Observations:

Ringing:

Oof. Yesterday we looked at todays weather in the evening and concluded that the morning rain wouldn't make it possible to complete standardised ringing. We set the alarms to 8am and hoped that we could sleep until then. Waking up we promptly opened the nets hoping to catch the birds gettin' movin' after the rain, but numbers didn't exactly impress so we closed all nets at 1pm. The conclusion is that we'll need a prince charming (a rare vagrant maybe?) soon to awake us from our slumber.

We did get a Dutch family who came to visit for a ringing tour after getting their blood flowing by being present for the barred warbler (Curruca nisoria) yesterday. Luckily we were able to show off a captured Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscupus collybita) and a Lesser Whitethroat (Curruca curruca). Ida got to unfold some of her dutch and educational capabilities, and I like to think that even though we didn't gather that much data today, we still furthered the birds' cause by spurring the interest of possible future birders :).

Todays ringing numbers:

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

Observations:

Weak southeast wind in the morning were quite promising for 9th of August. These kind of days usually perform well in diversity, increasing the number of wader species migrating near the coast, mantaining or even increasing wildfowl, and allowing migrant passerines to be detected in the Blåvandshuk area (both in active migration or resting and feeding in the bushes).

A short passerine dedicated walk in mid-morning break produced some migrants, such as Icterine Warbler, Common Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, Willow Warblers, etc! 

The Spanish observation team decided to spend the morning mainly in counting active migration. Species composition during the seawatch was quite nice. The best numbers of the season of Common Shellducks and Eiders were achieved (24 and 17 respectively).

Over 1700 waders were counted, with Oystercatchers being again the dominant species (~600), but plovers being the highlight with over 190 Grey Plovers migrating south, as well as 80 Golden and 220 Ringed. Bar-tailed Godwits, Red Knots were also present, but with lower totals than the previous week.

Little Gull, four Black Terns and a Black-throated Diver were other really nice birds to see during the morning. The count was interrupted by an alert in the Station chat: Barred Warbler close to the Lighthouse!

Barred Warbler (Curruca nisoria) found by Henrik in the area. Picture taken minutes after by Nico Magdalena. First of the season for this species with few records in Blaavand!

Ringing:

Today was a diverse day for the bird ringers, with two new species for the season (European Pied Flycatcher and Common Reed Warbler), and nine different species in total. We also hoped and prayed that the Barred Warbler that was in the area would fly into a net, but unfortunately we weren't so lucky. 

The Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca).

The Common Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus).

A Common Linnet (Linaria cannabina), the second one for the season.

The day's captures:

At the station: David, Miguel, Nico, Lois, Thiemo, Jule, Leima, Henrik, Alba, Johan, Ida

Observations:

The 8th of August started with weak westerlies blowing at around 6 m/s, progressively turning into southwest and decreasing in intensity.  These conditions are not ideal for detecting the migration of either seabirds or shorebirds from Blåvandshuk, being too weak winds to force pelagic species to pass close to land and too western for favouring inland waders to pass over the shore.

Even with low numbers, the count was fine with a nice diversity. Some highlights were a 1K Mediterranean Gull, a couple of immature Arctic Skuas, a Red-throated Diver and some Caspian Gulls of different ages, despite lower numbers than the previous days. 

Wader diversity was well represented, but the total number for 3h counting was around 150 individuals, so not an impressive number.  

View from the Sabine's Bunker in the evening.

The evening count was somewhat better, with 1,5h count producing over 250 waders, mainly oystercatchers carrying some other species in their mixed groups. Also the first documented juvenile Bar-tailed Godwits of the season were seen, first flying south over the Sabine's Bunker and then resting on the beach a hundred meters south.

Two juvenile Bar-tailed Godwits resting close to the shore. 

Ringing:

After a day of only one bird in the nets, the outlook could only really be positive (relatively). There was a big(ish) payoff with a whole 17 birds caught over 10 different species. The birds looked a lot like the birds we have been seeing all season, but with a few boring days, it was almost like seeing old friends :´) . We had time to inspect the funny specimens which included a yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) with a lot of its plumage still growing, and a willow warbler (Phylloscupos trochilus) with juuuuuust enough white to make you say "hmm" in the aging.

1K Willow warbler (Phylloscupos trochilus) with a lot of white on the belly.

