Endnu en dag i solens tegn og vind fra øst, der nåede op på en varmeblæserstyrke af 9m/s og 24 graders varme over middag.
Det giver ikke mange fugle herude ved det sydvestligste punkt af Danmark, så vi kan bare gå rundt og svede over alt det, der bliver meldt fra andre steder i landet, mens vi bliver brændt igennem af sol fra skyfri himmel.

Maxim og Michael tog sig af runderne ved nettene i Fyrhaven, mens jeg passede Stationshaven og fik taget West Nile Virus blodprøverne på de få fugle, som vi fik fanget i løbet af de 5 standardtimer.
9 mærket og 6 genfangster blev det til.
Da vinden tog til ved 10-tiden valgte vi at lukke ned for ringmærkningen efter de 5 standardtimer.
Bedste fangst blev årets første Kærsanger herude, så lidt kom der ud af de mange skridt for tjek af ellers tomme net.

Dagens Kærsanger blev også dagens første fugl i hånden, da den fløj i et net i stationshaven kl 5.

Lucas lod ikke til at være mærket af jetlag trods omstilling fra Californisk tid til dansk sommertid, men tog plads i klitten fra solopgang og gennemførte de 3 timers tælling.
Bedste fugle derude ved stranden i dag blev 5 Dværgmåger, 4 Sortterner og blandt vadefuglene bl.a. 40 Islandsk Ryle.
Inde fra baglandet kom en ung Havørn flyvende fra nord og vendte over Hukket og Fuglestationen, men vores håb om spændende rovfuglearter i østenvinden svandt efterhånden noget ind som dagen gik med forgæves spejden.
Det blev kun til de faste Musvåger, Tårnfalke og Rørhøge ud over Havørnen.

Der var ellers lidt Mursejlere i luften mellem alle svalerne og det er gerne et godt tegn på, at flere spændende arter kunne presses helt herud af østenvinden, men vi venter altså stadig her til aften på dagens overraskelse..

Morgendagen skulle vejrmæssigt fortsætte i samme genre, så vi har ikke mange forventninger til større antal, men håber på en enkelt eller to tilføjelser arter på årets lokale fugleliste.

Dagens ringmærkning (mærket/genfanget):

Rødstjert                                       1                          0
Kærsanger                                   1                          0
Havesanger                                 2                          0
Gærdesanger                              0                          2
Løvsanger                                    1                          4
Gransanger                                  2                          0
Bogfinke                                       1                          0

Folk på stationen: Lucas, Maxim, Michael og Morten

Today was a slow day again. Morten was ringing in the garden, Maxim and me in the lighthouse garden. the wind was slightly less than yesterday, and there where more birds than yesterday. in fact, the first bird was already a small suprise, because we caught a 2k male wheatear. the total was crushing yesterdays catch with 13 new birds and 5 controls.

Unfortunately, there where no observations this morning. I went out to check the sea and it didn't seem we missed a lot, the sea was pretty empty, but on one of the sand banks where 3 roosting black terns and some ringed comorants, herring gulls and sandwich terns, unfortunately too far away to read them.

Just before dinner, Lucas arrived. Maxim had just made some delicious food and after eating, I said I would go out for ringing some young plovers, and of course, Lucas and Maxim wanted to join. We caught 3 of them, and we think the fourth one was dead already, or just unfindable. When you say cuteness overload, this is what we mean...

After ringing the chicks, we went to the lake to see if there was anything special to find, and we found a skylark nest. Not bad! After finding the nest Maxim went back to the station and Lucas and I stayed in the area, when we suddenly saw a few yellow wagtails flying around. One of them appeared to be a subspecies M.flava thinbergi and M.flava flavissima. This sequence of events and other nice sightings like red-backed shrike and corn bunting must have been a great arrival for Lucas, he will definetely have a great time here!

There was no change in the weather since yesterday and so no change in bird activity either. Because of the strong winds not al nets were open in the gardens. With Morten helming the station garden, Michael and I walked the rounds in the lighthouse garden. It took more than three hours before the first bird ended up in the nets at the light house. I don’t think I have seen Michael this happy to have a bird in his hands, it were some long and uneventful three hours. The total of today was 6 ringed and 2 controls.

Happy Michael after three hours of empty nets

When Henrik returned from the morning observations, he was a bit more optimistic about the day compared to us ringers. The most notable observations were 6 black terns and a good number of waders. While observing, Henrik heard a Tawny pipet fly over and after studying the audio recording he made he confirmed the assessment.

