Doing the closing round at 10 p.m. sounded like a brilliant idea yesterday. However when alarm rang at 4.40 a.m. today we regretted it a bit, especially because there were no birds in nets after sunset. Getting up wasn't so difficult though, as we all are full of hope every morning that new day will finally bring us some bigger numbers of ringed birds. And even though we ringed only ... and some of the rounds were empty, we are not disappointed. For sure it is very helpful to try to take the best even from bad situation, and when we think longer about this passing day, we find more and more positive sides of it. First of all, we caught definitely more birds than yesterday, so it was already a success. Next little highlight was catching relatively many Lesser Whitethroats, so we had some more opportunities to practice ageing them. Moreover, we extracted also some Redpolls and a Chaffinch, so that are another species good for gaining experience. And what seems to be the most significant moment of the day: we caught a Barn Swallow! So now we are sure that keeping nets open until late evening is profitable, even if there will be days with empty closing rounds at 10 pm.
Besides ringing, the day passed really calmly today, so we could take a little nap during the day, I practiced some wood carving, Menno took care of his internship project, Mikkel (who had quite successful seawatch today, seeing a really nice migration of Gannets) had used time to train his martial arts, and after dinner and shopping me and Agata went on a lovely (birdwatching) walk to the dunes. Now we are quickly going to sleep, waiting what tomorrow will bring us.

 
Every species that is new for us obviously needs to be photographed. Photo: Mikkel Bello

Today's beauty - Barn Swallow. Photo: Maciej Wozniak

People at the station: Agata, Menno, Mikkel, Maciej

Complete list of birds caught today (ringed / recaptured):

Landsvale / Barn Swallow: 1/0
Gærdesmutte / Wren: 1/0
Jernspurv / Dunnock: 0/1
Rødhals / Robin: 1/1
Gærdesanger / Lesser Whitethroat: 10/1
Munk / Blackcap: 1/0
Gransanger / Chiffchaff: 3/1
Løvsanger / Willow Warbler: 3/1
Bogfinke / Chaffinch: 1/1
Grønirisk / Greenfinch: 0/1
Tornirisk / Linnet: 1/0
Stor Gråsisken / Lesser Redpoll: 2/0

Total: 24/7

Today started for me at 4:30 with some stretching and breathwork and then off to the counting which is 5:30 now. Because of  the divers and the terns migrating at different heights I asked Menno to help me as it is difficult to cover both the sea and the sky at the same time. Agata and Maciej took care of the nets.
Despite yesterday's good diversity and numbers we had a rather slow day with just over 200 divers. The terns took the show with 700 Common(Fjord) / Arctic(Hav) Terns(Terner) and one Black Tern(Sortterne) which  isn’t common in spring.  No Skuas, and no surprises.


Little Terns. Photo by Mikkel Bello

Today was the day where we were putting up a fence for breeding little terns. So Bent, John and svend Aage came with pastry and buns before we started. We thought or i thought at least that it would take maybe a couple of hours but no it took 6 -7 hours before we were done but a good result it was. Menno was working on his internship and watching the nets as we were working.


Little Tern with green color ring. Photo by Mikkel Bello 


We located 3 Ringed Plover nests and were accompanied with 5 little terns. Around 100 sandelings and 130 Sandwich Terns were resting on the sandbanks while we were digging, measuring and whatever else was needed to prepare the fence. 

Ringed Plover(Stor Præstekrave) nesting. Photo by Mikkel Bello


Ringed Plover eggs. Photo by Mikkel Bello


Dofbasen Link, here

Ringing (new/recapture)
5/0 Robin (Rødhals)
1/0 Blackbird (Solsort)
5/0 Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger)
1/0 Blackcap (Munk)
8/2 Chiffchaff (Gransanger)
8/0 Willow Warbler (Løvsanger)
2/0 Linnet (Tornirisk)
2/0 Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken)


People at the station: Bent, John Frikke, Svend Aage, Menno Maciej, Agata, Mikkel Bello

