The first cuckoo in Blåvand

Observation:

It was a really lovely day!

The morning started with the nice sighting of 12 grey seals [gråsæl] resting at the same time on the sandbanks. Then, over the three standard hours, there were plenty of red-throated loons [rødstrubet lom] and northern gannets [sule] on the count.
Finally, the observations ended with the call of the first cuckoo [gøg] of the season and, on the way back, the meeting with a common toad [almindelig tudse] on the dunes!

During the day, it was also a pleasure to see the house martins flying over the station :)

Highlights of the days :
Red-throated loons [rødstrubet lom] - 126
Northern gannets [sule] - 194
Common cuckoo [gøg] - 1 (heard)
Grey seals [gråsæl] - 12

Todays observations can be seen here.

A common toad [almindelig tudse] - Bufo bufo -  trying to be invisible... ! Picture by Clara


(Family ?) Gathering of grey seals [gråsæl] in the first hour of observations. Picture by Clara


Viola saxatilis subsp. curtisii - Dune pansy drawing. Picture by Clara 


Ringing:

Very slow morning with an average of 1 bird per round.

The highlight of today though is a gorgeous Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger) which is a pretty uncommon catch for Blåvand Fuglestation. This species favors reeds and swampy bushlands, which we don’t have very close to the nets at the ringing site. They winter in the south of the Sahara, and come in northern Europe to breed.

Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger). Photo Alix

Let’s hope tomorrow has a bit more birds in stock for me!

Little tern project:

Today was another slow day for the Little Tern project. Unfortunately, my wish from yesterday didn’t come true, because there were no little terns during today’s observation. Neither in flight nor resting on the shoreline. It seems they’ve chosen a different spot to nest this year. Hopefully I’m wrong and a few will return in the coming weeks.

At the station : Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong & Alix Bortolussi