Later in the morning while enjoying the sun in front of the station some of the common raptors were spotted yet again (Marsh harrier, Kestrel and Buzard). But the biggest surprise was when Michael spotted a Bee-eater flying over the station at high speed. Just when Henrik sat down behind his laptop and Morten went inside to get a cup of coffee. When everyone came running outside the bird was already long gone unfortunately. Last night Michael also spotted a female Nightjar when he was trying to catch Red-backed strikes.

Later in the day Morten received a phone call from Bent saying that he saw a Red-footed Falcon flying over in Skødstrup. Afterwards Morten took some time the sit down in the dunes in the hopes of spotting the bird here in Blåvand. To no avail unfortunately.

The rest of the week the weather does not seem to change much and so there are no expectations of seeing or catching a lot of birds, but there is hope in seeing something special. It appears we are falling back on the phrase we clung to in April: Quality over quantity.

Vinden fra øst var taget til i styrke gennem natten, så enkelte net i begge have kunne ikke åbnes pga blæsten, der allerede fra morgenstunden var omkring 9m/s.
Vi fik som ventet ikke meget ud af netrunderne med blot 13 mærket på 6 timer inden vi gav op.
Rødstjert blev dagens ringmærkningsart med 5 stk ud af de 13 og ellers kan nævnes Ringdue nr 9 i dette forår.

Henrik tog obsen fra klitten på Sydhukket og de 3 timer gav 2 Sortterner og en Dværgfalk som bedste arter, men også nogle sydtrækkende vadefugle.

Mere held var der ved at sidde ved p-pladsen efter morgenobsen, da den Sorte Glente fra i går kom forbi igen til stor glæde for Henrik, der fik den som ny art på hans Blåvandshuk liste.
At en Lærkefalk også drønede forbi gjorde det til en godkendt rovfugledag for Blåvand.
Den blev endda yderligere udbygget på en aftentur til stranden for tjek af terner, da der både kom en Hvepsevåge og 3 indtrækkende Tårnfalke.


Sort Glente over fuglestationen - detaljer i vinge og hale afslørede, at det er samme individ, der rundede Fyret i går.

Som med glenten kom forårets anden obs af Lærkefalk også lige over fuglestationen

Michael tog om eftermiddagen Maxim med til et tjek af en rede af et par Sortstrubet Bynkefugle, men de kom hurtigt tilbage til fuglestationen med en fortælling om, at de havde set en Hugorm kravle op i reden og æde ungerne.

Maxim gik derefter i gang i varmen med at rydde opvækst ved netbanerne i begge haver, så de står flot klar til de kommende ugers ringmærkning.

Med konstant og blæsende østenvind og sol de næste døgn, regner vi dog ikke med større antal småfugle at arbejde med, men må håbe på flere gode arter af rovfugle i luften over Hukket.

Folk på stationen: Henrik, Michael, Maxim og Morten

Jeg nåede lørdag aften tilbage til fuglestationen fra mine kontrolbesøg på Skejby sygehus tidsnok til at deltage i den aftensmad, som Anders og Dorte bød på.
Endda i så rigelige mængder, at Kis Boel Guldmann også fik en portion med, da hun dukkede op fra Kolding til en overnatning herude i håb om fornyet Nordlys aktivitet natten til søndag.

Det blev til en masse hyggelig snak omkring bordet og flere gange ture ud i løbet af natten, men Nordlys blev det ikke til i denne omgang – i hvert fald ikke synligt for øjet og kun ganske svagt skær på fotos.

Vi var lidt trætte da uret kaldte os op lidt over kl 04 for at åbne net, men Maxim og Michael var friske på at passe Fyrhaven, mens jeg tog den lettere omgang i Stationshaven.
Det gav nu ikke det store influks af fugle i haverne, at vinden var svag til jævn fra sydøst og vi endte på den beskedne sum af 18 mærkede og 4 egne genfangster inden alle net var lukket igen kl 15.

Ingen overraskelser blandt dagens fangster, der bød på artslisten Ringdue, Gærdesmutte, Rødstjert, Solsort, Gulbug, Gærdesanger, Munk, Løvsanger, Gransanger og Bogfinke.

Bedre gik det med de større overflyvende fugle, hvor 2 Traner kom flyvende og varslede deres ankomst over p-pladsen med højtlydte trompeteren inden de forsvandt ude over Mosen.
Lidt senere opdagede jeg en Vandrefalk, der kom i modsat retning fra nord og trak ud mod sydsydvest, mens dagens bedste rovfugl blev en Sort Glente, der rundede Fyret og langsomt søgte retur mod nord, hvor den kunne følges langt op nord for Mosen.