Today was finally good! My motivation has been pretty low due to the low or non migration that has been. Yesterday was a bit better, but today was above average! With 957 divers, a Black Throated Diver(Sortlom) as well, plenty Arctic/common terns, 5 arctic skuas(Almindelig Kjove), 1 Pomarine Skua(Mellem Kjove) which is the first in dk this season. We also had a serin, and good numbers of lesser black backed gull. And a possible citrin wagtail, Henrik has to look at the recording! 2 little gulls and a fulmar(Mallemuk) is also worth mentioning. So now the motivation is very good again, hopefully may will be a lot better m than April was! 
Edit: After a bit of research the possible Citrin Wagtial (Citron Vipstjeret) is now probably a Olive Backed Pipet (Tajgapiber) which is an even better (rarer) spicies. Lets see 


Pomarine Skua (Mellemkjove) Photo by Henrik Bøhmer 

Today we also had an open ringing day. It was quite nice to see how many people showed up. The first few rounds did not have any birds, so we were a bit spooked that we could not show any birds. Luckely, when it started, we had some birds in the nets. We could show a redpoll, a few chiffchaffs and willow warblers and some blackcaps. One blackcap had fat 7 and weighted over 23 grams, a very heavy bird that already has enough fat to reach her breeding grounds.

Ringing totals (new/recaptures)

Dunnock (0/1)

Robin (1/0)

Redstart (1/0)

Blackbird (0/1)

Lesser whitethroat (2/0)

Blackcap (4/0)

Chiffchaff (9/1)

Willow warbler (5/1)

Chaffinch (1/1)

Greenfinch (0/1)

Lesser redpoll (0/1)

People at the station: Some open day visitors, Bent, John, Leona, Bello, Maciej, Agata and Menno

Dof link: https://dofbasen.dk/search/result.php?design=table&soeg=soeg&periode=dato&dato=01-05-2022&omraade=stor&stor=607&obstype=observationer&species=alle&sortering=dato

Today the ringing was a bit better than the days before. We captured 10 new birds and 3 recaptures. Due to a fox cub that Menno saw in the Helgolandtrap we asume that there is a whole fox family in the lighthousegarden. Because we don't want our birds in the nets to become foxfood we put up a foxtrap that we check regularly.

Bello also had a better day, with okay numbers of divers and terns, but still nothing out of the ordernary actually still a bit under standard. 

When I took out the trash in the kitchen, I gasped. I was very surprised when I found that one of the mousetraps finally worked after nearly 2 months! Sadly it wasn't a living trap. 

A bit of a retrospectif to the last month.

Ringing

In April 508 new birds have been ringed. The most numerous species have been: Chiffchaff (95) and Robin (92). The highlights for me were two collared doves, nine wrynecks (as mentioned previous, this is almost the same amount as the highest season total) and the ring ouzel. Besides that, it has been really nice to see some birds that winter in southern parts of this world. Such as willow warbler, blackcap and lesser whitethroat. Up untill now we did not caught common whitethroat, but we expect that we catch one the coming days. Besides the new birds, we also had some nice recaptures. In total we had 4 foreign controls: a belgian Linnet, a belgian Blackcap, a german Robin and a french Chiffchaff. 

Ringing data (new/recapture)

Dunnock (0/1)

Blackbird (0/1)

Chiffchaff (2/0)

Willow warbler (3/0)

Great tit (0/1)

Brambling (1/0)

Linnet (1/0)

Redpoll (3/0)

Day started better than the day before and first and second round brought us 3 birds (Redpolls and a Robin). During the day we did not catch many birds but we had opportunity to ring a Redwing. It was only 7th one this year. Weather was pretty good in the morning, but after 10 a.m. wind became stronger, what made us close nets just after 1 p.m.
Mikkel however observed more birds than yesterday. He saw almost 4 hundred Red-throated Divers and 2 Ring Ouzels near the camping.
Today we went on a trip to the Fanø lake in order to see Spoonbills and Bluethroats. Unfortunately, we did not see them, but still think this excursion was very pleasant. We saw big flocks of Barnacle Geese and Black-headed Gulls, and some other nice species, like a Common Sandpiper, Wood Sandpipers, Shelducks and many Great Crested Grebes. When we were getting done with this little birdwatching, weather changed and looked really great from then, so we decided to go to some other place to look for our ‘’target species’’. We spent some time near the Tanesø lake, but instead of finding bluethroats we climbed on a little hill and took a short nap on grass. So the rarest species that we saw today in the afternoon were probably black geese that we chased in our dreams.

