Today's observations:

My day started out with me falling down the stairs of the bird station and lightly stunning a finger on my (thankfully non-dominant) left hand. With my luck for the day seemingly firmly established, as well as initial strong north-western winds, I had very low hopes for the ringing, which I was honestly fine with if it meant I could give my injured finger a bit of rest. During the first few rounds at the Lighthouse garden, I did, however, get decent ammounts of birds considering the few nets I had open, and my finger, though hurting a bit if strained too much, turned out to not be too much trouble and I could handle the birds almost as easily as normal. 

After winds had died a bit down, and more nets had been opened, I started to get some slightly busy rounds, with Common Redtstarts (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) and European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) clearly dominating the numbers. It was down at the non-standard nets at Krattet that I caught the bird of the day: A young male Redstart with a few pure-white feathers on its crown; it was partially leucistic!!

Young male Common Redstart with some pure-white feathers on his crown, revealing him to be partially leucistic. Foto: Alba M. Holmberg

With the ringing spotlight of the day being established as a male Redstart, I might as well demonstrate how we age them. First off, young (1k) males at this time of year generally have very ill-defined black throats, while the adults (2k+) usually have more obvious black throats, even if the black is hidden slightly by white edges to the feathers. But to be completely sure of the ageing, we look at the wing-feathers, particularly the greater coverts. Below is a picture of the same Redstart, showing off his wing-feathers:

Looking at the wing of the Redstart reveals a clear moult-limit in the greater coverts between the inner adult-type gray feathers, and the outer juvenile-type brown feathers. Foto: Alba M. Holmberg

Notice how the innermost greater coverts are edged gray, while the outer ones have dark-brown centres with buff edges. This is because the outer feathers are of juvenile type, which it grew before leaving the nest, while the innermost greater coverts have been replaced by adult-type feathers during the bird's partial post-juvenile moult. Adult Redstarts at this time of year will have undergone a complete post-breeding moult, where they change all of their feathers, so on such a bird, this type of moult-limit would not be found.  

After standard was over, we kept the Station Garden open for a few hours more, and in total, we managed to catch 51 birds throughout the day, distributed over 46 new birds and 5 recaptures. Not a bad day at all.

At the station: Strummer, Alba, Johan

Another day with northwesterlies spells boring observations. I am getting quite used to the very slow mornings. I get to practice my humming, cloud recognition and general patience, and sometimes theres even birds! The few there were today didn't blow me away. A Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea) came by and got bullied quite bad by some hybrid crows which served as some entertainment. Other than that the time was passed by aging Northern Gannet (Morus Bassanus) and waiting for the morning coffee. 

Todays observations:

Ringing was decent if you put it up against recent days. 23 birds were caught with 8 of them being caught in the last run of the station. Catches were distributed over 12 species giving a nice diversity with some always cool Dunnocks (Prunella modularis), European Pied Flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) and a beautiful adult Eurasian Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) that Strummer could enjoy.

Strummer holding the Eurasian Blackcap (Sylvia Atricapilla) responsible for saving their day. Photo: Strummer Edwards

Todays ringing numbers:

At the station: Strummer, Alba, Johan

Observations:

Today on obs was another decent day.  Johan spent his first day at the September observation point where he had multiple Sparrowhawks (Spurvhøg) and a Gray Heron (Fiskehejre). He also had a single 4k+ Gannet (Sule) which gave good looks.

Todays observations:

Ringing

Ringing today was a similarly slow experience.  We ended the day with 21 birds (17 new, 4 recaptured), with the station being marginally more producting than the lighthouse.  Bulk today were five Tree Sparrow (Skovspurv), which was very nice as we haven't caught too many of them this season.  In the areas they were caught, it was concentrated along where we have been actively clearing out the rose bushes, so hopefully they came into the net as a result of that! 

We also had a few migrants, including 4 Blackcap (Munk), and Willow Warblers (Løvsanger).  Every time we checked the radar it seemed like rain would come in an hour but thankfully we narrowly avoided it each time.

After we closed, I spent a while continuing to clear the rose bushes in the station, making a few deep cuts inbetween the first station net and the long net. 

Today's captures:

People at the station: Johan, Alba, Strummer

Observations:

 A good day with southern winds brought some passerines. I hit the hole and was joined by Bent throughout the morning obs which was a nice addition to the nice weather. Sadly he missed a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) hitting me right in the head within the first hour :/. Other than that miss, we had a lot of decent birds together for the rest of the morning. This included a nice migration of Meadow Pipits (Anthus pratensis) where we had 295 in total, 5 Eurasian Collared-Doves (Streptopelia decaocto), and 2 Great Egrets migrating over the ocean. A general good day with an array of different species and good company

Todays Observations:

Ringing:

Today initially looked promising, with manageable winds coming straight form the south and our weather-apps promising no rain within standard hours. That promise was broken, however, when approximately an hour into standard, a good-sized raincloud was set to move over us. Because of this, we had to close the nets for more than an hour, thus ruining our standard-run of ringing. After the rain had passed, we opened the nets yet again in hopes that we migth enjoy some of the passerine-migration that Johan was seeing, but alas we had little luck, and with only a few birds caught per round, if any at all. 