Moulting Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)

Todays ringing numbers:

At the station: Miguel, Lois, Nicolas, David, Laima, Jule, Thiemo, Alba, Ida and Johan

Observations:

Ringing:

The ringing today started just after the middle of the night, when Ida and I went out to try nightcatching again. After a bit of practice with the spotter, flashlight and ketcher-net, our efforts finally gave a return in the form of a beautiful little Dunlin (Calidris alpina)! We took it back to the lab to get a look at it in a better light, and after I helped Ida get a ring on it (this being her first time putting on a steel ring), we began to study its plumage in order to age it. This was the first time I had ever handled, much less had to age, a shorebird, so it was a bit challenging, but in the end we managed to figure out it was a 1k bird (that is, hatched previously in this year)! 

Dunlin being held in the lab. Foto: Ida Bek

After the rest of the measurements were done, we took it back to the beach and let it sit in the dark for some minutes, until its eyes could recallibrate to the darkness, before we released it. Still having a couple hours before dawn, we set out to try to catch more, and after barely half an hour, we again had a bird in the net: A cute juvenile Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)! Again, we waded over the dunes at the lighthouse to get back to the lab, and while handling the bird, we noticed that each foot was a toe short of what most birds have; turns out Common Ringed Plovers have lost their first toe, the so-called hallux, which is the toe that points backward in most (anisodactyl) birds!

Common Ringed Plover in the lab, showing off its ring. Note that each foot only has 3 toes. Foto: Ida Bek

Close-up ventral view of the foot of the Common Ringed Plover. Foto: Ida Bek

After releasing the plover, we did not have enough time to catch anything more before the sky started to turn light again, removing the element of surprise from any approach toward the birds. The approaching dawn also brought with it the start of standard ringing which, because of strong north-western winds, had to be conducted with only the most sheltered of nets. The combination of bad conditions and little nets unsurprisingly made for a horrible day of standard-time: Johan and I ended up wandering up to and down from the lighthouse 10 times just to catch only one (1) bird. That one bird was a very cute juvenile female European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) though, so at least we got to ring a bird we haven't caught for a few days.

After standard was over, we all drove down to Ho klitplantage to first look at some waders, and afterwards go into the forest-area to look (and listen) for Willow Tit (Poecile montanus) and Wood Warbler (Phylloscopus scibilatrix). We succeeded at finding both species (with Willow Tit being a new lifer for me), and on the way back, we also managed to find some pretty cool invertebrates, such as a Wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi) and a great green bush-cricket (Tettigonia viridissima).

Later in the day, we got three new arrivals: Laima from Lithuania, and Jule and Thiemo from Germany, who will stay the weekend in order to scout Blåvands Huk for places to put an antenna, which they will use to help track birds with radio-transmitters for a project that seeks to study the effects of off-shore wind farms on the migration-behaviour of passerine birds. Hopefully they will be able to build this antenna and start to put the small, non-invasive transmitters on birds by next autumn. We're all very excited to see what they learn from this project! 

At the station: Alba, Johan, Ida, David, Lois, Nico, Miguel, Henrik, Laima, Jule, Thiemo

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

Observations:

Westerlies are still the prevailing wind, with a moderate southwest blowing today. Good visibility conditions and absence of heavy rain allowed the counts de be continued normally.

Despite not being a crazy migration day, numbers and diversity were still good. A Temminck's Sandpiper was the main highlight, but other species flew by the shore in good numbers: almost 1400 Oystercatchers, 143 Red Knots, 156 Dunlins, Ruffs, Curlew Sandpiper... Also some duck movement, with 6 Shelducks and Teals, Eiders or some Velvet Scoters.

Adult Dunlin (Calidris alpina) migrating southwards past Blaavandshuk.

This proves that the coming days could be worth it to continue!

Ringing:

Ringing was, again despite the weather theoretically being close to ideal for catching lots of birds (rain in the late night followed by a shift in the winds), very slow and boring. The only consolation was another beautiful female Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), but otherwise, we were all pretty bored and demoralized. It ended up only becoming 9 caught birds in total, with 7 of them being new birds and 2 being recaptures. With winds picking up during the morning and no prospects of catching even half-decent numbers of birds, we closed everything after standard was done.

List of birds caught today:

About an hour after standard was done, Johan was so kind as to drive Strummer to the airport, as they're migrating to London for about a week before returning here to Blåvand. In the meantime, we hope to catch some sick ass birds doing nightcatching to supplement the practically no birds we get during the day :)

Later in the day, Leon also left the station, as danish school starts up again soon. With Anton having left yesterday, that means we're down to only 7 volunteers at the station (for about 1 whole day before 4 new people bump the number up to 11 again).

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

Observation

Moderate southeast winds during the night and the morning in the 4th of August, along with very soft rain during the night and good cloud cover were quite promising for wader migration at Blaavandshuk.