Ringing (new/recapture)

Robin / Rødhals: 1 / 0

Redwing / Vindrossel: 1 / 0

Blackcap / Munk: 2 / 0

Chiffchaff  / Gransanger: 1 / 1

Lesser Redpoll / Stor Gråsisken: 1 / 1

Total: 6 / 2

Dofbasen link : https://dofbasen.dk/search/result.php?design=table&soeg=soeg&periode=dato&dato=29-04-2022&omraade=stor&stor=607&obstype=observationer&species=alle&sortering=dato
  
People at the station; Maciej, Agata, Bello, Bent, Leona and Menno

Today was another slow day migration wise. Not everyday here can be full of birds, unfortunately. The migration over sea was even so slow that Mikkel was to bored to continue the count. Because of the low amount of birds in the nets, I decided to recontinue the seawatch from the ringing lab. In between the ringing I saw quite some migration of divers and scoters, so I decided to give Mikkel a call that it was not that boring actually. Shortly after the call, Mikkel joined me. During that time, there was some high migration of divers. Besides the divers and terns, we also saw some little terns, gannets and little gulls.

Although there were not that many birds to ring, we caught another new wryneck. This brings the total to 9 and we are only one short of the record of 10. We think it should be possible to catch some more, resulting in a new record number for this species.

For dinner we made a nice bonfire to grill some sausages and patotoes.

Dof link : https://dofbasen.dk/search/result.php?design=table&soeg=soeg&periode=dato&dato=27-04-2022&omraade=stor&stor=607&obstype=observationer&species=alle&sortering=dato

People at the station: Maciej, Agata, Bello, Bent, Leona and Menno

Ringing (new/recapture)

Wryneck (1/1)

Wren (1/0)

Dunnock (1/1)

Robin (0/6)

Black redstart (1/0)

Lesser whitethroat (1/0)

 Blackcap (5/0)

Chiffchaff (2/0)

Willow warbler (6/1)

Chaffinch (1/0)

Lesser redpoll (1/0)

20 new birds over 10 species

In the beginning there was nothing. Or more prosaically saying, first round after opening the nets today was completely empty. We were quite scared that the rest of the day would look the same. Luckily, our fears were unfounded, and next rounds even managed to bring us some unexpected joy. The brightest highlight of the day was a Chiffchaff, or should I say Pouillot veloce, as it already had a French ring on a leg! Bird banding indeed is a wonderful activity because of so many things, like being in touch (quite literally) with the nature, constantly learning, getting to see so many different species from such a small distance, meeting so many amazing people and so on, but it is the recoveries like this that remind us why we are doing it. Collecting data about migration is one of the essential things that we learn by bird banding.
Of course, there were some other nice birds today, like for example a Tree Sparrow, that doesn't get caught so often as we would expect. Moreover, I can't say that we are bored, but for sure we are beginning to be used to Wrynecks - today we ringed three another ones. I am sure that we are all getting better in ageing them and don't think we could be in a better place to gain this experience right now. We also liked the Yellowhammer very much, as it was so colorful and pleasant to look at!
In terms of the seawatch, Mikkel did not have any super spectacular observations today. That does not mean however that he did not see anything. He sighted Little Terns and some migration movements of Divers. Other than that, he had a lot of time and opportunities to watch confused Shelducks flying there and back again.
In the meantime Agata made a dinner that we ate about 4 pm, what seems extremely early for a dinner in Denmark, but is completely normal in Poland. We hope that all of our non-polish friends were pleased with it anyway.