Although it wasn't a great day numbers-wise, with only 12 captured birds of which 7 were new and 5 were recaps, we still did catch some nice birds. One of the highlights for me was a recapture of a very pretty male Blackbird (Turdus merula), which we caught while Johan was walking with me after returning from obs, and who made a very pedagogical example of how to age young Blackbirds.

Recap of a Blackbird. The black feathers on the body, head and some of the wing reveal it to be a male, and the juveline-type brown flight feathers on the wing, contrasting sharply with the adult-type black feathers, as well as the overwhelmingly black beak and very weak orange eye ring, all point to it being a young 1K bird that has undergone its partial postjuvenile moult. Foto: Johan Them Steffensen 

Another highlight was the very last bird of the day, a beautiful Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs): 

Chaffinch male in winter plumage. Although not as colourful as when in breeding plumage, the male can still be distinguished from the female by the traces of blue on the head and wrists, as well as the pinkish hue on the chest, as opposed to females that are wholly nuances of brown. Foto: Alba M. Holmberg.

 Today's captures:

At the station: Johan, Strummer, Alba, Bent

Observations:

Ringing:

After an amazing day on obs yesterday, the ringing team reluctantly returned to their usual activities.  While it was relatively slow in the grand scheme of September days, we yeilded a few cool captures, particularly a DCB Dunnock (Jernspurv). 

Additionaly, Morten from the DKU joined me on many of the rounds, which made for good conversation about old spring seasons (we spent quite a bit of time mourning the old N1 which would catch so many birds). 

At the station: Johan, Strummer, Alba, DKU

Today marked a day for seawatch. As strong winds, 12+m/s, started overnight and haven't even stopped as of writing this, seabirds were sure to turn up. This was amazing timing as we had the entirety of DKU visiting these days to complete their quality assurance work on DOFBasen. The volunteer team landed in the bunker for standard time and had the best day of the season so far. The star padded observation team turned out 35 Arctic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus) , 1 Long-tailed Skua (Stercorarius longicaudus), 6 Sooty Shearwaters (Ardenna grisea) and and 2 Leach's Storm-Petrels (Hydrobates leucorhous)!

Leach's Storm-Petrel photographed by Henrik Böhmer

The rest of the day turned out 20 more Arctic Skua's and 2 additional Leach's Storm-Petrels. The hardest guests stood their post 6:30-19:15 today, where I had a 2 hour break, but it can definitely be said that we have been putting in the effort.

Todays Observations:

Observations:

 Observations as follows: Still good numbers of Northern Gannets (Morus bassanus) , 235. Decent turnout of Turnstones (Arenaria interpres), 33,  and the calm before the storm tomorrow B)

Todays observations: 

Ringing:

Parting of waters is, in this part of the world, most often associated with the story of Exodus, where the Hebrew god parted the waters of the Red Sea to allow for the Hebrews of Egypt to escape the country. The Egyptians themselves, however, also had experience with magically inducing similar phenomena, as is seen in the Westcar Papyrus, written more than 3600 years ago. The papyrus tells a story of the Old Egyptian king Sneferu (who lived about 1000 years ealier and built the first true pyramid) and how he on a boring day took to sailing on his palace lake, with twenty young women to man the oars. When one of the young women loses a very dear pendant and won't row until she gets it back, Sneferu consults his chief lector Djadjaemankh who, using magic, halves the water in the lake and puts it on top of the other half, thus allowing for the pendant to be retrieved.

Today, Blåvand Fuglestation experienced a silimar parting of waters. Forming out at sea, we saw huge blocks of rain-clouds approaching shore like tidal waves, but instead of hitting us, it's as if the western tip of land just outside the Lighthouse and the accompanying reef speared the clouds in half, forcing the two parts apart and leaving the Bird Station mostly dry, with only light drizzles hitting us for most of the morning. Because of this, we were surprisingly able to complete standard ringing, with us only having to close about 20 minutes prematurely when our luck finally ran out and the proper rain started to hit us. 

Despite our luck with being able to have the nets open, we were not so lucky when it came to actually catching birds in them. In total, we ended up with 13 birds caught, with 10 of them being new and 3 being recaptures. The title of most commonly caught species of the day is a tie between Eurasian Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), Garden Warbler (Sylvia borin) and Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca), with three individualt caught of each. 

