We arrived at Blåvand Fugelstation on Saturday evening and joined the bird-ringing operation on Sunday morning. Antonino is an experienced bird-ringer, having obtained his ringing license in 2008, and is looking to broaden his scope once he retires from his post as a livestock veterinarian for the public health ministry. I, Mallory, am a new bird-ringing apprentice studying under Antonino’s supervision. 

We learned about Blåvand Fugelstation via social media and thought it would be a great experience for our goals. Indeed, on our very first morning we had the privilege of capturing a young song thrush (Turdus philomelos), which we only see during the winter in Sicily. Furthermore, it’s been interesting to observe the differences in methods and coding between Denmark and Italy. 

First calendar year song thrush captured this morning.

Around mid-morning, we set out with Henrik and Lucas on an adventure to see dotterels that have been seen in the past couple of weeks. Luck was not on our side for the dotterel sighting, but as first-time visitors to Denmark, it was a novel opportunity for us to observe the flora and fauna present, including roe deer and an enormous hare, as well as a myriad of avifauna that we don’t see often or at all in Sicily.

Other things to mention:

Common Nightingale (ringed) & Red-breasted Flycatcher (ringed)

A late Shore Lark (5th May record) & 3k+ Arctic Skua (morning observations)

After many days of strong east wind, it finally decreased today, but the heat remained the same. To begin, my name is Lucas Corneliussen, I am 20 years old from the United States and am excited to be spending the summer counting & ringing at two stations here in Denmark (Blåvand & Skagen). Today was my third day here at the station and for me, it may be my favorite so far.

 The day can be described as high quality over high quantity. Beginning the morning, I headed back to “Böhmer’s Hole” to watch the morning migration only to find a general lack of birds. The first hour was slow, with very few birds moving: until I noticed a Little Egret (Silkehejre) flying south! Henrik & David arrived half an hour later and seemed a bit disappointed to miss the egret, but the morning was saved when we received a message from Morten and Michael that they had caught not only a Red Crossbill (Lille Korsnæb), but also a Thrush Nightingale (Nattergal)! David and I rushed over to catch a look at the nightingale and immediately upon our return Henrik called out “Common Rosefinch (Karmindompap)!” as it flew over. This was the first one this spring and something we had been expecting with the east wind.

The remainder of the observations from this morning were slow with almost as many Red-throated Loons (Rødstrubet Lom) and Common Scoters (Sortand) going north as south. Although we did have one lingering Black Tern (Sortterne) with the other terns on the beach. That said, the main migration seems to have trailed off for the spring. Henrik, David and I headed back to the station for some coffee and to watch the sky and our success continued! Four European Bee-eaters (Biæder) flew over the station and put on a show for us over the next ten minutes. During that time: Mortern had caught a different Hawfinch (Kernebider)! Around 11 AM, once Henrik and Maxim left, David and Morten spotted a Eurasian Hobby (Lærkefalk) heading southeast over the dunes, fortunately I was right inside working and was able to scramble outside to see it.

Later, Michael decided to go to the little “lake” and spend some time searching for anything he could find. He ended up finding 2 Common Pochards (, a Common Scoter and THREE Little Grebes! Wow, and to think that there were no records since 2009 as of a few days ago. Overall a great day!

Also, in the late evening yesterday: Michael and I went back out towards the lake and spent the evening trying to ring one of the Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade) and we were SUCCESSFUL!! We were able to capture a female, full of eggs and make her the first member of Michael’s project to color ringing shrikes at Blåvand Fuglestation!

Østenvinden fortsætter sammen med det gode vejr og det har sat sine præg på dagene. Det er nogle dejligt lune morgener med klart vejr og frisk vind. I dag var vinden lidt mindre kraftig end de andre dage og der var lidt flere skyer. Det gav lidt håb til ringmærkerne, som havde en lidt bedre dag. 

