Aarhusbirder: Melanitta Mayhem

torsdag den 14. februar 2013

Melanitta Mayhem

Blåvand is the westernmost point in Denmark. It is famous among danish birders as a rarity magnet. For Melanitta-ducks it is the place in the Western Palearctic. All species and or forms have now been seen here. The first record of American Scoter was in 2003 and a bird has been seen most years since then, an Asian White-winged Scoter (stejnegeri) was present in the winters of 2009-2011 and this winter has seen the discovery of an American White-winged Scoter (deglandi).

We arrived in Blåvand just as the deglandi had been refound by Lennart Pedersen and Tim Andersen. They just put the news out so unfortunately the bird was not in view. We quickly refound the bird and had quite good views as the bird was foraging in the within the flock closest to shore. After a few minutes the bird flew further out with two Velvet Scoters and the distance made it almost impossible to id later on. We checked the scoters for the long-staying American but without luck. Our luck was to continue though as visiting birder Troels Eske Ortvad (finder of the deglandi) called us about with the news that Henrik Haaning Nielsen had refound the scoter at nearby Hvidbjerg Strand. The bird showed really well and we enjoyed good views. Suddenly Thomas W Johansen reported an americana about 100 meters further southeast with the other bird still present. TWO americana's within 100 meters of each other!!! Both birds were seen displaying and were present throughout the hour we spend there. If you want to try your luck with the ducks it is good to be at the site from sunrise as the sun will be in your way from around midday and on.

12/2 American Scoter, Hvidbjerg Strand.

With both melanittas out of the way we decided to have a look around. Blåvandshuk did not provide any good gulls with a distant Peregrine our best sighting there. The marsh in the northern part of Ho Bugt had good numbers of geese with 111 Tundra Bean Geese (new record for Jutland??), 56 Whitefronts and hundreds of both Pinkfeet and Greylags.

Esbjeg Harbour did not provide anything really good though arrival of Lesser Black-backed Gull (intermedius), our third Peregrine of the day and various waders were nice sights. An interesting gull seemed not quite to fit into any category. The day ended in the marshes south of Esbjerg without anything of interest. A good day that saw Yann climb to an astonishing 129 species on his Danish list. Rumors have it that he has since reached 130...