Quality not Quantity

The day started with unfounded optimism that only birders can muster in the face of a rather depressing forecast. Despite knowing very well what was to come, we all woke at 5:30 to hope that we could somehow defy the weather. Morten was optimistic as always that the weather may even be in his favour, as he hopefully mused that perhaps the mist would bring the birds into our nets. It certainly brings a new meaning to mist nets.

English phrases are very much in vogue here, and it was quality not quantity that would best sum up the results. A redstart, black redstart and blackbird (which was first ringed here in 2019), were the highlights of our morning. Some more birds would have been nice but, as the Danes would say, Man kan ikke både blæse og have mel i munden – You cannot both blow and have flour in your mouth.

I say our morning, but actually Lisa and I were busy seawatching at this point. The waves had small crests, the drizzle was blowing in from the south and mist made visibility extend only halfway to the horizon. Oh and birds? There were none. After an hour, the weather forced us back inside.

This gave us time to engage in all our other hobbies, because naturally as birders we are not at all narrow minded and are definitely fun at parties with all of our varied interests. So we decided to talk about gulls, in particular considering some of our favourite gulls around the world. I will remember that topic whenever conversation dries up in the future.

The merits of Ross’ Gull vs Mediterranean Gull duly weighed up in sufficient detail, I moved onto insects. I had photographed some insects in the last few days and now took to identifying them. Of note was a ‘cool’ (depending on who you ask) bug that goes by the catchy name of Dimorphopterus spinolae. This has only been recorded in Denmark less than ten times so was a reasonably interesting find.  

By mid-afternoon and with the rain and wind beginning to abate, cabin fever had very much set in. So we all burst outdoors for some exercise and free-time. To passers-by, the front garden must have seemed like a prison yard, with the prisoners getting their hour of exercise time as a variety of stretches and contortions were displayed. Our routines were slightly (and most gratefully) interrupted by Morten showing us a Firecrest that had been ringed (the sixth of the year).

So ends another (un)eventful day at the bird observatory. Tomorrow the forecast is assuredly more optimistic, as are we!

Folk på stationen: James, Lisa, Bianca, Maxim og Morten