Vandrefalk på skyfri blå morgenhimmel




Sort Glente runder Blåvandshuk Fyr

Efter de fine fugle pakkede Andres og Dorte deres cykler, mens Kis hentede frisk morgenbrød i Blåvand og købte lidt ind til vores husholdning.
Vi fik derfor morgenbrød og kaffe ude i solen inden Tour de danske fyr duoen tog afsked med os og kørte mod Kammerslusen som deres næste overnatningssted.
Kis tog også hjemad da der ikke ser ud til at blive større nordlys aktivitet i nat, men hun nåede en tur på stranden og kunne nyde Dværgternerne og unger af Stor Præstekrave.

Michael brugte eftermiddagen i klitten og fandt hans tredje par Rødrygget Tornskade, så der er noget at arbejde med i hans projekt med den art.
Undervejs trådte han et par Agerhøns op, mens jeg på en tur op nord for Mosen ikke havde held med de store obs.
Jeg havde håbet på flere rovfugle i luften, men så kun 2 Musvåger og det bedste jeg fik i notesbogen var rastende Rødben og Mudderklire ved bredden af Mosen, der stadig er en sø.
Ud over fuglene fik jeg også set min første Firplettet Libel i år og der kommer garanteret flere guldsmede og vandnymfer på vingerne i løbet af ugen med en solrig og varm vejrudsigt.

Maxim stod for køkkentjansen og serverede en dejlig ret med bulgur og ostegratinerede auberginer, så vi er klar til at prøve lykken ved nettene igen i morgen tidlig.

Folk på stationen: Kis, Dorte, Anders, Maxim, Michael og Morten.

With a Northerly wind and sunshine in the morning, the expectations for many birds in the nets were low. With a total of 12 new birds ringed and 9 recaptures the total amount of today did not exceed our expectation, but the number of 15 different species definitely did! Among the group a Gold Finch and Tree Pippit were the most notable ones, with the Pippit being the first of the season. A beautiful male Linnet also made quite the impression on us. Usually with only a few birds each round Michael and I don't get too excited about the day, but today was different. If nothing else, today showed us that variety is the spice of life. What made the day even better was that we were able to share our joy of all these different birds with our guests Dorte and Anders who stayed overnight.

Gold Finch

Tree Pippet

Inspired by today's ringing I decided not to sit behind the desk agian (like I have been doing all week) and add some more variety to my day. So, I joined Michael on his daily escapades in the dunes, trying to find and catch Stonechats, and Shrikes and the like. It was already great fun for me to get off the beaten path and look in all types of nooks and crannies for anything interesting that moves. It reminded me of my childhood where I would aimlessly wander local parks looking for anything I found interesting. There is something satisfying about aimlessly wandering and carefully looking at your surroundings. It is definitely something I plan on doing more frequently while I'm here (and back home). Michael showed me some of the Stonechat nests he had found over the past days and a breeding pair of Red-backed shrikes. While walking around the dunes we spotted a Crane flying in the direction of the sea changing its mind and heading back north along the coastline. We also spotted a Sedge warbler!

Dune escapades

After finding a breeding pair of Stonechats Michael and I spend quite some time observing them, trying to figure out where their nest was located and setting out a clap trap in the hope of catching one of them. In the end we had no luck and after a short nap in the sun I went back to the station while Michael ventured further into the dunes in hope of finding another target (without success I learned later in the day).

In the evening Morten returned to the station right before dinner. We enjoyed some drinks and shared stories about our travels and discussed the effects of the current political climate on nature conservation in Europe. Not before some extensive bird talk, of course. This is a bird observatory first and foremost!

Tonight, Morten, Michael and I plan to go out and hopefully watch the northern lights that have already been clearly visible in other parts of Europe in the past night.

It wasn't the good day we've been hoping for, that will probably be tomorrow. nevertheless, the ringing was better than yesterday. 18 new birds and 7 controls. With no special species today, we closed the nets on the standerd time after 5 hours of ringing. The morning observations where also pretty slow unfortunately.

I went out for catching the red-backed shrikes with spring traps, I was there for a few hours but they didn't show any interest in the bait of the trap. While I was waiting for the birds, I suddenly saw 2 slow flapping terns flying by. I looked at the birds, and they had a thick, black bill. Gull billed tern! Unfortunately, I had no camera with me, but still a geat sighting, as the last for Blåvand was July 2016, this was the 4th record! 

The red-backed shrike (upper left) was very close to the trap (middle right), but didn't show any interest after just taking a look from a safe distance.

After trying to catch the red-backed shrike me and Ulf Berthelsen went to take a look at the enclosure for the breeding birds on the beach for "his" little terns. We read a few rings and saw they where breeding already, which is really early. One of them has a yellow ring, a tern that was ringed in Great Britain. We also saw an osprey in the distance.