The highlight of the day for me was a very pretty young Pied Flycatcher female. Although we've been able to sex quite a few of the 1K (young) Pied Flycatchers we've been catching, almost all of them have been males, with very distinct white markings on the outermost tailfeathers and very dark black central tail and rump feathers. This bird, however, had an entirely light brown tail and rump, with dirty-white markings with diffuse edges on the outer retrices, marking it as a very clear-cut case of a female bird.

Young Eurasian Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca). The light brown tail, completely lacking in blackish-feathers, and with dirty white markings with diffuse edges on the outer tail-feathers marks this as a female Pied Flycatcher. Foto: Alba M. Holmberg

Today's captures:

At the station: Johan, Strummer, Alba, Henrik

Observations:

A nice day with southwesterlies. Today I had Strummer join me from the (st)ringing team, which was a nice addition to the long mornings I've had of late. To have company today was apparently quite good, as we actually had a decent movement of waders. The highlight being good groups of Red Knots (Calidris canutus), where we had 55 individuals, and good big groups of Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) as well, with 61 individuals! Other than that, we are continuing with the streak of high numbers of Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus). These are a pain to count, as it is quite difficult to distinguish if you've already counted an individual, but we think the number 576 we got today was representative.

Todays observations:

Ringing:

Due to precipitation in the early morning, we unfortunately had to postpone any ringing until after standard would be possible to achieve. Instead I opened the nets for a short while (about 1.5 hours) at around 8 am in hopes of maybe catching some cool birds in the southern wind, but those hypothetical birds did not cooperate and I only ended up catching 1 new bird (a male Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)) and two recaptures, one Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) and one Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes). 

Today's captures:

At the station: Johan, Strummer, Alba

Observations:

Ringing:

Today was a very unremarkable day for ringing, with us only just reaching ten birds caught. Of those ten birds, 8 were new birds, and 2 were recaptures, and all of the birds were young 1k birds (meaning they hatched earlier this calendar year), which is to be expected when most of the birds we get are 1k. 

As I don't have much else to write about, I will put a spotlight on one of the most frequently birds caught of the day, that is the Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus). The Redstart is one of my favourite commonly caught birds, and while the males are dazzling with their bright red/orange flanks and black throats (especially the adults), the females, I think, are just as stylish, just in a subdued, but still very elegant, way. Ageing the male Redstarts is usually extremely easy, as the young brown feathers in the wing contrast greatly with the adult-type gray ones, making it easy to spot any moult-limits. The females are a bit tougher, with the adult-type feathers mainly differing from the juvenile-type ones by their denser structure, as well as by having a very faint greyish sheen that the juveniles lack. 

Today, I got the pleasure of ringing two female Redstarts, which gave me some nice practice in ageing them. Both of them were 1k birds having completed their post-juvenile moults, and although I did not get any pictures of the birds from today, I have previously taken some pictures of similar Redstarts that showcase the moult-limit in the greater coverts that we use to age them.

 Wing of a 1k female Common Redstart. The red line points to the moult limit in the greater coverts, where the outer feathers, with brown base-colour and buffish edges, are juvenile-type, while the two inner feathers, with a more grayish base and edges, are adult-type. In an adult (2k+) bird, all of the greater coverts would be of the adult-type. Foto: Alba M. Holmberg, taken 25/8 2026.

At the station: Johan, Strummer, Alba

Ringing

After many days of intermittent non-standard ringing, today conditions finally cleared up for us.  With relatively low western winds, we were able to open all the nets and catch to our maximum potential.  Up in the lighthouse, for the first time this season I was consistently catching 6-8 birds in the early rounds.  Even better, these were clearly migrants, mostly being Willow Warblers (Løvsanger) and Blackcaps (Munk).  Eventually, I had to close because of a small shower for around thirty minutes, with the ringing slowing down considerably after I reopened nets. 

In the station, Alba was having great success (Very nice!) catching Willow Warblers and even three Chaffinch (Bogfinke)! With my two Chaffinch in the lighthouse, we certainly had our best day of the season for them.  Two nice Bullfinch (Dompap) undergoing their preformative moult were also a nice highlight, the male feathers growing in are always a fun suprise.

For me, the highlight of the day was breaking a streak that has been ongoing for almost a month now.  Ever since it has been just me and Alba ringing (so we alternate gardens every morning) I have caught fewer birds than her regardless of the wind conditions, net meters, or gardens we are operating. Even when we are operating the same nets for non-standard, there is a markedly different capture rate between the two of us. After this went on for a few weeks, we officially started calling this a curse. After weeks of pain and no birds, this streak was finally broken, with the lighthouse catching 32 to the stations 28!

For obs, Johan described it as "boring with lots of Gannets (Sule)." To pass the time, Johan had a deep conversation with one of the military members stationed by the lighthouse.  

Todays observation

At the station: Johan, Strummer, Alba