New Winds, New Birds!

Ringing: Closed due to heavy winds...

Observation: New winds are always great, and today was proof of that. Usually, winds from the east and southeast are very good in Blåvand, but yesterday and the day before yesterday were just kind of mediocre. So I (Anton) was certainly happy when I looked at DMI and saw that the wind would quickly switch to a decent (12 m/s) wind from the southwest.

The wind brought both good numbers and good species. As for the numbers, the most notable ones were the 1520 Common Scoters (Sortand), the 15 Velvet Scoters (Fløjlsand), the 55 Little Gulls (Dværgmåge), and the 170 Northern Gannets (Sule) flying by.

And as for the species, the most notable ones were 2 Kittiwakes (Ride), 1 Black Guillemot (Tejst), 1 Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove), 1 Red Phalarope (Thorshane), and 1 Puffin (Lunde). I had never seen a Puffin or a Red Phalarope at sea before (only ever resting), so it was nice to get an impression of how they look in flight far out. The bird of the day, according to Henrik, was however neither the Puffin nor the Phalarope - it was apparently the Black Guillemot. Black Guillemots are quite rare at Blåvands Huk (have I learned today), which I could definitely feel on the way Henrik called it out for us at obs. It had been quiet for five minutes when he suddenly yelled: “Black Guillemot, there's a Black Guillemot! Anton, do you see it?!”. I have never seen him so excited for a bird, perhaps with the exception of the Red-throated Pipit (Rødstrubet Piber) we had earlier in the season. I must admit, I couldn’t match Henriks excitement for the Black Guillemot… where I come from (Fyn), there are several breeding locations close by, and it is a relatively common bird locally. To me, I think the highlights of today must be either the Little Gulls or the decent number of first year Northern Gannets - both things I haven’t seen a lot this year.

The wind tomorrow goes back to the southeast… I am not really sure what to expect, but maybe something good comes by obs. If not, I might have go looking in the bushes for something rare and skulky. Either way, I am hopeful that we can match today's results tomorrow!

Today's observations

At the Station: Mathilde Sif Eiby, Anton Ræbild Jensen, Johan Them Steffensen, Storm Hauris Borum, Helena