Vejr: direction - V (260); speed - 3 m/s; cloud cover - 4/8; visibility - 18+ km; temperature - 15.1 °C 

We had near perfect conditions at the sea migration today, no wind, no rain, but... unfortunately, no birds as well. Common Scoters and Oystercatchers reached a record-low today (since I am here). However, we were really satisfied with 11 Arctic Skuas, they carried us through the morning, as the count otherwise would have been extremely "unexciting". The definite highlight were two Caspian terns, that we luckily could spot at acceptable range and, due to the few other birds, managed to follow them astonished with our scopes before we took on counting the (nearly nonexistent) rest of the birds. As Henrik shouted: "they turn the other way", while looking at the terns, but I Interpretetd "they TERN" the other way", the title of today's blog was born. Gannets again gathered up right infront of us, but numbers were a little lower than the previous days. 

Bent was assisted by Sandra for her final two hours in the morning before he carried on ringing alone (as Sandra and me headed to the airport to get her to her plane). All in All, he had 12 Species with 25 individuals.

Ringmærkning: Dunnock (5), Robin (1), Song Thrush (1), Reed Warbler (1), Lesser Whitethroat (1), Common Whitethroat (4), Garden Wabler (3), Blackcap (3), Spotted Flycatcher (1), Coal Tit (1), Blue Tit (3), Yellowhammer (1). In total: 25 birds of 12 species.

There will be more time for pictures tomorrow, I promise, so tune in tomorrow,

Christian

Vejr: direction - NV (308); speed – 5 m/s; cloud cover - 5/8; visibility - 18+ km; temperature – 15,1 °C

Today, Sandra and Christian only joined Henrik at around 7 o’clock, but we have already missed 4 Arctic Skuas by then. So far, it has been the best day for them (since we came here), with a total of 9 birds within the three hours of counting. Otherwise, the migration was extremely slow and stopped nearly entirely around 8 o’clock. However, while checking the gulls, we found a Yellow-legged Gull and at least four different Caspian Gulls, one of which had a colour ring Henrik was able to read (ringed in Hiddensee, Germany in 2013). So, even when the day might look slow for some species, others are still nice to watch :). Additionally, for most of the counting period, we had nice company of Søren, who made sure we counted correctly :). As it was Sandra’s last full day, we decided to take a creative goodbye-picture of three counters today, while Sandra remains, metaphorically speaking, as a shadow (Her shadow is the waving one).



So, from tomorrow on, Christian will write the blog on his own, so I hope, I can keep up with the creativity of the pictures :). Stay tuned,

Sandra & Christian

Vejr: direction - SV (233); speed - 5m/s; cloud cover - 6/8; visibility - 15 km; temperature - 16.4°C

Henrik, again, was on his own for the migration count today. He had a quiet morning without many birds and no speciality, other than some low-numbered species mentioned earlier over the last few days (such as 2 Caspian Gulls and  Arctic Skuas, for example). 

Ringingwise, Michael helped out today and motivated Sandra and me to find a Barred Warbler. After two birds, we couldn't believe our eyes when approaching the F6 net in the lighthouse garden: there REALLY was a Barred Warbler in the net. Lucky us, it was the first bird Sandra has ever seen and she could even hold it in her hand briefly for a couple of record shots right before we released it (see picture). Beside this clear highlight for the three of us however, the day did not bring that many other birds, even though, compared to the last days, numbers were absolutely okay. We just couldn't find an explanation on why the birds are not migrating on such a nice and beautiful day. 

Ringmærkning: Blackbird (1), Blackcap (2), Barred Warbler (1), Garden Warbler (2), Willow Warbler (1), Lesser Whitethroat (1), Common Whitethroat (4), Bullfinch (4), Dunnock (4). Intotal: 20 individuals of 9 species.



Again, after an amazing day that also generated a nice female Merlin, but only few passerines for Henrik, we had a great feast at the station, all in all, we were 10 people tonight (which is also why you all had to wait this long for the blog). I'ts been a very nice evening and if tomorrow is just a little bit like today, we can definitely call it a good day too. Unfortunately, it is Sandra's last full day tomorrow, she will leave the station monday morning to travel back to Austria. We hope to be able to share some good stories again with you tomorrow, so.. stay tuned
Sandra & Christian

Vejr: direction - V (271); speed - 9 m/s; cloud cover - 7/8; visibility - 15 km; temperature - 15.9° C

Today, Sandra, Henrik and Christian went out for migration counting as no ringing took place at the station. There is nothing to brag about really, the day was incredibly quiet. We had some nice views of Velvet Scoters, a Great Skua and a couple of Arctic Terns but waders and ducks generally stayed almost absent today. Sandra and Henrik had a tempered (in a positive and funny way) argument about ring colors and apparently we summarised, that black and blue rings are more difficult to keep apart than one may think. The gull counts generated two Mediterranean Gulls, which we were specifically happy about after a quiet day, but no Caspian Gulls were counted by us (although Matthias from Gemany could see two in the morning). 

