I CAN'T BARRED-LIEVE IT!!! a Fulmar

Morning observation:

Marit and I were ready at the observation spot at 5 a.m. for what could turn out to be a really good day, as it was the day after a very windy one. Around the middle of the first period, Henrik joined us. The morning started off really well with a good number of migrating birds. And among the many passing birds, there were two particularly lovely ones – a pale Arctic skua “Almindelig kjove” and a red-necked grebe “Gråstrubet lappedykker”.

The morning went from good but fairly calm to something quite different when Hanelie came up to us with a bag containing a bird. After she told us she had a barred warbler, it didn’t take long before we were all on our feet looking at the amazing bird. An absolutely beautiful, large warbler. We took lots of photos and thoroughly enjoyed the moment. Afterward, Hanelie took the bird with her again, and we returned to our observations.

With fresh energy and warmth in our bodies on this otherwise chilly morning, we were ready to continue. However, it seemed as if migration had slowed down a bit, and we started to wind down again. But the great thing about sea-watching is that anything can happen at any moment. And it did, when Henrik spotted a Fulmar “Mallemuk” over the sea – fairly close and slowly moving north. A bird I had really hoped to see this spring season. I quickly got my scope on it and enjoyed watching the stunning bird glide over the sea while Henrik described its ID features to us. It was a truly wonderful experience.

On top of that, it felt like Mother Nature had decided to reward us today, as more fantastic birds kept appearing – kittiwakes “Ride”, guillemots/razorbills “lomvie/alk”, and even a yellow wagtail “gul vipstjert”. Finally, a morning where time just flew by, and we had plenty to talk about when we returned to the station to join the others.

Today´s observations can be seen here.

The ringing:

When we walked the first round today, we did not find any birds in the nets. That was not very promising.

In the second round, we had three birds in the nets, one of them a recapture.  

After taking out the last bird out of the seven-meter net close to the parking in the station garden, I told Emma that we had caught a rarity. It was a Barred Warbler “Høgesanger”.

Barred Warbler “Høgesanger”. Picture: Emma Gray

There was a lot of time as we had so few birds, so we brought the birds to the observers, as the spring observation spot is very close. Henrik said the Barred Warbler “Høgesanger” is very rare in spring out here, later we looked it up and there was never caught one in spring at Blåvand in all the years, all in the autumn season.

In total, the day gave three new birds and three recaptures. I am hoping for a few more tomorrow.

The moths:

Also, not many moths this night but I also had just one light on. I found three species in the trap and caught a very small and active one on the grass, there are many of these now, but it is a bit difficult to take a picture, I have tried before, and they do not want to keep still. It was Elachrista argentella which was a new species for me.

Elachrista argentella. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Henrik Böhmer, David Manstrup, Joseph Stephan, Levi van den Os, Emma Gray, Marit Nillissen, Thomas Kristensen and Hanelie Sidhu