Ringing:

Igen i dag var kragegrackelen på plads på hukket. Thomas og jeg (HBØ) valgte at luske fra morgenstunden og da vi kom ud til området omkring skuret, kom grackelen flyvende fra nord og satte sig i toppen af den høje mast bed skuret. Her sad den og kaldte og tog ind imellem et par ture ud over havet. Efter en solid fotosession, gik vi videre ned i mosen, hvor der bl.a. var 3 sivsangere og 2 blåhalse (han og hun). Da vi kom ned på stranden stod der en 3k kaspisk måge, men lidt længere nede ad stranden, lidt nord for skuret, fandt vi igen kragegrackelen. Nu gik den rundt i klitterne hvor den fangede sommerfugle og andre insekter. 

 People at the station: Alix Bortolussi, Jorn de Jong, Alvin Johansson, Henrik Böhmer

Denne dag blev måske en af de mest skøre dage på hukket jeg (HBØ) længe har oplevet. Thomas og jeg er i gang med morgenobsen, hvor vi sidder og snakker stære efter der lige har passeret 4 stære og jeg når lige at nævne at Holland har godkendt to arter af Grackle (det er så godt nok kun én) og så bliver jeg opmærksom på et kald fra en fugl der kommer flyvende nord lige efter stærene i yderste klitter. Jeg ser omgående at det er en Grackle og flipper lidt ud over det. Jeg får hurtigt skudt en række billeder af den flyvende fugl, men til vores overraskelse sætter den sig på en af masterne ved skuret. Jeg løber hurtigt ned og får skudt endnu flere billeder af den siddende fugl. Efter lidt mere end 5 minutter letter den of flyver nord om fyret ind mod byen. Kl. 7.05 hører jeg fuglen igen og finder den i toppen af vejrmasten i fyrhaven. Den gør et kort forsøg over stranden og ender med at sætte sig på bunkeren i fyrhaven og flyver kort efter ind mod byen igen, så langt jeg kunne se. 

På dette tidspunk gik der en større operation i gang ift. bestemmelse. De første meldinger lød på Common Grackle, men som dagen gik kom der flere og flere meldinger på Great-tailed eller Boat-tailed Grackle. Hvad vi ikke vidste var, at vi skulle helt hen til fuglens tredje dag i området for at få den sikkert bestemt. 

Great-tailed Grackle, eller kragegrackel på dansk, er en amerikansk art der primært er udbredt i det sydvestlige USA og Mellemamerika. Der har været flere fund af arten i Europa de senere år, hvilket måske hænger sammen med artens fremgang i Amerika. Der er dog bred konsensus om at fundene er ship-assisted og at de formentlig ikke kan komme til Europa ad naturlige veje. Stort set alle fund har været i nærheden af store havne. 

Ringing: 

The ringing today was very slow, we could only open half of the nets because of strong winds, and the birds were not moving too much around. 

The highlight for this ringing session was a pair of Siskins (Grønsisken), very beautiful birds! The female had a brood patch, so probably these two are a breeding pair in the area.

Male Siskin

People at the station: Alix Bortolussi, Alvin Johansson, Jorn de Jong, Henrik Böhmer, Thomas Kristensen

Ringing:

There was no ringing today due to strong winds.

Other:

In the afternoon Alvin and I went on a walk around the Blåvand area to look for some nesting birds and resident birds, and we were so lucky to spot a Woodchat Shrike (Rødhovedet Tornskade)! 

Pretty rare species, we unfortunately didn't have a good camera with us at the time but some other birders have gotten good views and pictures of the individual. Tomorrow we will try to go back with a camera this time and get good picture of it! 

Pictures of the Woodchat shrike taken the next day!

People at the station: Alix Bortolussi, Alvin Johansson, Jorn de Jong

This morning Alvin and I started the day quite tired and slow while opening the nets. Luckily the morning had a lot of gorgeous surprises for us to give us energy!

In the early hours we started with a very well behaved Starling (Stær) male, who was kind enough to not scream and be agitated in the hand as this species usually is.

Beautiful male starling, very calm and well behaved!

The day progressed and in between rounds we had a little bit of time to look for moths that we might have caught during the night with our moth trap, and we kept on discovering more and more beautiful moths! This was one of the most exciting moth traps sessions we both have had so far!

Some highlights are the Small Elephant Hawk-Moth (Deilephila porcellus), Light Emerald (Campaea margaritaria), Fox Moth (Macrothylacia rubi), Angle Shade (Phlogophora meticulosa), White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda).

Small Elephant Hawk-Moth (Deilephila porcellus)

Small Elephant Hawk-Moth (Deilephila porcellus) on the left and Light Emerald (Campaea margaritaria) on the right

Fox Moth (Macrothylacia rubi) on the left, Small Elephant Hawk-Moth (Deilephila porcellus) in the middle, Angle Shade (Phlogophora meticulosa) on the right

White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda)

The very next round we were even more spoiled and captured a very cute Redpoll pair, caught together and who were calling to each other the whole time. They were a breeding pair as the female showed an extensive brood patch and the male a cloacal protrusion. We released them together and they flew off back to their duties together.

