Ringing:

Let’s get back to another slow day at ringing in Blåvand! Myself, Strummer and Storm manned the ringing team and apparently that was more than enough. We kept spirits high but only got visited by 19 newly ringed birds and 3 recaptures. In this stack we had some cool specimens that included a Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula), that seemed to have skipped a greater covert in its moult. A very easy limit to see. Other than that we had a decent amount of thrushes in the opening rounds today, and to top it off a male Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) that gave some great runway looks. Always a great bird.

The moult limit can be seen even by the most untrained eye. Weird bird. Photo: Johan Them Steffensen.

Beautiful Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) that needs no introduction. Photo: Johan Them Steffensen.

Observation: 

Yesterday was a bit slow, especially after the doozy of an obs we had the day before yesterday (01-10/2026). Today we were lucky enough to be blessed with better winds from the south (i.e. no more of the dreadful wind from the northwest), and it rewarded us with a pretty fruitful day at obs.

Firstly, the numbers were pretty decent. With over 4500 Chaffinches/Brambling (Fringilla coelebs/F. montifringilla) moving through, and other highlights like over 50 Songthrushes (Turdus philomelos) and over 320 Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) flying past, it was a more than satisfactory day. 

Secondly, the rarities were also present. Notably, the Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) from yesterday and the day before was still in the area, and it gave yet another great showing. An Olive-Backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni) also flew by early into the obs, but unfortunately, no one from the station heard it. A Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla) passed close by obs around 08.40, which I (Anton Ræbild Jensen) luckily heard, as I have never seen the species before (shoutout to Mikkel Bello for getting it on tape).

Today's observations 

Extracurricular activities:

In the comings and goings of the station in news we have had the pleasure of being visited by Kulten from Aarhus University which is student society focusing on field biology. They found some rare birds for us today and we are hoping they’ll do the same tomorrow.

We also utilized the bad ringing winds to gather energy for some garden work. The station bois got to wield some blades and cut stuff. Nice. Who says men can’t prune.

Todays ringing numbers:

At the station: Strummer, Storm, Anton, Mathilde, Johan, Peter, Jonathan, Lærke, Jonas, Anton, Felix, Tue

Ringing: Today we reached 30 birds of 11 species. Most notably was this beautiful female Bullfinch (Dompap), that looked adult in the net, but on closer inspection had a clear moult limit in the wings, which means it must have been born this year.

Young female Bullfinch from today, sexed by the grey overall look (the sun distorts the colour here), and aged by the browner feathers in the feather group on the wing called greater coverts. Picture by Mathilde Sif Eiby.

With these slower ringing days, tomorrow I'll join Anton for the observation instead, so I can become better at distinguishing sea birds and bird calls as well. 

Today's numbers:

Observation: Although the weather today seemed promising, it was another relatively quiet day on the dunes. Nice numbers of gannets (Morus bassanus) and red-throated divers (Gavia stellata) today, but nothing extraordinary. Common scoter (Melanitta nigra) numbers also quite low, only just making it to 600 individuals. The North-Eastern winds seem to have pushed many migrants inland, including the few flocks of geese we saw, which took the route over the heath behind us rather than over the sea. Today's highlight was a pallid harrier (Circus macrourus), potentially the same individual as spotted yesterday. 

This evening, we were joined at the station by a group of young birders from Århus university, who are staying for the weekend and will join us for observation tomorrow, as well as partake in some "kratluskeri" a.k.a. bush creeping for cool birds in the Blåvand area. 

Today's observations

At the station: Strummer Edwards, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Anton Ræbild Jensen, Storm Hauris Borum and Johan Them Steffensen

Ringing: Today I was joined by Storm in the lab, since Johan was sick. We had an okay varition of birds, including some new ringing species for Storm, and a new species in the net for the season - the Black Redstart (Husrødstjert).

Coal Tit (Sortmejse) from today. Picture by Storm Hauris Borum.

Goldfinch (Stilits) from today. Picture by Storm Hauris Borum.

First Black Redstart of the season! Picture by Storm Hauris Borum

Today's numbers:

Observation: Holy s**t, today was (unexpectedly) amazing!

The wind has been pretty much the same the last couple of days, that being eastern and south-eastern winds. Now, eastern winds are, of course, nothing to complain about at Blåvand, as already clearly demonstrated by the huge number of passerines moving through lately. The thing is that changes in wind direction are just more exciting than constant wind from one direction, and I honestly expected that today would be decent, if slightly worse than yesterday… man, was I wrong!

The sunrise that met me at obs today. Credit Anton Ræbild Jensen.

Today at obs, it was just Henrik and I from the station, but I wasn’t worried, as whenever Henrik is at obs, we always document way more species. The day started at 7.15 with a beautiful sunrise and a couple of Common Scoters (Melanitta nigra) and Meadow Pipits (Anthus pratensis) moving as usual. However, at 07.32, a weird Tree Pipit-like (Anthus trivialis) bird flew past me, and Henrik asked me if I heard it. Apparently, it was an Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni), one of my bucket-list species for Blåvand, and I was already ecstatic about today's obs! What I didn’t know at that point was that we were just getting started, as just 40 minutes later another Olive-backed Pipit went right by, this time letting me hear it very clearly before disappearing south. 

And as if those two rarities weren’t enough, we also managed a Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus), two Pallid Harriers (Circus macrourus), and a Red-throated Pipit (Anthus cervinus). The Harriers gave us amazing views, and the Red-throated Pipit was especially amazing. It appeared right at eye level with a couple of Meadow Pipits and gave off two extremely clear and characteristic “PSEUI” calls so loud and sharp that they almost hurt our ears. The Red-throated Pipit is generally a difficult species to find, and this is the first in almost two years to be seen at the Huk.

One of the Pallid Harriers giving us excellent views on fly-by. Credit Anton Ræbild Jensen.

By this point, you, the reader, might be convinced that today was all about rarities. Usually, obs is either a game of quality or quantity (sometimes neither), but today has proved that you can, apparently, have your cake and also eat it. What I mean, in short, is that while we had a sizeable amount of really good rarities today, we somehow also managed to get amazing numbers of migrating birds. The highlights include: 2380 Common Scoters, almost 7000 Chaffinces/Bramblings (Fringilla coelebs/F. montifringilla), 104 Common Snipes (Gallinago gallinago), 184 Red-throated Loons (Gavia stellata), close to 500 Greylag Geese (Anser anser), 450 Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), and so much more!

Possibly a docu-shot of one of the Olive-backed Pipits today. Credit Anton Ræbild Jensen.

This might genuinely be one of, if not the best, days of the fall season. I will, however, keep doing my best to top today. Maybe tomorrow might have the same potential as today - we will see…

Today's observations

At the station: Strummer Edwards, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Anton Ræbild Jensen, Storm Hauris Borum and Johan Them Steffensen