The first BROW! And some obs...

Ringing: Another day at Blåvand for me, mens new species in the net! It was a calm day, with a decent amount of birds in the net, and after a little group of Redpolls (Gråsisken), there was a surprise for me! My first House Sparrow (Gråspurv), a female, which was so significantly larger than the recent days' Tree Sparrows (Skovspurve), that I doubted myself for a minute - I love getting surprised by different features than expected, like the first time I saw a Chiffchaff (Gransanger) in the hand, and realised it had other colors than brown!

Today's female House Sparrow - a big handful compared to the rather small Tree Sparrows. Picture by Henrik Böhmer.

The rest of the day went by, and just as I was doing my last round, I saw a big fat BROW on a phylloscopus / leaf warbler in the net. I looked for the wing bars, and sure enough - first Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) of the season! I immediately called Strummer, who's never even seen it before, and they were ecstatic to get to ring a lifer! 

The cutest little Yellow-browed Warbler. Picture by Mathilde Sif Eiby.

Today's numbers: 

Observation: Today the wind was from the west, which of course means another day with a prerequisite for slightly unimpressive species and numbers. Luckily, Henrik joined us at obs today, so we managed to squeeze everything out of the day we could. This resulted in a surprisingly good diversity with species like Greylag Geese (Anser anser), Wigeons (Mareca penelope), Reed Buntings (Emberiza schoeniclus), and Jays (Garrulus glandarius).

As for the “impressive numbers”, we managed to produce 1061 Common Scoters (Melanitta
nigra), and 406 Meadow Pipits (Anthus pratensis), which are the highest numbers since I have arrived at Blåvand! We also counted a total of 53 Red-throated Loons (Gavia stellata), another okay number. Hopefully the wind will become better soon, so we can blow these numbers out of the water.

 Todays observations

At the station: Strummer Edwards, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Jakob Hansen, and Anton Ræbild Jensen