Today was not a bad day, but also not the good day we've been hoping for. Tomorrow will be that day... Or else the day after tomorrow?..

Så drejede vinden i SV og det plejer jo at være godt. I hvert fald for trækket. Det kunne bare ikke helt mærkes i dag. Selv om det var underholdende med over 1000 h/f-terner, sortstrubet lom og 4 sortterner, kan det ikke helt mærkes at fuglene bør strømme igennem. Der var lidt flere lommer i dag (over 200) og det kan være at det bygger op til i morgen, hvor vinden går i NV. Det er ikke en helt skidt vindretning til store lom-dage. Det leder frem til bloggens titel "i morgen bliver det godt", som er noget vi siger en del for tiden, hvor vi ser frem til at der også falder lidt rariteter eller gode tal af til Blåvand. 

Det blev ikke til meget lusk i området, da jeg også tæller ynglefugle for tiden, primært på Skallingen. Det gjorde at jeg ud på eftermiddagen missede en hærfugl, som Michael fandt nede i mosen. Dem er der ikke mange af på disse kanter. 

Ringmærkningen gik også sløvt og det sidste jeg hørte, var at Michael og Maxim havde fanget 13 fugle, og kun 5 af dem var nye fugle. Ikke helt den store drøm for en ringmærker. Michael har dog modtaget farveringende til de rødryggede tornskader, så vi sætter nok snart gang i at få dem indfanget og mærket. Vi har fået specialtilladelse til at indfange alle tornskader i det militære område, syd for no-go-zonen, hvor der sidste år befandt sig 6 ynglepar. 

Folk på stationen: Maxim, Michael, Henrik. 

Ringing together with Michael has been a nice change of pace after two months of ringing. And I don’t mean that just figuratively. The young man has a fast pace walking the rounds and every time a bird the size of a Starling or bigger ends up in the nets he runs straight for the bird, not giving them a chance to escape! It is quite a different energy compared to the calm way the days go ringing with Morten.

More Chiffchaffs ended up in the nets compared to the Willow Warblers today, which hasn’t happened in a while. Asking Henrik about it, he mentioned that Chiffchaffs might like the colder weather better (it’s a bit colder today) or more likely they have had some pretty bad days lately and have just given up on breeding this year and are already going back south. But don’t worry Chiffchaffs, as they say, tomorrow will be a better day and if not just wait until the day after tomorrow, that will truly be a good day!

Henrik did the morning observations today and as usual the numbers were not big, but Henrik did spot six Caspian Gulls and a Caspian Tern on the beach!

Caspian Tern

After standard time I went back to work behind the desk while Michael walked the rounds by himself until 1 O’clock catching a view more birds. After closing the nets Micheal went to the dunes to see if he could lure birds with some big fat mealworms into a clap trap. He ended up catching a Stonechat!

Stonechat

Today 23 birds were ringed and 8 recaptured. The day consisted mostly of the more frequent birds of late such as Chiffchaffs, Lesser Whitethroats, Redstarts and Willow Warblers (the Blackcaps were notably absent today). A Garden - and Icterine Warbler were ringed and to top it off my favourites: two Blue Tits and two Wrynecks were ringed as well.

Blue Tit

Wryneck

Today was the first day that Maxim and I could ring together without anyone else present, because yesterday I upgraded to a C-license, wich means I can ring without supervision, only with an experienced ringer in a range of 20 minutes. That person was Henrik, who did the morning observations. First he was looking at the migration, after that he searched the whole southern coast for birds. He saw among others a black tern, more than 1000 common or artic terns and a grey wagtail.

The ringing was slow. There weren't a lot of birds, but it wasn't to bad either. On one point, I said to Maxim after doing a short round through the lighthouse garden, let's grab something to eat, I am hungry! But when I arrived, I suddenly saw in one of the back net a big, grey bird. Wood pigeon! I sprinted towards it and was able to catch and ring it. Wile ringing the pigeon, Maxim was able to catch a starling and one of the wrynecks hanging around, great, but I was still hungry.

It slowed down fast and while Maxim worked on the computer, I continued the ringing. Just after Maxim left to do his work, I caugth my first crested tit, wich I was hoping for for the past week. On one point, I wanted to take out a willow warbler, when I suddenly heard something bigger was flapping its wings, I immediatly turned around and sprinted to the net, sparrowhawk! But before I was able to grab it, it was gone...

In between the rounds I walked around hoping to find something exciting. In the dunes I saw a sand lizard in front of me, but it wasn't the normal colour. I picked it up to check if it was really an alive sand lizard, and it was. This colour deviation is called amelanism, very cool to see!

At the end we caught 43 birds, 31 new and 12 controls.