Dagens overraskelse i nettene var to kernebidere, der blev fanget i fyrhaven. En han og en hun med rugeplet. Michael og Maxim var meget glade for denne fangst, da de har snakket om kernebider i nogle dage. 

Udover disse to fede fugle blev det til 13 nye mærkede, bl.a. en grå fluesnapper. Her er dagens mærkninger: 

Morgenobsen starter nu kl. 5.00 og Lucas og undertegnede startede ud på sydhukket. Det varede dog ikke længe før vi gik op lidt længere nord, da der stort set ikke kom en eneste fugl mod nord, og der de seneste dage har været sydtrækkende vadere. Der rastede en del måger, terner og sandløbere på standen og blandt dem var der bl.a. 12 sortterner, 5 dværgmåger og 3 kaspiske måger. Det er det femte højeste antal sortterne på hukket om foråret. Derudover gav morgenobsen knapt 100 rødstrubede lommer, 2 sortstrubede lommer og en enkelt ride. Vi fik selskab af Henrik Møller og hans kone, Jette, som nåede at få det meste med. 

I mosen der der fortsat maget vand og det tiltrækker en del fugle. I dag var der bl.a. 3 skeænder, nogle gråænder og så er der 3 viber og en rødben, der har slået sig ned. Måske gør de yngleforsøg? Men det helt store scoop var en lille lappedykker. Den har åbenbart været her nogle dage, men de udenlandske frivillige vidste ikkeat den faktisk er ret sjælden herude. Sidste fund fra hukket er fra 2009. Og dermed også en ny huk-art til undertegnede. 

Bent var en tur på stranden og havde imponerende 54 dværgterner. Det tegner til at blive en helt god ynglesæson. 

Endnu en dag i solens tegn og vind fra øst, der nåede op på en varmeblæserstyrke af 9m/s og 24 graders varme over middag.
Det giver ikke mange fugle herude ved det sydvestligste punkt af Danmark, så vi kan bare gå rundt og svede over alt det, der bliver meldt fra andre steder i landet, mens vi bliver brændt igennem af sol fra skyfri himmel.

Maxim og Michael tog sig af runderne ved nettene i Fyrhaven, mens jeg passede Stationshaven og fik taget West Nile Virus blodprøverne på de få fugle, som vi fik fanget i løbet af de 5 standardtimer.
9 mærket og 6 genfangster blev det til.
Da vinden tog til ved 10-tiden valgte vi at lukke ned for ringmærkningen efter de 5 standardtimer.
Bedste fangst blev årets første Kærsanger herude, så lidt kom der ud af de mange skridt for tjek af ellers tomme net.

Dagens Kærsanger blev også dagens første fugl i hånden, da den fløj i et net i stationshaven kl 5.

Lucas lod ikke til at være mærket af jetlag trods omstilling fra Californisk tid til dansk sommertid, men tog plads i klitten fra solopgang og gennemførte de 3 timers tælling.
Bedste fugle derude ved stranden i dag blev 5 Dværgmåger, 4 Sortterner og blandt vadefuglene bl.a. 40 Islandsk Ryle.
Inde fra baglandet kom en ung Havørn flyvende fra nord og vendte over Hukket og Fuglestationen, men vores håb om spændende rovfuglearter i østenvinden svandt efterhånden noget ind som dagen gik med forgæves spejden.
Det blev kun til de faste Musvåger, Tårnfalke og Rørhøge ud over Havørnen.

Der var ellers lidt Mursejlere i luften mellem alle svalerne og det er gerne et godt tegn på, at flere spændende arter kunne presses helt herud af østenvinden, men vi venter altså stadig her til aften på dagens overraskelse..

Morgendagen skulle vejrmæssigt fortsætte i samme genre, så vi har ikke mange forventninger til større antal, men håber på en enkelt eller to tilføjelser arter på årets lokale fugleliste.

