The Beauty of Balance

Good days (like yesterday) would not exist without the bad days. And today was arguably a bad day (birding-wise). ;) We still enjoyed ourselves here in Blaavand and learned to appreciate the more common birds. Additionally, Anton Liebermann, who is going to do the ringing for the rest of the season, arrived at the Station. We are very happy to have him here and are looking forward to working together.

Today started with Morten and Anton opening the mist nets, while Louis and I headed to the sea for the daily morning observation. The weather was cloudy, with a temperature of 18 degrees and a southwestern wind of up to 4 m/s.

The migration count resulted in a total of 313 Oystercatchers (Strandskade), 66 Red Knots (Islandsk Ryle), 108 Dunlins (Almindelig Ryle), 28 Turnstones (Stenvender), two Eurasian Curlews (Storspove), five Bar-tailed Godwits, and three Redshanks (Rödben). We also spotted 581 Common Scoter (Sortand), four Velvet Scoter, 15 Pintails (Spidsand), seven Teals (Krikand), two Wigeons (Pibeand), and one Tufted Duck (Troldand). We were very pleased to see the Oystercatchers migrating in higher numbers today compared to the last couple of days. You can find a comprehensive list of all observations here.

Luckily, Louis and I narrowly escaped a rain shower at 9:45 AM and made it home dry. Morten and Anton had to close the mist nets for a couple of hours due to the rain but were able to reopen them later in the day. They managed to catch 12 birds in total, including one Robin (Rödhals), one Redstart (Rödstjert), one Lesser Whitethroat (Gaerdesanger), three Blackcaps (Munk), one Chiffchaff (Gransanger), two European Pied Flycatchers, one Great Tit (Musvit), and two Chaffinches (Bogfinke).

To cap off this day at the Fuglestation, Louis prepared a delicious pasta with mushrooms and spinach for dinner, which all of us enjoyed to the fullest. We discussed the upcoming event and the weather conditions for tomorrow, had ice cream for dessert, shared some good laughs, and then retired to our well-deserved beds.

Folk på stationen: Louis Poulsen, Morten Jenrich Hansen, Anton Liebermann, Joseph Stephan