We will not stand for a birdless day

Observations

Strong WSW winds during the morning (up to 12-15 m/s) preceded a small rain front and a posterior shift in the winds to WNW. These conditions proved to be unproductive for "continental" wader passage, but very promising for seabirds and "atlantic" waders!

The morning count produced almost 900 Oystercatchers, along with a variety of waders in lower numbers, some seabirds, seaducks (1800 Common Scoters, 3 Velvet Scoters, Red-breasted Merganser), etc. Also some very close-by skuas:

2k Arctic Skua (Henrik Bömer)

As it wasn't an impressive result for the morning count, and last week's routine had been exausting, the counter team decided to take a rest at lunch time. What a mistake! As I got up from my nap and went for a walk to the shoreline near the station, I noticed an intense Oystercatcher migration with groups of over 100 individuals! Also some new waders feeding and resting, including a juvenile Purple Sandpiper (first of the season), and a new juvenile Little Gull.

Juvenile Purple Sandpiper (Nicolás Magdalena)

The >5,5 h count with the whole counting team in the evening was incredible, with almost 5400 Oystercatchers! Some other waders were on the move, with the best Whimbrel and Turnstone numbers to date this season. This good evening rises up the daily total to almost 6300 Oystercatchers, what probably is one of the best numbers in the last two decades. We wish we knew that before!

Oystercatcher groups migrating south all through the evening (Nicolás Magdalena)

Also nice gull movement with thousands of Lesser Black-backed and Common Gulls. In between these large groups moving south, many Caspian Gulls of all age classes were detected but adult dominance, rising the total up to 64. 

Ringing

Today, the weather was too windy for us to reach the standard net amount. Because Alba and I had made an (unfortunately unsuccesful) attempt at night catching from around 2 am, we decided to sleep in and get some much needed rest. In the spirit of keeping rings on our mind, Johan and I watched The Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Edition (!) during the slow morning.

I would, however, not accept a day with no birds caught, so at 11:00 I opened a few sheltered nets, which brought us one new Icterine Warbler and one recaptured Willow Warbler! Alba and I also got to give a German visitor a tour around the nets and she was lucky enough to be present for the catching and ringing of the Icterine. After 1.5 hours of opened nets however, rain clouds started forming and we decided to close the nets again.

So all in all, another eventful day for the ringers at Blåvand:

At the station: Alba, Johan, Ida, David, Lois, Nico, Miguel