While Henrik spent some time at the beach in the afternoon and cought up with the missing waders (he had 500+ Oystercatchers and generated some brilliant pictures), Sandra and Christian travelled to Filsø and enjoyed a big group of Red Deer (174 animals) on the way back. After arriving at the station, we were warmly welcomed by a nice dinner, prepared by Kim and Maria. Those of you who read our blog regularly may remember that we unfortunately destroyed Henriks umbrella last Saturday which he was not angry about, but we obviously had to come up with something (funny). Sandra bought a new umbrella for Henrik and it arrived at the station today. As soon as Henrik opened the package, all the frustration from colour rings and a quiet morning were blown away and, we assume you can see for yourselves (see picture by Kim Stendorf), he was really happy with it :).

Tomorrow looks like a promising day for ringing, so, stay tuned,
Sandra & Christian 

Vejr: direction - SO (135); speed - 10 m/s; cloud cover - 6/8; visibility - 18+ km; temperature - 16,1°C 

Today, Henrik was all on his own at the migration count. However, he was rewarded for his actions. Although the day was calm with low numbers of birds, he had an amazing list of gulls today, TEN species (Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Greater Black Backed Gull, Common Gull, Black-Headed Gull, Kittiwake, Little Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Caspian Gull, Yellow Legged Gull). Raptor migration was nice as well (Marsh Harrier, Peregrine falcon, okay numbers of Kestrels...).

On the other hand, the Austrians got what they deserved for being three people at the nets again: not many species and only few individuals, including a little bit of rain at the end of the ringing period. Sandra faced the challenge of taking her first Wren out of the net, a welcome practise on a calm day. The picture shows a rather ruffled, but this is due to the wind and not because of Sandra's handling :). 

Ringmærkning: Garden Warbler (2), Wren (1), Blackcap (2), Willow Warbler (5), Pied Flycatcher (1), Bullfinch (1). In Total: 12 individuals of 5 species. 

In the evening, Kim and Maria arrived for their regular stay at the station, they will be here for a couple of nights now. Kim already told us a lot about his passion about butterflies and moths, and we are excited to (hopefully) be able to join him finding some moths over these days. 

Looks like we are all going for migration counting tomorrow rather than ringing, so.. stay tuned, more eyes might see more nice birds to report.
Sandra & Christian

Vejr: direction - NO (40); speed - 2 m/s; cloud cover - 4-5/8; visibility - 15 km (little foggy); temperature - 11,8°C

Migration counting was very quiet today. An early Arctic Skua in bad light and a Spotted Redshank was as good as it got today, so David and Henrik were not rewarded for their hard work this time unfortunately. However, Tree Pipits and Yellow Wagtails were more common today, compared to the previous week.

On the other hand, ringing was phenomenal, at least compared to the previous days, and much appreciated by us (the Austrians), as we had a nice spectrum of species and individuals. Among them was a really nice Nuthatch, which is quite an uncommon sight at Blåvand Fuglestation. Spotted Flycatchers and a Common Treecreeper were pushing the happiness really quickly and Reed Warblers were a nice identificiation challenge, first time for Christian to have one in the hand. 

Ringmærkning: Dunnock (6), Robin (2), Common Redstart (3), Blackbird (2), Reed Warbler (2), Lesser Whitethroat (1), Common Whitethroat (1), Garden Warbler (8), Blackcap (2), Willow Warbler (14), Spotted Flycatcher (2), Pied Flycatcher (1), Nuthatch (1), Common Treecreeper (1), Tree Sparrow (2), Bullfinch (3), Yellowhammer (1). In Total: 52 individuals in 17 species.

Due to the nice weather we managed to get some nice clips for the video we are making about the Blåvand Fuglestation as well, so... stay tuned for this one in a few weeks. See you tomorrow,
Sandra & Christian 

Vejr: direction - NV (313); speed - 10 m/s; cloud cover - 6/8; visibility - 18+ km; temperature - 14.6°C

Today's migration counting went slowly. It was still pretty windy in the morning and satisfying flocks of waders and terns stayed out for the entire count. Not even Oystercatchers and Black Scoters appeared in decent flocks and instead, only showed in low numbers. However, Teals and Kittiwakes were a little(!) more frequent than the previous week and thus gave a little bit of diversion to the usual sightings. The most interesting birds today were 5 Velvet Scoters and a Great Skua. The Skua stayed at the beach for several hours and after counting, we could get some nice record shots from a fairly satisfying distance. Here is a collection of some of the shots we took:



Bent and Sandra were happy to finally pick up ringing again and were successful compared to the previous days, which unfortunately have been too rainy and windy for ringing. A welcome surprise was a Willow Tit, not only for Sandra, Christian and Bent, but also for Henrik and Jørgen. This picture shows the Willow Tit and Bent's Fingers :).

