Her på Blåvand's blog bringes korte nyheder i dagbogsformat om livet og hændelser på fuglestationen.
Træløber, bynkefugl og spætmejse i nettene
Vejr: diset til at begynde med, men efterhånden en flot opklaring med nogen sol. Vind svag fra omkring nordøst. Lidt køligt om morgenen med 11 grader, senere op til 18 grader. Ringe til god sigt.
Det var en diset, men smuk morgen med næsten ingen vind, og det var en anelse køligere end det plejer at være. Der var flere småfugle der gav lyd fra sig i krattene, fx løvsangere og rødstjerter, og én løvsanger gav lige en sangstrofe fra sig en enkelt gang. Der var tilmed at stort fald af stenpikkere hvor mindst 40 gik rundt på bl.a. stranden.
Smuk solopgang i baglandet med lidt dis. Foto: Michael Brunhøj Hansen
Desværre skete der dog noget mere hos Luke i nettene end hos os herude. Enkelte vadere trak forbi en gang i mellem samt nogle småfugle. Der kom en overgang godt gang i svaletrækket der endte med over 700 landsvaler. Flere grønsiskener trækker for tiden hvilket er ret tidligt; vi havde en flok på ca. 25.
En fiskeørn trak højt ud langs revet og fik som sædvanligt mågerne på vingerne. Ellers kun få rovfugle som tårnfalk, spurvehøg og 1 rørhøg.
På et tidspunkt kom der én af de længe ventede almindelige kjover, en ungfugl; det er den 5. denne august.
Tre arter af vipstjerter har været forbi hukket hvor efterårets første bjergvipstjert kom. Stor flagspætte skulle også lige ud og vende.
Luke havde haft travlt om morgenen, så efter morgenobsen traskede jeg tilbage til stationen for at se hvad der var los. Trykket var dog blevet lettet betragteligt da langt de fleste fugle blev fanget i de tidligere morgentimer, men jeg gik med på nogle runder alligevel.
Han havde fanget en træløber i løbet af morgenen, og den blev genfanget på én af runderne så jeg også kunne få den at se. Lidt senere fangede han en noget mere sjælden fugl som var en spætmejse. Mens han var ved at ringmærke den, fik vi en melding fra Bo og Eva om mulig sibirisk/amerikansk hjejle på stranden nær Sabinebunkeren.
Da Luke havde fået mærket spætmejsen, tog jeg hurtigt på stranden for at finde Bo og Eva. Da jeg fandt dem og fik set billederne, kom vi dog hurtigt frem til at det "bare" var en strandhjejle. Så nu har de nogle flotte billeder af en flot strandhjejle.
På vej op mod Sabinebunkeren havde jeg bemærket at der stod flere måger, så dem tjekkede jeg igennem på tilbagevejen. Det lykkedes at få aflæst tre ringe. Én af dem var en 11K+ sildemåge ringmærket som ynglefugl på Lyngøy i Norge lidt syd for Bergen. Den er aflæst flere gang før, bl.a. i Holland og Frankrig, men det er første gang i dag at den er aflæst i Danmark.
Da jeg endelig kom tilbage, var det ved at være tid til at lukke nettene og få lidt at spise.
Bent havde desuden haft en nordlig blåhals (han) i klitterne; Jimmy var omkring middag en tur på Kallesmærk Hede for at finde en mulig markpiber, men den blev ikke fundet.
Træktal: sortand 204, gravand 8, krikand 3 N, mursejler 4, rødstrubet lom 9, sule 21, skarv 55, strandskade 12, stenvender 3, islandsk ryle 17, alm. ryle 3, rødben 3, alm. kjove 1, fiskeørn 1, rørhøg 1, spurvehøg 3, stor flagspætte 1, tårnfalk 4, bysvale 13, landsvale 783, løvsanger 2, jernspurv 3, skovpiber 17, gul vipstjert 4, bjergvipstjert 1 N, hvid vipstjert 2, dompap 2, grønsisken 52 N, rørspurv.
I morgen står den på østen- og sydøstenvind; der er set flere høgesangere rundt omkring, og mon ikke der kommer sådan én til os i morgen.
Folk: Bo, Eva, Bent, Jimmy, Luke, Michael.
It was a much colder start this morning and I ended up grabbing another layer before setting off to open the nets. The cold air had caused a mist to fall, and I was excited to think about what birds awaited in the gloom. The water from the mist gathers on the nets like dew, so as soon as I opened I went round to check the nets, as any birds caught might get a little wet. I had 3-4 birds in each of the first few nets in the lighthouse garden, so I knew it was going to be a busy day. I messaged Bent to say I would need his help and he soon came to the station to take birds out of the nets whilst I ringed them.
In the first net round in the lighthouse garden, I got 25-30 birds, more birds than I’ve caught most days! This included a good number of Redstart, with my first adult male, which is a really stunning bird that I was hoping to catch. I ended up catching two more later in the morning.
Adult male Redstart. Photo: Luke Nelson
I also caught a Treecreeper, an irregular visitor to the station. This was nice to see having recently caught the Short-toed Treecreeper, as I’m now more aware of the differences I need to be looking out for.
Eurasian Treecreeper. Photo: Luke Nelson
In the Station garden Bent had extracted another new species for the season: a Whinchat! Nice to catch another long-distance migrant. We also caught the second spotted flycatcher of the season.
Whinchat. Photo: Luke Nelson
After a couple net rounds it had slowed down a bit, so I could manage on my own, so Bent went out to look for birds. Michael joined me for a net round having finished the morning observation, and as I was telling him about what I had caught there was the Treecreeper in the net again, so Michael got to see it too which he was pleased with. A few nets ahead I got another special bird out of the net, a Nuthatch. This is a rare bird to be caught at Blåvand, perhaps surprisingly so seeing as it’s not an uncommon bird. I think this is the 8th to be caught in the Autumn here!
Nuthatch. Photo: Luke Nelson
As we watched the Nuthatch fly away after I had released it, Michael and I noticed there was a Willow Warbler in the Heligoland trap. Excited at the possibility of catching something in the trap we rushed down to try our luck. We spread out to flush the bird down the trap, but as this was our first time, I fell into one of the ponds (luckily dried up) which I forgot was there, and the Willow Warbler saw it’s escape flying over my head, around Michael and out to freedom. I see this as a trial run for when something rarer is in the trap, now I know to avoid the pond!
I kept the nets open until 13:30, as each net round I was still catching a few new birds but the wind had started to pick up and was going to increase through the afternoon. Plus I was in need of a nap!
In total we caught 85 birds today, my highest number yet! As well as good numbers it was also a nice selection of species. There were clear skies last night and a northerly wind, providing good conditions for migration, then when the fog hit the birds probably went to ground here at Blåvand. Tomorrow might be similar conditions so fingers crossed for another good day. It was nice to be busy, and hopefully the first busy day of many to come!
Species | Ringed | Recaptures |
Dunnock (Jernspurv) | 2 | 0 |
Robin (Rødhals) | 4 | 1 |
Common Redstart (Rødstjert) | 16 | 0 |
Whinchat (Bynkefugl) | 1 | 0 |
Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) | 1 | 0 |
Garden Warbler (Havesanger) | 10 | 0 |
Blackcap (Munk) | 1 | 0 |
Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) | 21 | 0 |
Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper) | 2 | 0 |
Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) | 24 | 0 |
Eurasian Nuthatch (Spætmejse) | 1 | 0 |
Eurasian Treecreeper (Træløber) | 1 | 0 |
Bullfinch (Dompap) | 1 | 0 |
Total | 85 | 1 |