The day started with a notable variety and good numbers of waders, particularly interesting when it comes to "continental" species, such as Shanks, Sandpipers or Plovers. Passage continued during the whole day, slowing down progressively in the evening.

Many birders at the Wader Spot and a 16.5 h count provided over 5,000 waders southwards! Oystercatcher was the dominant species with over 1,700 individuals, but Dunlin, Red Knot and Bar-tailed Godwit made a good contribution with 868, 586 and 350 birds respectively. Tringa species were abundant in the early morning with 50 Greenshanks, 7 Spotted and 282 common Redshanks, and 3 Wood Sandpipers plus 10 Green Sandpiper. Some other interesting records were a Temminck's Stint, 7 Spotted Redshanks and Little Ringed Plover. Other species detected included Whimbrels, Curlews, Curlew Sandpiper, Turnstones, Ruff, etc.

Some ducks brough some variety appart from waders, with 3 Goldeneyes, 5 Eiders, Velvet Scoter and some Graylags, Gadwalls, Eurasian Teals, Red-breasted Merganser...

All these birds contributed to a very funny day for the observer team from Spain and all the birders who joined the counts!

Ringing

While today was another overall slow day of migration ringing, we were rewarded with a long awaited first of season! We caught two female Redstarts (Rødstjert) which were absolutely stunning in the hand. 

Besides that, other highlights included a 2k+ Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) and another Treecreeper (Trælober), bringing our total for the season up to five!

We kept nets open until 7, catching around one bird an hour (still doing net runs throughout dinner and the ringing team watchparty of Project Hail Mary). Afterwards, I completed my nightly humiliation ritual of catching 0 birds night catching.

The Strummer Edwards nightcatching experience at this point in the season

Observations:

Ringing:
We awoke today with hearts filled with hope and supplemented with coffee. The wind was direct eastern and with only 3m/s we rushed out to open every single net for maybe the first time since I've joined the station. Sadly the birds didn't join in the hype and mostly stayed away. We ringed/read a total of 17 birds across 11 species from 4:57 - 16:49. Highlights included a very photogenic Lesser Whitethroat (Curruca curruca), a juvenile Eurasian Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) with the same affinity for the lense, and a Common Whitethroat (Curruca communis) that was first ringed in 2022.

Juvenile Eurasian Blackcap (Sylvia atricacilla)

A very beautiful Lesser whitethroat (Curruca curruca)

In the "extracurricular activities" coloumn we attempted a twitch of the Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) which was spotted in Esbjerg. After dipping the yankee, we returned and and got a visit from Tv2Syd. If you want to see the volunteers on the screen you can tune in tonight at 19:30 :)

Todays ringing numbers:

 At the station: Alba, Johan, Strummer, Ida, Henrik, David, Lois, Nico, Miguel, Leon, Anton

Observations

Early morning count started with west-southwest moderate winds and a rain front getting close to land. These conditions were apparently very promising for seabirds!

The expectations were well achieved with a very nice and close Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) flying southwards, very close to land. Good views for all the six observers at the moment of this scarce, but regular species in Blavandshuk.

Views from the shore south of Blaavand.

Tern numbers were again quite high, and some wader movement included a few small groups of Grey Plover and juvenile Dunlins.

A late evening walk along the beach south of the station allowed us to see most of the common seaducks and diving species in the area, with nice calm, sunny and clear conditions.

Ringing

The ringing was very slow today, with a total of only 2 newly ringed individuals (one during standard time, one after) and 4 recaptures. This was partly owed to (the risk of) heavy showers during the morning, which had us opening and closing some net sections to be safe. 

Species ringed today:

People at the station: David, Nico, Lois, Miguel, Alba, Ida, Strummer, Leon, Anton, Henrik

The weather today was similar to yesterday weak westerlies (shifting to WSW in the evening) with disperse showers alternating with sun and good lighting conditions for counting.

Many Terns are already using the Blåvand area while foraging and resting during the day, so the first hours after sunrise and the last before sunset are good opportunities for counting them while they come from the south and return, respectively. Over 4000 Common, 45 Arctic and 600 Sandwich Terns were counted during the 3h census in the morning, and over 6400 Terns in total were estimated to be present along the day (but could be even more!). More Arctic Skuas were also seen these last days.

Three Greater Scaups southwards in the late evening count were a good sighting, during an otherwise quiet observation period, at least for two migrants.

Ringing

Unfortunately it continues to be a very slow time ringing here at Blaavand, with fewer than ten birds caught for the day.  The highlight of the day  was another Treecreeper (Trælober), a sepcies which has been a frequent capture this season.