The courtship display of little terns !

Observations:

What a lovely day!
Lots of common scoters [sortand] were migrating north – over 2,500 of them – plus more than 50 migrating sandwich terns [splitterne] and the first little terns [dværgterne] arrived!

Jorn and I were lucky enough to observe the courtship displays of two little terns for quite some time and at very close distance.
One of them (presumably the female) stood on the beach while the male fished out at sea. He then brought her a fish whilst displaying, and they stayed on the beach for a while before flying off. This exchange of fish is part of the courtship display, it can demonstrate to the female that the male is capable of bringing back fish and subsequently feeding their offspring. Soon, various pairs of little terns will come to nest at Blavand !

Later that afternoon, I went for my usual walk towards Sabine’s bunker and then into the inland. There I saw a common toad up close. It pretended to be dead, lying completely still, no doubt to avoid attracting the attention of a predator whilst it was in the middle of the road.

Then I found a nest full of caterpillars; when I showed Hanelie the photos, she managed to identify the species: Melitaea cinxia.

Finally, below is a drawing of two species of thrush. I am learning the differences between the four most common species and thought that some scientific drawings might help me memorise them.

Todays observations can be seen here.

A little tern [dværgterne] resting on the beach, by Clara



Scientific drawings to recognize the fieldfare [sjagger] from the redwing [vindrossel], by Clara

  

A common toad, Bufo bufo, in my way, by Clara




Lots of caterpillars out of their nests from the butterfly specie Melitaea cinxia, by Clara


Ringing:

Treesparrow "Skovspurv". Picture by Rose.

This morning was very clam and Rose and I could open the nets as usual. We had a good first round, but as the day was very sunny and clear, it slowed down soon. We had many Chiffchaffs “Gransanger “ in the nets, I am everyday hoping for more Long-distance migrants to arrive, but today was not the day. Rose was happy to ring a Tree Sparrow “Skovspurv”. We see them the bushes in front of our window every day, but they rarely go into the nets. I like Sparrows in hand too, they are so round!

The moths

I had seven different species of moths today, three were new for the season. It is getting worth to make a list again. Besides that, I am entering all the moth, that I am catching here on three different observation databases: Arter, Obsidentify and Inaturalist.

Chesias rufata "Rustrød gyvelmåler". Picture by Hanelie

Earophila badiata "Brungul bladmåler". Picture by Hanelie.

This evenig  Mathilde, Lise and her dad will visit and stay for one night, and we are looking forward to welcome them every minute!

At the station: Clara Delahaye, Rosemary Fricke, Hanelie Sidhu, Jorn de Jong, David Manstrup, Mathilde Lundt Larsen & Lise Mastrup and her dad