High wind brings some great birds to Blåvand

Even though we are unable to do any ringing while the winds are so strong, that has just given everyone more time to find great birds during the morning observations! We're all conducting them in the Sabine Bunker due to the intense conditions which has also let us had some incredible looks at the birds that come by. 

Even if the bunker can occasionally get cramped, it provides some much-needed protection from the elements during our surveys.  

Even though there were many interesting parts of today's surveys, the skua numbers were insane! We had at least 6 Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) and a shocking two Great Skua (Storkjove).  They also gave us great views, flying right by the shoreline.  

Probably the most impressive change in the birds we are finding is the insane influx of Kittiwake (Ride).  We found over 40 just at the bunker and I even found 6 more in the bog! Previous days have only yeilded two or three (if any at all) so this was incredible.  

Shorebird migration also continued to be impressive, with over 200 Oystercatcher (Strandskade) being detected!  We also had a single Redshank (Rødben) and multiple Sanderlings (Sandløber).  

We also had a very interesting shearwater sp, which we unfortunately had to leave as unidentified.

While we weren't able to do much birding after the surveys due to the insane winds, we are all very excited for Wednesday! The weather looks incredibly promising for bringing in some seabirds from the North Atlantic, including tubenoses!