Ny efterårsrekord for spætmejser

Vejr: tørt og solrigt med svag til jævn vind fra omkring sydvest. Efterhånden ret varmt med temp. op til omkring 19 grader. Rimelig god sigt.

Solopgang over Blåvand på en klar morgen. Foto: Michael Brunhøj Hansen

Vinden var løjet noget af, himlen var for en gangs skyld klar igen, og vi kunne atter placere os på den høje bunker. Der var dog en del fugt i luften, så det var ikke specielt klart over havet, og der blev dannet en del dug på vores linser.

Der var temmelig dødt over havet (dog kom der 15 rødstrubede lommer, 1 krikand, 125 sortænder, 10 strandskader og 1 islandsk ryle), men til gengæld er der begyndt at komme lidt liv i småfuglene, især engpiberne som vi havde over 500 af. Bogfinkernes træk er efterhånden også i gang med 74 stk. Skovpibere, jernspurve, grønsiskener, gråsiskener og bjergvipstjerter kom der tillige blandt de mange engpibere. En ny for efteråret dukkede op, nemlig en hedelærke der lige gav et melodisk fløjt fra sig; endnu en stor flagspætte var herude og vende.

Nogle rovfulde talte vi også. Fx 3 dværgfalke og 1 vandrefalk samt 14 spurvehøge. Bent havde desuden en rastende rørhøg i mosen. Bent havde også været på Nyeng om morgenen hvor han bl.a. havde 10 hedelærker.

Dagens træktal: sortand 123 S/2 N, krikand 1, rødstrubet lom 15, skarv 56, strandskade 10, islandsk ryle 1, dobbeltbekkasin 1, spurvehøg 14, tårnfalk 4, dværgfalk 3, vandrefalk 1, stor flagspætte 1, hedelærke 1, jernspurv 39, skovpiber 19, engpiber 506, gul vipstjert 1, bjergvipstjert 2, hvid vipstjert 2, bogfinke 74, gråsisken 7, grønsisken 37, rørspurv 15.

Lige efter morgenobsen kunne Luke melde at han havde fanget en spætmejse, nr. 2 dette efterår. Lidt senere kontaktede han mig igen og kunne melde om endnu en spætmejse, således den 3. dette efterår. Det er det største antal spætmejser på et efterår nogensinde og vist nok også en ny dagsrekord, så der er åbenbart en lille invasion af denne art i gang(?). Mere om dette herunder.

Om eftermiddagen var jeg en tur henne ved TDC-masterne, men der var ikke noget særligt; dog havde jeg 3 store flagspætter.

I nat aftager vinden endnu mere og går efterhånden over i et mere østligt hjørne. I morgen kan vi således forvente noget tåge først på dagen, men ellers skulle det blive solrigt og varmt, og forhåbentligt kommer der nogle fugle herud trods den svage vind.

Folk: Bent, Rose, Daniel, Luke, Michael.

Dagens 2. spætmejse. Foto: Michael Brunhøj Hansen

After two days without ringing, I was excited this morning to be able to get the nets open. It’s a lot quicker to do so now Daniel is here to help. We could hear lots of birds about as we went for the first net round, mainly lots of Chaffinches calling in the trees, and Meadow Pipits passing overhead. We caught one of the Chaffinches, a new migrant for the season. These will likely be Norwegian birds that pass through Denmark on their way to spend the winter in Western Europe.

A young male Chaffinch. Photo: Luke Nelson

We caught a nice variety of species today, and Daniel got three new birds in the hand, including a nice adult male Yellowhammer, which are particularly stunning with their sunshine yellow plumage, and a retrapped Crested Tit in the station garden.

Adult male Yellowhammer. Photo: Luke Nelson

Mid-morning whilst we were checking the nets in the lighthouse garden, Daniel said he had a rarity in the net: a Nuthatch! The 9^th for Blavand in the autumn, and Daniel’s first in the hand. Around midday I came across another one in the net, at first I assumed it was this mornings bird, but I realised it was a new bird. This made today a record breaking day, with the most Nuthatch caught in a day and the most caught in an Autumn! The Danish Bird Atlas III shows that the Nuthatch has spread into Western Jutland in recent years, so perhaps they have spread into Blavand as the trees in the gardens of the summer houses mature, and I have noticed nestboxes about which Nuthatch will use. Nuthatch are generally very sedentary, only moving at most a few kilometres from where they hatched. However some northern populations can be irruptive. I think it more likely that these are birds moving in to the area, as it’s only in recent years we’ve been catching them, and I haven’t heard of any Nuthatch irruption this year.

Nuthatch. Photo: Luke Nelson

This afternoon Rose, Daniel and I went for a swim, making the most of the nice weather today. Daniel used to volunteer doing guided tours of the Wadden sea in Germany, and when I found a crab he told us about how Males will often hold onto females until they shed their exoskeleton, as only then can they mate. After Rose left I found a big crab which Daniel picked up, only for us to see a smaller female being held by the large male! This was really cool to see, and Daniel had only heard about it and not witnessed it.

A large male crab carrying round a female to mate with when she moults. Photo: Daniel Bloche

Tomorrow looks like it could be a good morning for ringing. There’s good conditions tonight for birds to migrate, with a clear sky and little wind, with fog forecast for the early morning, which should cause birds to drop down. Fingers crossed!