It is always astonishing to see from that close how incredibly yellow can be birds so common as the Yellowhammer. Photo: Maciej Wozniak

People at the station: Agata, Leona, Menno, Mikkel, Maciej

Complete list of birds caught today (ringed/recaptured):

Vendehals / Wryneck: 3/1
Gærdesmutte / Wren: 0/1
Jernspurv / Dunnock: 1/2
Rødhals / Robin: 1/4
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush: 0/1
Gærdesanger / Lesser Whitethroat: 1/0
Munk / Blackcap: 1/1
Gransanger / Chiffchaff: 3/2
Løvsanger / Willow Warbler: 2/1
Skovspurv / Eurasian Tree Sparrow: 1/0
Grønirisk / European Greenfinch: 1/0
Tornirisk / Linnet: 2/1
Stor Gråsisken / Lesser Redpoll: 1/0
Gulspurv / Yellowhammer: 1/0

Total: 18/14

Today was a rather slow day both on the seawatch and in the ringing gardens. We managed to catch 3 new Wrynecks and on the seawatch Bello saw a Little Tern, a Merlin and an Osprey. We had also another two visitors: Lene and Ole which joined a bit for ringing.

Because it was a slow day we closed the nets at the lighthouse after the standard hours were over. Menno had a consult call with his University and continued the ringing in the station garden. So Maciej, Agata, Bello and I decided to go on a roadtrip and check out the Island Fanø, we took the ferry from Esbjerg. When we arrived we went to a small city to get something nice to eat and looked in awe at all these cute little houses. We then also went into a church were we noticed that there was Ships hanging from the ceiling.

Maciej having a nice moment with a cat, Photo by Leona

After we ate a nice sandwich and icecream we checked out the beach in the hope to find some nice species. We weren't disappointed. On the beach we saw a few gulls, lapwings, pied avocets, curlews and got some nice pictures of some seals relaxing in the sun.

Looking at the seals, Photo by Leona

We then went to a place called "fuglekøje". It is an old duck decoy which was formerly used for duck and waterfowl hunting. Between 1960 and 1990 it was used for ornithological research, but now it is only used as a living museum. There also was a tower that Agata and Maciej went up and could see really far. Bello and I practiced birdsongs.

Agata and me looking at a seashell, Photo by Bello

Ringing list (new/recapture)

Wryneck(3/0)

Dunnock (4/3)

Robin (5/1)

Common redstart (1/2)

Lesser whitethroat (0/1)    

Blackcap (2/0)

Chiffchaff (5/2)

Willow warbler (1/1)

Greenfinch (2/0)

Lesser Redpoll (2/0)

Dof link : https://dofbasen.dk/search/result.php?design=table&soeg=soeg&periode=dato&dato=25-04-2022&omraade=stor&stor=607&obstype=observationer&species=alle&sortering=dato

People at the station: Maciej, Agata, Bello, Leona and Menno

Today was quite a busy ringing day with 76 new birds. Some migrant birds that winter more south are starting to arrive at Blåvand finally. Today we caught two pied flycatchers, 5 lesser whitethroats, 13 willow warblers and 5 common redstarts. Today we at least dubbled the season amount for the species mentioned before. Next to that we also caught 9 chiffchaffs, so we almost caught over a 100 of them. Luckely today we were with 5 ringers, so we could all ring some birds. The seawatch was a bit more slow, probably because the wind (North east) did not push the birds to the shore but instead up the sea. After the migration count, did a round in the military zone and found three wrynecks. Besides that, Bello ringed his first birds today.

Wryneck in habitat - Photo by Bello

Today, unfortunately Merit had to leave again.

Ringing list (new/recapture)

Dunnock (5/1)

Robin (7/0)

Black redstart (1/0)

Common redstart (5/0)

Song thrush (5/1)

Blackbird (/)

Lesser whitethroat (5/0)    

Blackcap (20/0)

Chiffchaff (9/0)

Willow warbler (13/1)

Pied Flycatcher (3/0)

Chaffinch (1/0)

Brambling (2/0)

Yellowhammer (0/1)

Dof link : https://dofbasen.dk/search/result.php?design=table&soeg=soeg&periode=dato&dato=24-04-2022&omraade=stor&stor=607&obstype=observationer&species=alle&sortering=dato

People at the station: Maciej, Agata, Bello, Merit, Bent, Leona and Menno