Pair of Lesser Redpolls, male on the left and female on the right.

In the next nets, while I was busy extracting the redpolls, I heard Alvin shout of excitement so I was so curious to see what he had found in the nets! It was a beautiful Crested Tit (Topmejse), a recapture ringed last summer as a juvenile bird. This is a new species for the year 2026 here! And it was also a new species for both Alvin and I.

Recapture Crested Tit

And it’s not over! In the next net we found the first Reed Warbler (Rørsanger) of the season as well!

Reed Warbler

Overall a very nice morning which brought us excellent birds and moths, we had such a lovely time!

Ringing

Today our wish came true! A beautiful (and big) Wood Pigeon (Ringdue) was found in the nets, and Alvin could have the full pigeon experience as we both had hoped.

Alvin and his first Wood Pigeon (Ringdue)!

A very nice exercise on steel ring closing, handling and measuring of a strong and bigger bird, and discovering a new species up close. Alvin is an experienced ringer, but Wood Pigeons are a rarity in the nets in most places, except here! Blåvand has a sort of magic and is known to be the Wood Pigeon catching place, and it did not disappoint.

I myself have had the chance of catching and ringing 4 Wood Pigeons since my arrival in early May! They were also a new species for me and it was a very exciting experience.

Close up of the Wood Pigeon

Other than this nice catch, the rest of the morning was rather slow with the usual visitors, some breeding and resident birds.

Observations

Ringing:

This morning we had really nice weather, but unfortunately a sunny and calm day is not ideal for ringing in bigger numbers.

The total for today was only 10 birds, which gave us the opportunity to study each bird caught for a while. It was nice to refresh each other’s memories and discuss some trickier to age birds.

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken)

We also heard and saw in the early morning a Corn Bunting (Bomlærke) singing around the station. That would be fantastic to catch!

Ringing:

Xenia and I started the day together and were hopeful for some birds, as yesterday turned out to be a pretty decent ringing session, but unfortunately this turned out to be my slowest ringing morning since I arrived here in Blåvand. We only caught 5 birds in total during the 5 hours of the standard ringing period, but the first one was particularly special! 

A first for the season and a first for me to ring, a gorgeous male Barn Swallow (Landsvale) was found in the nets on the first round! 

Male Barn Swallow 

These birds have very short and small legs, with grippy feet and claws as their main lifestyle is being in the air, only coming down to nest and care for their young. They are not very agile on land, due to their proportionally very small legs and long wings and tail. That made the handling interesting and very different from other passerine birds, as we use the legs to secure birds in safe positions while handling a lot.

Their tail with the streamer outer feathers are particularly beautiful, and the body plumage is a fantastic metallic blue color. What a treat!!

Barn Swallow tail

Barn Swallow wing

The rest of the morning was super slow but we still had a couple of Icterine Warblers (Gulbug), which as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs are always a delight to have around.

Another cute visitor around the nets was this Slow Worm (Anguis fragilis) (Stålorm), very beautiful up close.

Slow Worm 

This evening my dear boyfriend Alvin is coming to the station from Skagen Fuglestation for around a week’s time and will be ringing with me for the duration of his stay. I am looking forward to it! One of his wishes is to catch a Wood Pigeon (Ringdue), which I really hope will happen! We are at the best location for it to happen after all :)

Ringing:

Today Xenia was with me for the ringing session, and the weather looked promising with some cloud coverage and a little bit of a breeze.

Our rounds were never very full, but with some longer ringing time than the standard time we managed to reach 32 birds in total, recaptures included.

The highlight of today was the relatively high number ( for the season and location ) of Icterine Warblers (Guldbug).

They are delightful birds to handle, they have a real little feisty personality and a very loud and funny voice! Moreover, they are beautiful birds with some yellow / green colors, and a nice medium size which feels really cozy in the hand compared to some of the smaller species such as Chiffchaffs (gransanger) for example.

Icterine Warbler (Gulbug)

Icterine Warbler up close, showcasing their little whiskers.

Tomorrow Xenia comes back to ring with me again, and I hope we’ll have other nice surprises!

 Little tern project:

Today marked the final observation for the Little Tern project. Once again, three little terns were flying around , but they didn’t land in the fence. It’s a shame that this year, despite a promising start, few little terns attempted to breed here. Apparently, this spot wasn’t good enough for the Little Terns this year. Fortunately, the fences on Rømø and Fanø have been more successful. Hopefully next year will be better!

People at the station: Alix Bortolussi, Jorn de Jong, Xenia 

Ringing:

The weather let me open the nets this morning and I was expecting quite a few birds after the rainy days, but the ringing session turned out quite slow. A few nice species still, and luckily some birds to show our guests who were here from 09:00!

Female Yellowhammer (Gulspurv)

The majority of the birds were Chiffchaffs (Gransanger) with a total of 7 caught, 4 new birds and 3 recaptures.

Chiffchaff (Gransanger)

Ringing:

Today the weather was rainy again so no ringing was carried out. Tomorrow looks better!

Little Tern project:

 There were no observation because of military training.

People at the station: Alix Bortolussi, Jorn de Jong, Rune, David Mastrup