Best Day Ever (?)

Due to the strong winds, there was no ringing today. So, Anton joined Louis, Johan, and me for the daily morning observation at the sea. We walked out to the Sabines-Bunker to seek shelter from the harsh weather conditions. The wind came from the west-southwest with speeds up to 15 m/s.

The migration was quite slow today, but we still saw 61 red-throated Divers (Rödstrubet Lom), two red-breasted Mergansers (Toppet Skallesluger), 40 Wigeons (Pibeand), 8 Teals (Krikand), and one Pintail (Spidsand). Additionally, we spotted one Purple Sandpiper (Sortgra Ryle), 11 Kittiwakes (Ride), one Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Mage), one Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove), and three Skuas (Kjove) that could not be further identified due to the far distance and bad visibility at that point in time. Around 9:15 AM, the first Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skrape) of the day blessed us with its presence when it glided in its typical bows at middle distance. What a treat! You can see a comprehensive list of all observations here. 

Sooty Shearwater

At around 12 o'clock, we came back to the station for a break. We ate lunch, rested for a couple of hours, and went out to the bunker again at around 4 PM. At the same time, Henrik Böhmer arrived at the station with the new flashlight, which we put to good use later in the day. But before the night catching began, Anton and I found ourselves at the Sabines-Bunker with good looks at three more Sooty Shearwaters (Sodfarvet Skrape). The first Sooty was gliding at middle distance, therefore Anton and I were extremely hyped, but we were not ready for what happened next. Not even five minutes passed, and suddenly two Sootys were flying together, even closer than the one we saw before. The sun was setting while the Sootys were putting on a show for us, flying synchronized in their typical bows. Anton and I could not believe what we just witnessed; it was insane!!! The best sea-watching experience both of us ever had! We gathered ourselves and got back to the station at around 8 PM.

We had some leftover chicken and rice for dinner, reviewed the footage of the Sootys flying, and got ready for night catching. Aksel, Isabel, Antonia, Anton and I headed outside at around 9:30 PM and managed to catch three waders, two Dunlins (Almindelig Ryle), and one Jack Snipe (Enkeltbekkasin).

Jack Snipe 

We headed back to the Station exhausted and happy at around 11 PM, took a shower, and went to our well-deserved beds. What a day!

People at the station: Anton, Joseph, Antonia, Jimmy, Aksel, Isabel