More crackers!

Ringing: Finally we could ring again after the past few days' strong winds! We managed to get 28 birds of 11 species, so a pretty decent day.

Helena is doing super well, and still getting new species in the hand every time we ring, though specifically Wrens (Gærdesmutte), I still ring, since they're masters at slipping through the fingers - but that means I finally put my ring number 800 on a Wren today! Between that and my recaptures, I'm just short of a thousand, but after getting a C-license and teaching others to ring too, my list is starting to make less and less sense, since I'm of course handling all the birds they're handling as well - so I probably handled a thousand birds already! 

One of my good friends came to watch the ringing today too, and it's just the best feeling showing someone a bird in the hand for the first time. To me, seeing a species of bird in the hand, is like seeing the species for the first time again - the details are just crazy!

Today's numbers:

Observation: Today was my last day at Blåvand Fuglestation this year, and I really wanted to end it off with a bang. The wind today didn’t look amazing for rarities, but compared to yesterday, it was much more exciting. Yesterday had looked horrific with powerful winds directly from the south, but we still managed a lifer each for Johan and me (Johan found a Dovekie (Søkonge) for himself, while I, of course, found my first Leach’s Storm Petrel (Stor Stormsvale))! So, I was hopeful that we might end up with a good obs today, and honestly, I was right to be hopeful.

Barely 20 minutes into obs, Henrik managed to find a Common Loon (Islom) flying extremely close to us. Like the last one at obs, this one was also mostly in its summer plumage, which is always incredibly nice to see. Not long after, a Black-throated Loon (Sortstrubet Lom) also flew right by us. Both of these species have been few this season, and with 45 additional Red-throated Loons (Rødstrubet Lom) also being seen at obs, it was a damn good day for loons.

Common Loon on the fly-by. Credit: Henrik Böhmer.

Truly, today was a real El Dorado of birding, cause as if the “Loons of Plenty” (c.f. Land of Plenty) weren’t enough, we also managed yet another Dovekie, making this the third obs in a row with Dovekies being spotted.

But the true jewel of today's obs was not 1, not 2, but a whopping 5 Nutcrackers (Nøddekrige) seen at obs today! Spotting random Nutcrackers all the time will certainly be one of the things I will miss the most at home, so getting a cool 5 birds on my last obs this season was a really nice way to end it.

Nutcrackers overhead. Credit: Henrik Böhmer.

And while the rarities were really good today, the numbers were also pretty decent. A really nice 2530 Starlings (Stær) were seen migrating, as well as a pretty decent 270 Little Gulls (Dværgmåge) flying by. We also saw an okay 668 Common Scoters (Sortand) and 2 dark morph Parasitic Jaegers (Almindelig Kjove).

All in all, a very good way to end my season. I look forward to being back in Blåvand, hopefully as soon as possible. Additionally, I also want to extend my gratitude to the people at Blåvand Fuglestation for facilitating an amazing season for me at obs. And also, a huge thank you to the other volunteers for being phenomenal housemates these last 40 days.

Today's observations

At the station: Anton, Storm, Mathilde, Johan, Helena