Some News for this season for us!

Observation :

After a wonderful day of birdwatching in Blåvand yesterday, today’s count was slower and more laborious due to the fog returning over the sea!
So, after an hour of counting the migration, Thomas and I focused on the resting birds on the beach. There was still big a huge amount of herring gulls : over 2300 !

Todays observations can be seen here.

Hanelie's mum arrived yesterday and brought us some lovely bird-themed cakes! It was a real boost after the cold activities of the morning.

Karin's Easter cakes, by Clara

--> Answer to yesterday’s quiz: The challenge was to identify the country where the herring gull had been ringed, using the information from the ring. Did you guess ?
The answer was Denmark! <--

Ringing:

Redwing "Vindrossel", picture by Morgan

In the first round this morning, Morgan and I were surprised: The last days, it was so many recaptures, that we took out of the nets. But today, it was manly new birds, and quite a good number, that we brought into the net. Robins “Rødhals”, Goldcrests “Fuglekonge”, and Chiffchaffs “Gransanger” were the top three birds in their numbers, that we caught today. Also in the following rounds, there were still birds in the nets, and in later rounds, we also had two surprises: The first Blackcap “Munk” of the season was in a net in the station garden.

Blackcap, male/ Munk han, picture by Morgan

And in the next round, I took out a Firecrest “Rødtoppet Fuglekonge”!

Firecrest female and Goldcrest male/ Rødtoppet Fuglekonge hun og Fuglekonge han. Picture by Morgan

Finally, the day we had waited for so long, although it is still cold, here at the west coast: The birds are coming and we are really hoping, that it will continue like that!

After a short noon break, it was time to get out of Blåvand: First, we went to Tipperne.

Birdwatching at Tipperne. Picture by Morgan.

The trip was really worth it as we saw many firsts of the season for us: Black-tailed Godwits “Stor Kobbersneppe”, Ruffs “Brushane”, Redshanks “Rødben” and Wheatears “Stenpikker”. Besides that, we enjoyed to see many Lapwings “Vibe”, Barnacle Geese “Bramgås”, Golden Plovers “Hjeile” and a a few Marsh Harriers “Rørhøg”.

Black-tailed Godwit "Stor Kobbersneppe". Picture throug the telescope by Hanelie

As it was so nice, we decided so continue to Skjern Enge, but we only went to the first birdwatching tower, as it started to get a bit late. A nice Whooper Swan “Sangsvane” and some Goldeneyes “Hvinand” were the highlights here, but we are planning to hopefully do one more trip to Skjern Enge and spend some more time there in the next week, as it is a large and very nice area!

It was a long and eventful day and now we are all happy and tired and ready for bed to be fresh again tomorrow morning!

At the station: Thomas Kristiansen, Henrik Bøhmer, Clara Delahaye, Morgan Barmer, Hanelie Sidhu and Karin