Summer in Blåvand

Today we had a wonderfully sunny day here at the bird station. Like every morning, we started at 5 am to open the nets. Not so many birds gathered in the Stationshaven today, but all the more in the Fyrhaven. We also caught a Tree Pipit (Skovpiber), which has been the first one to be ringed in this season.

In the morning observations Henrik heard a Red-rumped Swallow (Rødrygget Svale), but unfortunately Morten and I could not see or hear it from Fyhaven. It is only the 9th individual that has been documented in Blåvand and it's the first time that there are two records in one spring season. He also heard the first Grasshopper Warbler (Græshoppesanger) of the season sing near the observation spot.
At lunchtime Bent and I set off to check on the Little Terns (Dwærgterne) and Common Ringed Plovers (Stor Præsterkrave). We also looked that the fence was still “fox-proof” everywhere.

Bent screwed the solar panel a little tighter. We could safely observe a breeding Common Ringed Plover pair (the same as last time). The second breeding pair that Bent saw a few days ago and whose eggs we found while putting up the fence, we could not observe today. However, there was a second pair inside the fence, so maybe the eggs belong to them. For Little Terns we could see a breeding female whose mate was also there. We also saw a pair that will probably start breeding soon. In total we counted 6 Little Terns and 4 Common Ringed Plovers. On the way back Bent spotted another Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade) and a Stonechat (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl). Morten, in the meantime, heard the first Icterine Warbler (Gulbug) of the season. When we arrived at the station, Morten surprised us with ice cream, which was the perfect break for in between, thanks for that!
We kept the nets in the Stationshaven open until the evening hours, but we didn't catch many more birds.

Today's ringing data:

Morten cooked a delicious lasagna for us today and we had three spontaneous visitors this evening. Jens and Jæs who are staying for one night and Rose who is staying for a few days.

Fiolk på stationen: Morten, Bent, Henrik, Rose, Jens, Jæs og Amelie