Great Egret = Great Day

The day started with Morten opening the mist nets, while Louis, Lars, and I headed to the sea to do the daily morning observation. The weather was pleasant, with temperatures around 15 degrees Celsius, and a southwestern wind of up to 6m/s.

The migration was rather slow today, with a total of six Oystercatchers (Strandskade), 100 Red Knots (Islandsk Ryle), 56 Dunlins (Almindelig Ryle), two Red Shanks (Rödben), one Wood Sandpiper (Tinksmed), two Grey Herons (Fiskehejre), and 609 Common Scoters (Sortand). Additionally, we spotted four Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove) and a Great Egret (Sölvhejre) foraging, which was arguably the highlight of the day. You can see a comprehensive list of all observations here.

Observation spot from today

Digiscope of the Great Egret standing on the beach

We returned to the station, entered the data into DOFbasen, looked at the spectrogram from the recorded call of the Wood Sandpiper (Tinksmed), and had the leftover burritos from yesterday’s dinner for an early lunch.

Morten didn't have the luck he was hoping for today, with only eight new ringed birds, but he was still very pleased about the European Pied Flycatchers, as they are quite rare to catch in Aarhus, where he lives and rings usually. In total, 14 birds were caught, including one Song Thrush (Sangdrossel), two Garden Warblers (Havesanger), two Eurasian Blackcaps (Munk), one Goldcrest (Fuglekonge), four European Pied Flycatchers (Broget Fluesnapper), one Great Tit (Musvit), and three Eurasian Bullfinches (Dompap).

Male Bullfinch 1st calendar year

To cap off this beautiful day at the Fuglestation, Louis cooked a delicious pasta Carbonara for dinner. While we were enjoying the meal, David Manstrup arrived, which further brightened the mood. We had honeydew melon for dessert and shared with David the interesting and amusing things that happened while he was absent. Afterward, we went to our well-deserved beds, looking forward to tomorrow, when we hope to have another great day in Blaavand.

People at the station: Louis Poulsen, Morten Jenrich Hansen, Lars Tom-Petersen, David Manstrup