Dagens ringmærkning (mærket/genfanget):

Rødstjert                                       1                          0
Kærsanger                                   1                          0
Havesanger                                 2                          0
Gærdesanger                              0                          2
Løvsanger                                    1                          4
Gransanger                                  2                          0
Bogfinke                                       1                          0

Folk på stationen: Lucas, Maxim, Michael og Morten

Today was a slow day again. Morten was ringing in the garden, Maxim and me in the lighthouse garden. the wind was slightly less than yesterday, and there where more birds than yesterday. in fact, the first bird was already a small suprise, because we caught a 2k male wheatear. the total was crushing yesterdays catch with 13 new birds and 5 controls.

Unfortunately, there where no observations this morning. I went out to check the sea and it didn't seem we missed a lot, the sea was pretty empty, but on one of the sand banks where 3 roosting black terns and some ringed comorants, herring gulls and sandwich terns, unfortunately too far away to read them.

Just before dinner, Lucas arrived. Maxim had just made some delicious food and after eating, I said I would go out for ringing some young plovers, and of course, Lucas and Maxim wanted to join. We caught 3 of them, and we think the fourth one was dead already, or just unfindable. When you say cuteness overload, this is what we mean...

After ringing the chicks, we went to the lake to see if there was anything special to find, and we found a skylark nest. Not bad! After finding the nest Maxim went back to the station and Lucas and I stayed in the area, when we suddenly saw a few yellow wagtails flying around. One of them appeared to be a subspecies M.flava thinbergi and M.flava flavissima. This sequence of events and other nice sightings like red-backed shrike and corn bunting must have been a great arrival for Lucas, he will definetely have a great time here!

There was no change in the weather since yesterday and so no change in bird activity either. Because of the strong winds not al nets were open in the gardens. With Morten helming the station garden, Michael and I walked the rounds in the lighthouse garden. It took more than three hours before the first bird ended up in the nets at the light house. I don’t think I have seen Michael this happy to have a bird in his hands, it were some long and uneventful three hours. The total of today was 6 ringed and 2 controls.

Happy Michael after three hours of empty nets

When Henrik returned from the morning observations, he was a bit more optimistic about the day compared to us ringers. The most notable observations were 6 black terns and a good number of waders. While observing, Henrik heard a Tawny pipet fly over and after studying the audio recording he made he confirmed the assessment.

Later in the morning while enjoying the sun in front of the station some of the common raptors were spotted yet again (Marsh harrier, Kestrel and Buzard). But the biggest surprise was when Michael spotted a Bee-eater flying over the station at high speed. Just when Henrik sat down behind his laptop and Morten went inside to get a cup of coffee. When everyone came running outside the bird was already long gone unfortunately. Last night Michael also spotted a female Nightjar when he was trying to catch Red-backed strikes.

Later in the day Morten received a phone call from Bent saying that he saw a Red-footed Falcon flying over in Skødstrup. Afterwards Morten took some time the sit down in the dunes in the hopes of spotting the bird here in Blåvand. To no avail unfortunately.

The rest of the week the weather does not seem to change much and so there are no expectations of seeing or catching a lot of birds, but there is hope in seeing something special. It appears we are falling back on the phrase we clung to in April: Quality over quantity.

Vinden fra øst var taget til i styrke gennem natten, så enkelte net i begge have kunne ikke åbnes pga blæsten, der allerede fra morgenstunden var omkring 9m/s.
Vi fik som ventet ikke meget ud af netrunderne med blot 13 mærket på 6 timer inden vi gav op.
Rødstjert blev dagens ringmærkningsart med 5 stk ud af de 13 og ellers kan nævnes Ringdue nr 9 i dette forår.

Henrik tog obsen fra klitten på Sydhukket og de 3 timer gav 2 Sortterner og en Dværgfalk som bedste arter, men også nogle sydtrækkende vadefugle.

