Even stronger winds to fight

Ringing: *Loading*

Observation: Today looked great for a good sea watch, with good wind blowing up from Orkney towards Blåvand. The excitement for possible Storm Petrels and Shearwaters was high at the station, but my (Anton) disposition was slightly different. The thing is… I have been here before. I have already had several days where the wind from the northwest looked good, but almost every single time only a single Sooty Shearwater (Ardenna grisea) would be seen at obs. I was certain that today would be just more of the same. However, Andreas (one of the more experienced station guys) said that today could be good, and that I should get up very early to get a space in the Sabines bunker.

So, I got up at an early 04.30, got ready, and walked the kilometre and a half (or so) in the dark up the beach in heavy headwinds to find my place in the bunker. Luckily, only a few had the hardcore birder drive to get up that early that I had… or they just knew it was not worth it to go to the bunker today (something I would only realise around noon).

The first birds spotted at obs (about two hours after I got to the Sabines bunker) were two Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) flying by together with a Common Gull (Larus canus). The gulls would prove to be one of the more prominent groups today, with a total of 410 Common Gulls, an additional Kittiwake, 21 Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), two Caspian Gulls (Larus cachinnans), and a whopping 25 Little Gulls (Hydrocoloeus minitus). Especially the Little Gulls were a highlight of today, as they came from both far out and extremely close to the beach. 

One of the close-flying Little Gulls. Credit Alfred Godsk Geckler.

Numbers were also good for the other seabirds, with about 800 Common Scoters (Melanitta nigra), 7 Velvet Scoters (Melanitta fusca), 206 Red-throated Loons (Gavia Stelatta), 80 Razorbills/Common Murres (Alca torda/Uria aalge), and 2 Parasitic Skuas (Stercorarius parasiticus) - all pretty good numbers! 

Aaaaand another one. Credit Anton Møbjerg Toft.

The highlight species of today (as I predicted) was a single Sooty Shearwater. It came by very fast, but flew relatively close for a Shearwater. The others at obs were incredibly hyped for the bird, but I have seen enough during this season. Still a pretty decent species, of course, but not enough to move me. The bird that would have moved me luckily flew right by the Sabine bunker. What was unlucky was that I wasn’t in the bunker when it happened.

The Shearwater even came into photo-distance. Credit Alfred Godsk Geckler.

What had happened was that Anton Toft, Sverre Porsgaard (who is a former migratory observer at Blåvand Fuglestation), and I decided that we would go through the marsh on our way back from obs in hopes of maybe a rare pipit or something. Unfortunately, at the same time, at least one Sabine's Gull (Xema Sabini) was following the coast south and flew right by the bunker and the Huk while we were just a couple hundred meters inland. We, of course, missed it, while every birder from the Huk to Grønningen got it. Sabine’s Gull is one of my top bucket-list species for Blåvand, and would have been a new check for me. Guess I will just have one for myself instead…

Today's observations

At the Station: Strummer Edwards, Anton Ræbild Jensen, Johan Them Steffensen & Storm Borum