Ringmærkning: Willow Warbler (1), Willow Tit (1), Blackcap (2), Garden Warbler (1), Whitethroat (1), Bullfinch (2), Blackbird (2), Dunnock (2), Lesser Whitethroat (1). Total: 9 Species and 13 individuals.

We are hoping for the best tomorrow, so far the weather looks very promising, so.. stay tuned,

Sandra & Christian

Vejr: Endelig en dag uden regn... august har været ond... Den hårde NV (305) 13 m/s fik bugt med regnen...der var blot et par stink i luften..Senere aftog vinden og kom ned på 8 m/s.  Dagen startede rigtig mørk og overskyet, senere opklaring og lidt sol 5-8/8. Sigten var præget af dis 15 km. Temperaturen lå på 15-17 grader.

Vi var en stor flok på Hukket i dag, ud over os faste havde vi Lars Tom og Jørgen Rabøl med.... Rabøl og Sandra tog dog flugten efter en times tid... Der var helt godt gang i Strandskaderne i dag.... Trækket var dog lidt anderledes end det plejer, da samtlige flokke gik temmelig højt og ca. 90 procent af alle flokkene skulle ned og stå på Hukket mellem 2 og 10 min. inden de skulle videre.. Samlet bød dagen på over 1400 fugle... Heraf var de 500 fra om eftermiddagen, hvor jeg tog et par timer på Nordhukket. Om eftermiddagen gik fuglene forsat højt, men gik ikke længere ned... hvilket måske var pga. af at det var maks højvande på det tidspunkt... Selv om vi eller retter sagt nok mest undertegnde dagdrømte om de "brune bryster" fra Holland og Tyskland.... så kom den ikke.... og tanken om den knækkede da Holland meldte om den i sydgående retning.... ikke noget med "langt" lys på Hukket i dag....Highlights var lidt Almindelige Kjover samt en Storkjove.

På trods af den hårde blæst var der faktisk en del småfugle der hoppede rundt omkring Fyret... men desværre fik jeg først lusket lidt rundt sent om eftermiddagen...og der var løbet kørt.... Sven Bødker kom ud i dag og forkælede os med dejlig mad... han tryllede den herligste æggekage sammen...så de vindblæste observatører råspiste så bukseknappen strammede...

Lidt brok skal der selvfølgelig ind over "mine" dagbøger..... I dag mens der var højvande skulle flere turister have deres børn til at skræmme de rastende Splitterner op, mens forældrene stod og filmede, mens der blev grint højlydt.... Jeg er nok ved at være en sur gammel mand.... men folk bliver bare dummere og dummere... og så praler vi af at vi bliver mere og mere uddannet... suk siger jeg bare fremtiden lover ikke godt...Det blev også til endnu en ulovlig beachvogn med sejl på stranden...Den stigende turisme bliver et problem i fremtiden....

HKn

Vejr: direction - V; speed - 10 to 15 m/s; cloud cover - 8/8; temperature - 15.0 °C

We are truly sorry, but although we tried really hard, the weather beat us again today. The second we reached our counting location for the seabird migration, it started pouring again (thunder and lightning included) and after 20 minutes and only 3 Common Scoters (and some gulls that were not distinguishable due to the bad visibility), we accepted our defeat and went back to the station. Here is a picture to show our mood and defeat, the moment we gave up (5 seconds out and the phone was completely wet, hence the bad quality). Unfortunately, this is the last picture of this umbrella being alive, may it rest in peace, we surely will never forget it's support:

On the plus side, Lars, Denna and Jørgn arrived at the station, so we once again found out how easy-going Danish birdwatchers really are (big compliment).
We hope you are as eager for more information on the actual migration as we are,

Sandra & Christian

Vejr: direction - SV; speed - 8 to 12 m/s; cloud cover - 8/8; temperature - 15.0 °C

Due to the very wet morning today, we neither counted, nor ringed birds. The whole day was very unstable, it basically showed every facette from nice and sunny to doomsday. Even the weather forecast had problems getting it right, we checked several times and were surprised by the complete opposite not only once. In the evening, we received a nice visit by Torbjørn and Peter and had some interesting talks about nature and conservation. Furthermore, the bad weather offered us an opportunity to look through some of the pictures from yesterday. We would like to show you two pictures of species, which we hope you can, despite their frequency, still enjoy as much as we did.

This one shows a juvenile, dark-morph Arctic Skua, Stercorarius parasiticus, just before unsuccessfully chasing a Sandwich Tern. We have very low numbers of Arctic Skuas in Austria (skuas in general actually), so this bird was nice ID-practise for us. 

This picture shows a juvenile Sanderling, Calidris alba, a scarse bird to us aswell, as a lot fewer birds travel across mainland in Europa than those migrating along the coast. 

Let's hope, we can report from ringing and migration counting tomorrow, fingers crossed,

Sandra & Christian