Mere held var der ved at sidde ved p-pladsen efter morgenobsen, da den Sorte Glente fra i går kom forbi igen til stor glæde for Henrik, der fik den som ny art på hans Blåvandshuk liste.
At en Lærkefalk også drønede forbi gjorde det til en godkendt rovfugledag for Blåvand.
Den blev endda yderligere udbygget på en aftentur til stranden for tjek af terner, da der både kom en Hvepsevåge og 3 indtrækkende Tårnfalke.


Sort Glente over fuglestationen - detaljer i vinge og hale afslørede, at det er samme individ, der rundede Fyret i går.

Som med glenten kom forårets anden obs af Lærkefalk også lige over fuglestationen

Michael tog om eftermiddagen Maxim med til et tjek af en rede af et par Sortstrubet Bynkefugle, men de kom hurtigt tilbage til fuglestationen med en fortælling om, at de havde set en Hugorm kravle op i reden og æde ungerne.

Maxim gik derefter i gang i varmen med at rydde opvækst ved netbanerne i begge haver, så de står flot klar til de kommende ugers ringmærkning.

Med konstant og blæsende østenvind og sol de næste døgn, regner vi dog ikke med større antal småfugle at arbejde med, men må håbe på flere gode arter af rovfugle i luften over Hukket.

Folk på stationen: Henrik, Michael, Maxim og Morten

Jeg nåede lørdag aften tilbage til fuglestationen fra mine kontrolbesøg på Skejby sygehus tidsnok til at deltage i den aftensmad, som Anders og Dorte bød på.
Endda i så rigelige mængder, at Kis Boel Guldmann også fik en portion med, da hun dukkede op fra Kolding til en overnatning herude i håb om fornyet Nordlys aktivitet natten til søndag.

Det blev til en masse hyggelig snak omkring bordet og flere gange ture ud i løbet af natten, men Nordlys blev det ikke til i denne omgang – i hvert fald ikke synligt for øjet og kun ganske svagt skær på fotos.

Vi var lidt trætte da uret kaldte os op lidt over kl 04 for at åbne net, men Maxim og Michael var friske på at passe Fyrhaven, mens jeg tog den lettere omgang i Stationshaven.
Det gav nu ikke det store influks af fugle i haverne, at vinden var svag til jævn fra sydøst og vi endte på den beskedne sum af 18 mærkede og 4 egne genfangster inden alle net var lukket igen kl 15.

Ingen overraskelser blandt dagens fangster, der bød på artslisten Ringdue, Gærdesmutte, Rødstjert, Solsort, Gulbug, Gærdesanger, Munk, Løvsanger, Gransanger og Bogfinke.

Bedre gik det med de større overflyvende fugle, hvor 2 Traner kom flyvende og varslede deres ankomst over p-pladsen med højtlydte trompeteren inden de forsvandt ude over Mosen.
Lidt senere opdagede jeg en Vandrefalk, der kom i modsat retning fra nord og trak ud mod sydsydvest, mens dagens bedste rovfugl blev en Sort Glente, der rundede Fyret og langsomt søgte retur mod nord, hvor den kunne følges langt op nord for Mosen.

Vandrefalk på skyfri blå morgenhimmel




Sort Glente runder Blåvandshuk Fyr

Efter de fine fugle pakkede Andres og Dorte deres cykler, mens Kis hentede frisk morgenbrød i Blåvand og købte lidt ind til vores husholdning.
Vi fik derfor morgenbrød og kaffe ude i solen inden Tour de danske fyr duoen tog afsked med os og kørte mod Kammerslusen som deres næste overnatningssted.
Kis tog også hjemad da der ikke ser ud til at blive større nordlys aktivitet i nat, men hun nåede en tur på stranden og kunne nyde Dværgternerne og unger af Stor Præstekrave.

Michael brugte eftermiddagen i klitten og fandt hans tredje par Rødrygget Tornskade, så der er noget at arbejde med i hans projekt med den art.
Undervejs trådte han et par Agerhøns op, mens jeg på en tur op nord for Mosen ikke havde held med de store obs.
Jeg havde håbet på flere rovfugle i luften, men så kun 2 Musvåger og det bedste jeg fik i notesbogen var rastende Rødben og Mudderklire ved bredden af Mosen, der stadig er en sø.
Ud over fuglene fik jeg også set min første Firplettet Libel i år og der kommer garanteret flere guldsmede og vandnymfer på vingerne i løbet af ugen med en solrig og varm vejrudsigt.

