Last day of Hanelie and Robert

Observations : 

Not much to report today! It was quite quiet - with few wind -, though there were still some flocks of red-throated loons [rødstrubet lom] and common/arctic terns  [fjordterne/havterne] migrating north.

There have been fewer little terns fishing near the shore over the last couple of days; we hope they won’t fly off to another breeding ground!

Todays observations can be seen here. 

Ringing : 

This is my last blog entry today; tomorrow will be the big goodbye day. I will leave the station after nearly two and a half months, also Robert is leaving after two weeks, and Morten is leaving too. But Morten might be back later this spring, as he did not get as many blood samples of Long-distance migrants as needed. It is difficult to write a last blog, especially of this spring season, as it was a tough one for me. Now we are on 935 newly ringed birds for the season, the best day, which was in mid-April, brought 64 birds, this nice day was followed by two days in which we reached 40 birds, apart from that, numbers were very low and I can´t deny, that got me down. A very early Nightingale “Sydlig Nattergal” and a Grasshopperwarbler “Græshoppersanger” were a bit special birds this season – maybe rarities are coming now in the last weeks of the season, I will leave them for Alix and Xenia. Nevertheless, the season had some very nice moments. I especially remember a nice trip with Mathilde and Clara by Flextaxi to Nyeng, the birdwatching trips with my mother, Clara and Morgan around Easter, and the trip to Fanø to visit Joseph together with Clara and Jorn. And it was nice to meet some old acquaintances, in April Rose and now in May, Robert at the station. Maybe my favourite animal this season was actually not a bird, but a bat, Myotis daysceme, the Pond bat, that I found in the bunker together with many Myotis daubentoni, Daubenton´s bat. Daysceme was a new species for me. But Spoonbill “Skestork” and Grashopper Warbler “Græshoppersanger” were also great birds.

I nearly forgot to write something for today: We caught the first Icterine Warbler "Gulbug" of the season, that was the highlight of the day.

Little tern project : 

Moths of the day

Today 16 different species and one new for the location: the Shuttle-shaped Dart (Frønnet Landman, see picture). Tomorrow Hanelie and I will leave Blåvand Fuglestation. A pity that the birds were not really abundant this spring. We caught 48 different moth species, I do not know whether that is a low or a high amount, because I have never been at this station before.

Hope you liked what we were writing about the moths. Nowadays it is less difficult to figure out which species you see. There are 3 apps that can help you and they are not difficult to use. Arter is a Danish orientated app. Obsidentify is an European oriented app and Inaturalist a world orientated app. If they give the same species name one can be sure it is the right species. I think Arter and Obsidentify use the same kind ofalgorithms and Inaturalist a different one. If you start looking into moths a completely new world will be opened for you. In my garden in Gjerrild (Djursland) I now have  found almost 700 different species. Had no clue of the high diversity before I started.

Shuttle-shaped Dart (Frønnet Landman)

At the station : Robert Luttik, Hanelie Sidhu, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Alix Bortolussi & Morten Jenrich Hansen.