to detect birds during the morning surveys.

Once the morning obs. where finished, we had David and Andreas (one of the visitors from Feltud with a recently renewed X license) join us for our net runs. Even though we weren't catching much, Andreas was able to ring his first bird in over a decade (a Tree Sparrow (Skovspurv) which he was very excited to get in hand) which was very nice.  

In between net rounds we were discussing some potential catches we were hoping for and I mentioned Wood Pigeon (Ringdue), a bird that I have been trying to catch since I arrived here in July.  I've talked about it a good deal with pretty much everyone and even though we had almost caught one a few times, we had not had any luck yet.  Bent told me he could almost promise that we would catch one while I was here but I was getting less and less hopeful that we would be able to sucessfully ring one.  I mentioned this while we were starting our next net run and everyone else agreed that the chances of getting one were pretty slim.  Once we got into the garden, I was checking the first net when suddenly there was a commotion and I ran out to see Merit with a Wood Pigeon (Ringdue) in the open net near the pond.  

Thankfully it was extracted without much trouble and I went through the rest of the net run giddy to get to process it.  Once it was time to bring the pigeon out of the bag, Merit taught me how to handle birds that size (this was by far the biggest bird I've ever ringed) and it was so insane how large and powerful it was.  

When we were processing the bird, I would either use this combination of ringers grip/holding the feet wings and tail or brace the bird against my chest to secure it.

Actually going through and taking the data for this bird was so surreal, we were able to age it as a 1K very easily but the rest took quite a bit of work.  It was a two-person job taking the wing length, with one person securing the wing and the other flattening it on the ruler.  We used the largest cup possible to weigh it and it came out to 410 grams! 

It was crazy how we had to use a different set of tools for almost every part of this bird.  We used different pliers to close the steel ring, a different ruler for wing length, and this massive cup to weigh it! 

After we took a few photos and released it, we finished closing nets and it took me a while to begin to calm down after finally getting to ring one of these birds.  

Even though they are very common here, this was without a doubt a dream bird for me to get to ring.

After we were done ringing, I went out to Grønningen with both Andreases and Jens to look for some shorebirds.  We ended up with some nice birds including a Curlew Sandpiper (Krumnæbbet Ryle), Green Sandpiper (Svaleklire), Ruff (Brushane), and my lifer Common Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin).  

It looks like we'll be getting southwestern winds for the next few days so hopefully our luck will continue! 

People at the station: Louis Poulsen, Joseph Stephan, Strummer Edwards, Andreas Pedersen, Merit Lenk, as well as visitors from Feltud