Maxim stod for køkkentjansen og serverede en dejlig ret med bulgur og ostegratinerede auberginer, så vi er klar til at prøve lykken ved nettene igen i morgen tidlig.

Folk på stationen: Kis, Dorte, Anders, Maxim, Michael og Morten.

With a Northerly wind and sunshine in the morning, the expectations for many birds in the nets were low. With a total of 12 new birds ringed and 9 recaptures the total amount of today did not exceed our expectation, but the number of 15 different species definitely did! Among the group a Gold Finch and Tree Pippit were the most notable ones, with the Pippit being the first of the season. A beautiful male Linnet also made quite the impression on us. Usually with only a few birds each round Michael and I don't get too excited about the day, but today was different. If nothing else, today showed us that variety is the spice of life. What made the day even better was that we were able to share our joy of all these different birds with our guests Dorte and Anders who stayed overnight.

Gold Finch

Tree Pippet

Inspired by today's ringing I decided not to sit behind the desk agian (like I have been doing all week) and add some more variety to my day. So, I joined Michael on his daily escapades in the dunes, trying to find and catch Stonechats, and Shrikes and the like. It was already great fun for me to get off the beaten path and look in all types of nooks and crannies for anything interesting that moves. It reminded me of my childhood where I would aimlessly wander local parks looking for anything I found interesting. There is something satisfying about aimlessly wandering and carefully looking at your surroundings. It is definitely something I plan on doing more frequently while I'm here (and back home). Michael showed me some of the Stonechat nests he had found over the past days and a breeding pair of Red-backed shrikes. While walking around the dunes we spotted a Crane flying in the direction of the sea changing its mind and heading back north along the coastline. We also spotted a Sedge warbler!

Dune escapades

After finding a breeding pair of Stonechats Michael and I spend quite some time observing them, trying to figure out where their nest was located and setting out a clap trap in the hope of catching one of them. In the end we had no luck and after a short nap in the sun I went back to the station while Michael ventured further into the dunes in hope of finding another target (without success I learned later in the day).

In the evening Morten returned to the station right before dinner. We enjoyed some drinks and shared stories about our travels and discussed the effects of the current political climate on nature conservation in Europe. Not before some extensive bird talk, of course. This is a bird observatory first and foremost!

Tonight, Morten, Michael and I plan to go out and hopefully watch the northern lights that have already been clearly visible in other parts of Europe in the past night.

It wasn't the good day we've been hoping for, that will probably be tomorrow. nevertheless, the ringing was better than yesterday. 18 new birds and 7 controls. With no special species today, we closed the nets on the standerd time after 5 hours of ringing. The morning observations where also pretty slow unfortunately.

I went out for catching the red-backed shrikes with spring traps, I was there for a few hours but they didn't show any interest in the bait of the trap. While I was waiting for the birds, I suddenly saw 2 slow flapping terns flying by. I looked at the birds, and they had a thick, black bill. Gull billed tern! Unfortunately, I had no camera with me, but still a geat sighting, as the last for Blåvand was July 2016, this was the 4th record! 

The red-backed shrike (upper left) was very close to the trap (middle right), but didn't show any interest after just taking a look from a safe distance.

After trying to catch the red-backed shrike me and Ulf Berthelsen went to take a look at the enclosure for the breeding birds on the beach for "his" little terns. We read a few rings and saw they where breeding already, which is really early. One of them has a yellow ring, a tern that was ringed in Great Britain. We also saw an osprey in the distance.

Today was not a bad day, but also not the good day we've been hoping for. Tomorrow will be that day... Or else the day after tomorrow?..