Lunds og grackel

Ringing:

This morning was filled with our usual local birds as well as the first few young fledglings around the garden. Indeed, we caught the first baby Tree Sparrows (Skovspurv) of the season, and it was a delight to handle some young little birds, fresh out of the nests.

Juvenile, fresh out of the nest Tree Sparrow

I have been keeping an eye on various nests around the station, and I was starting to expect young Tree Sparrows as well as young Starlings. We also have a few nesting House Martins (Bysvale), so I am hoping and looking forward to catch some of their young when the time comes as well. So far I have been unlucky with catching the adults, but perhaps a couple of them will stumble upon some nets along with their young in a few days!

Towards the end of the standard time, while we were reopening nets after a quick rain shower forced us to close them for 30 minutes or so, Alvin heard a Greenish Warbler (Lundsanger) call!

We promptly tried to find the bird and see if it would call again or show itself, and it did! Right around our Heligoland trap, in a bush, was this small little warbler calling and hunting for small insects.

I called Henrik immediately and he came quickly to see the bird, and camera in hand Alvin and Henrik were ready to take some good pictures of the sweet little warbler. But unfortunately we saw it fly off away from us and disappear in some rose bushes close by, so I thought I would try to gently flush it out of the bushes so that Alvin and Henrik could see it again and get some pictures.

On my way to the area where the bird had disappeared is standing a net, which was open, and as I approached, I saw what looked like a Phylloscopus warbler caught there! I hardly could believe my eyes but after clearly seeing a beautiful wing bar as well as hearing the bird call a few times as I was extracting it, I could yell at Henrik and Alvin who were still waiting for me to flush it that it was caught!!!

Greenish Warbler

This bird was a first for both Alvin and myself, and we were in awe of it. Such a small and beautiful bird, with a special call, so far away from their normal range. Even though it is a ‘’yearly ‘’ occurrence for Blåvand, it is still a very big rarity so we were all very excited! How lucky I was to be surrounded by Henrik and Alvin for this as well, they could take some gorgeous pictures with their cameras and we could all share our joy together!

Excellent morning.

In the afternoon after a short nap Alvin and I went out to try to see if we could locate the Great-Tailed Grackle again, and we found it hanging out around the lighthouse parking lot, very casually. It seems it has been liking this area as well as the lighthouse gardens for roosting the past days, so if we get lucky maybe it appears in one of our nets someday!

Great-Tailed Grackle around the lighthouse parking lot

We then took a beautiful long walk around the dunes which were open from the military for the first time in nearly a week, and found some Red-Backed Shrikes and Bluethroats, Stonechats, Little terns and lots of Sanderlings.

Ringing totals for today:

-coming

Observation:

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