Thunderling or Sunderling?

Thunderling or Sunderling? Both, I would say! The day started with thunder, continued with sunshine, and finally gave way to a grey sky. While heading to the observation post, I wondered if the day would be good since the conditions were reported to be unstable: relatively weak wind, coming from the east during the first hour, then from the south, and finally from the west by late morning. Yesterday was a good day in terms of diversity, so I was hoping for a similar day today. It turned out to be even better!

The birds migrated continuously in very small groups from sunrise until nine o'clock. I saw all ages: there were adults and juveniles for almost all the species where age can be determined. There was a remarkable number of Stor Præstekrave (90) and Strandhjejle (59).

In total, a little over 800 waders, which isn’t extraordinary, but I didn’t have time to catch my breath because I was all alone. What’s tricky when you’re alone is that at the end of each 30-minute period, you have to write down the most important counts in the notebook and reset the clicker. This means you’re not looking through the telescope for about thirty seconds, so you have to bet that no flock will pass by at that moment. This morning, I suspected I was missing birds while writing, so I wrote in two stages, glancing at the telescope, and each time, bingo! That’s when I spotted the best birds. Of the 8 Storspove I saw, all 8 passed by while I was sneakily watching the sea as I was writing. The same story for the only Mudderklire of the day, which I recognized thanks to its distinctive flight. Next time, I’ll ask the birds to take a short break on the beach while I’m writing in the notebook.
Here are the species I recorded (excluding terns and gulls):

Pibeand
Krikand
Fløjlsand
Sortand
Strandskade
Strandhjejle
Hjejle
Stor Præstekrave
Storspove
Lille Kobbersneppe
Mudderklire
Rødben
Sortklire
Hvidklire
Stenvender
Islandsk Ryle
Krumnæbbet Ryle
Sandløber
Almindelig Ryle
Sule

At the end of the “standard time,” I was very eager to continue observing, but I also wanted to photograph the Strandhjejle. By the time I went to get my camera, the wind had turned west, and I didn’t see any more Strandhjejle, only Strandskade, Islandsk Ryle, Rødben, and mixed flocks of Almindelig Ryle/Sandløber/Stor Præstekrave.

Here are some photos: