Denmark Trip - Day 4 - Tved, DK to Odder, DK

Summer House, Tved -- Weather sunny. Woke up around 6 AM and had coffee, toasted bread and cheese. I texted our friend Mohamed to let him know we might arrive a little later than 5 PM because Lotte had to go to the graduation ceremony at her school.
Jakob, who we met at the midsummer celebration on the previous night, mentioned he composed and played the trumpet on a piece titled Buchanan Requiem. He said I could find it on YouTube and Spotify. So, I Googled it and found it on YouTube. I’d never heard trumpet played in such a mesmerizing way. It’s an amazing piece of music.

So far on our trip, I’ve added a few new critters to my life list including European Hare, European Goldfinch, Eurasian Blackbird, and Common Wood Pidgeon. I’ve also been able to identify a Common Cuckoo, Yellowhammer, Eurasian Blackcap, Greater Whitethroat, European Skylark, European Green Finch and Common Linnet , with the aid of the Merlin Bird ID app. 

At about 10:30 AM, Carol and I walked to Lotte’s house (.68 miles). The weather was beautiful blue skies with a light breeze, 70-74 deg F. The weather app on my phone predicted a 50% chance of rain for Sunday and 90% chance for Monday. The gravel road to Lotte's house had beautiful golden barley fields on one side of the road and blue-green wheat fields on the other side. Our missing luggage was delivered to Lotte’s house yesterday after noon. We sorted through and organized gifts and food we brought to give to Lotte, Marie, and Erik. Some of the canned food was dented. So, it looked like the luggage had a rough trip.

Around five years ago, Lotte asked if I would be interested in helping one of her students learn English. Her student, Mohamed, had asked her if she knew anyone who he could practice speaking English with. I agreed and contacted Mohamed and we arranged to talk over Skype once a week. At the time, I thought it would only be for a little while. However, as time went on, it became more of a mutual friendship and sharing of ideas and culture as well as helping Mohamed learn to speak English. One of my goals on our Denmark trip was to meet in person. So, Mohamed and I set up a time to meet at his house in Odder at around 5 PM today. It looked like we'd be a little late. So, I texted Mohamed to let him know Lotte, Carol and would be a little late. Lotte left her graduation ceremony early. So, we were able to arrive at Mohamed’s around 5:30 PM. 

Mohamed greeted us at his door and introduced us to his family including father, mother, brother, his brother’s wife and two children. Mohamed’s mother and sister-in-law prepared an amazing meal of stuffed squash, dolma (grape leaves stuffed with ground beef), ayran (yogurt drink), cake with coconut and almonds, tea and fruit.

Mohamed’s family spoke Arabic (Kurdish?) and his mother, brother and sister-in-law could also speak some Danish but little English. Mohamed could speak Arabic (Kurdish), Danish and English and Lotte could speak Danish and English. Of course, Carol and I only spoke English. So, communication ended up being an interesting mix of Danish, Arabic and English.

A nice outcome of our visit was Lotte arranged to help Mohamed’s mother learn to speak Danish better by doing Skype calls every week like what Mohamed and I have been doing with English for the last five years. I knew from my talks with Mohamed that he enjoyed technology and cars, So, I brought him an Amazon Echo and two car Consumer Report magazines. In return, he gave Carol and me watches, perfume for Carol and two books. We left Mohamed’s and since there was less traffic, we drove back through Aarhus rather than the way we came. We then walked to the summer house with Gismo and Lotte. The evening was incredibly beautiful with blue skies and open fields of wheat and barley.

TILT (Things I Learned Today) –

• Lotte’s neighbor, Jakob Buchanan composed and played trumpet on Buchanan Requiem
• I added eleven new critters to my life list
• Dolma are grape leaves stuffed with ground beef
• Ayran is a yogurt drink that tastes like butter milk

Denmark Trip - Day 3 - