More Pipits!!!

Ringing

Observation

Today was a much slower day than yesterday. The weather was nice, but the weak wind from the west-northwest gave lower numbers of birds migrating through. The most dominant species were the pipits, with over 240 Meadow Pipits (Anthus pratensis) flying past, and the loons, with over 320 Red-throated Loons (Gavia Stellata) flying south. Good numbers of Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) and Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) were also seen, but otherwise most of the numbers were quite low.

Just as the obs of today were shaping up to be a bit boring, Henrik suddenly shouted, “Listen, Richards Pipit!” as a pretty sizeable and heavy Pipit flew close by us. The Pipit gave off clear and loud vocalisations that sounded nothing like what you would expect of a Pipit - the sounds were almost sparrow- or lark-like. 

Richards Pipit (Anthus richardi) was yet another species I (Anton) have never seen before, and it is the sixth species of Pipit we have seen at obs in just the last seven days! Now we only need Blyth's Pipit (Anthus godlewskii), Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta), and Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris) to have seen all the Danish species of Pipits at obs this season