Capricious weather

Morgen observation:

I dag var vinden ret kraftig fra NV, så forventningerne til fugletrækket var ikke ligefrem i top. Derudover trak det voldsomt op til regn, og de mørke skyer samlede sig tættere og tættere over både stationen og Hukket.

Efter to timers obs begyndte det at dryppe på Henrik og mig ude på obsposten. Og så mørke som skyerne var, vidste vi godt, at det kun var et spørgsmål om tid, før det ville stå ned i stænger. Vi pakkede derfor hurtigt sammen og satte kursen mod stationen.

Kort tid efter vi var kommet i tørvejr, brød regnen for alvor løs, og det så ikke ud til at stoppe foreløbigt. Så i stedet brugte vi tiden på at hygge og snakke lidt og tage os af små gøremål på stationen.

Selve trækket i de to timer var ikke imponerende, men vi fik dog nogle højdepunkter: En kaldende tinksmed, en stor flok småspover, og selvfølgelig – som næsten altid – var det dejligt med et par almindelige kjover.

Ellers bestod trækket mest af strandskader, og blandt rastefuglene var det især sortænder, der lå langs hele kysten. Desværre stod vandet så højt, at de fleste måger måtte finde andre steder at raste.

Nu håber vi på lidt bedre vejr i de kommende dage – og måske, snart, at den skråpe dukker op. Hvis ikke før, så ser onsdag i hvert fald lovende ud!

THK

Ringmærkning:

August does not bring sunshine unfortunately! This morning, Martina and I opened the nets at 5 am, but we had to close them prematurely at 7 am because it started raining at that time and was expected to continue until early afternoon. We were by the way able to rest in the house after that. Then, we reopened the nets from noon to 5 pm, and we had a nice surprise when we caught a Garden warbler, which is a long-distance migratory bird not breeding in the near surroundings. So another sign that migration is truly on - we just don't get to notice it much, since the weather is not on our side. But soon it will get better (famous last words...).

A young Garden warbler

Another nice bird was a common whitethroat we recaptured, that had been ringed here last year in May. That means, it is probably breeding somewhere in the area but not very close, otherwise it would probably haven been recaptured before. Anyway, good to see you again and safe travels to the south!

Despite the fact that we had again very few birds, we, again, had a large variety, as you can see in the table.

The unstable weather and the way the weatherforecast doesn't manage to tell us with any certainty if and how much and how long it will rain, makes it a little hard for us to make plans. We will just take life as it comes and try to open the nets whenever we can, because even though way to strong to catch birds, the winds will turn south next week meaning that next week ... (not jinxing it!)

Kim and Maria left around 10 am, and we thank them again for the delicious and lovely dinners they prepared.

EC

Folk på stationen: Estelle Cumin, Thomas Kristensen, Martina Hillbrand, Henrik Bøhmer