Birdingpals Trip Report
Birding with a Pal in Vejlerne, Denmark October 2005
"Shopping center in North Jutland" "Walking the beach" "A local friend I met every morning at the cottage" "Power of sand" "Skaggerrak on a quiet day"
The last day, I had made arrangements to meet Vagn Freundlich, a local Birdingpal at Vejlerne, a well known 6000 hectares(15000 acres)Nature Reserve and
RAMSAR site located in, and part of, Limfjorden. "Nature Interpretation Center" "View from Krap tower"
Vejlerne is home to several breeding birds such as Avocets, Black Terns, Bearded Tits, Water Rails, Spotted Crakes and Bitterns. A large colony of Greylag
Geese also breed here and the reserve is located on a main migration route. In 1993 the Aage V. Jensen charity foundation acquired Vejlerne and built the
Nature Interpretation Center and observation towers. For more details, visit Stig Linander’s web site http://www.linander.dk/stig/vejler_e.htm.
We met Vagn at the center located on the Bygholm dike at 9am and were treated to a tour by an expert birder. Without you, Vagn, we would have missed half
the birds and definitely the Pallid Harrier, where we had a unique chance to compare the hunting techniques of the Pallid, Marsh and Hen Harrier together.
Impressive and Tak(Thank you) Vagn. "Vagn Freundlich (Right) and Rob where we heard the Bearded Titmouse"
Since my sister made me promise to be at her house for dinner, we had to leave some great water fowl and shore birds around 1pm, but still managed to see
some nice birds. "Pink-footed Goose(Kortnæbbet Gås), Photo by Vagn Freundlich"
15) Barnacle Goose(Brangås) "Bearded Titmouse(Skægmejse), Photo by Vagn Freundlich"
39) Blue Tit(Blåmejse) "Bittern(Rørdrum), Photo by Vagn Freundlich"
Knud Rasmussen
by Birdingpal Knud Rasmussen
During a family visit to Denmark, I had the opportunity to spend a week in a cottage located in the small village of Lønstrup in North West Jutland. This
part of Denmark is surrounded by the North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat and Limfjorden and is well worth a visit. During the summer it is a tourist mecca, but
when we were there, we and few Germans and Norwegians plus the locals had the beautiful dunes and beaches to our selves. Well kept farms, small towns
and wind generators make up the landscape; no large shopping centers and monster Wal-Mart stores here! It is a great place to go for a walk early in the
morning, visit a town like Skagen with it’s old houses and museums and enjoy a Danish lunch with a beer in a local restaurant (even if they now serve
“international” food too) and then buy fresh whole sole to take back to the cottage for a pan fried dinner.
Here is the list in English and Danish.
Note: The English names are slightly different to the North American names, since I used Lademanns Fugleatlas, a Danish translation of Walter Cerny’s
“Welcher Vogel ist das”. It gives the names in six languages incl. English and Danish.
1) Great Crested Grebe(Toppet Lappedykker)
2) Cormorant(Skarv)
3) Heron(Fiskehejre)
4) Mallard(Gråand)
5) Gadwall(Knarand)
6) Pintail(Spidsand)
7) Shoveler(Skeand)
8) Teal(Krikand)
9) Wigion(Pibeand)
10) Goldeneye(Hvinand)
11) Shel-Duck(Gravand)
12) Red-breasted Merganser(Toppet Skallesluger)
13) Greylag Goose(Grågås)
14) Bean Goose(Sædgås)
16) Mute Swan(Knopsvane)
17) Common Buzzard(Musvåge)
18) Marsh Harrier(Rørhøg)
19) Hen Harrier(Blå Kærhøg)
20) Pallid Harrier(Steppehøg)
21) Peregrine Falcon(Vandrefalk)
22) Crane(Trane)
23) Coot(Blishøne)
24) Lapwing(Vibe)
25) Ringed Plover(Stor Præstekrave)
26) Golden Plover(Hjejle)
27) Common Snipe(Dobbeltbekkasin)
28) Curlew(Stor Regnspove)
29) Black-tailed Godwit(Stor Kobbersnebbe)
30) Redshank(Rødben)
31) Great Black-backed Gull(Svartbag)
32) Herring Gull(Sølvmåge)
33) Common Gull(Stommåge)
34) Black-headed Gull(Hættemåge)
35) Wood Pigeon(Ringdue)
36) Skylark(Sanglærke)
37) Blackbird(Solsort)
38) Bearded Titmouse(Skægmejse) heard only.
40) Great Tit(Musvit)
41) House Sparrow(Gråspurv)
42) Starling(Stær)
43) Magpie(Husskade)
44) Jackdaw(Allike)
45) Rook(Råge)
46) Hooded Crow(Gråkrage)
47) Oystercatcher(Strandskade)**
48) Collard Turtle-dove(Tyrkerdue)**
49) Chaffinch(Bogfinke)**
50) Crossbill(Lille Korsnæb)**
51) Bullfinch(Dompap)**
** A few birds I remember seeing other places.
Not a bad list for a few hours of birding. Imagine if it was high season!
krkr(AT)sympatico.ca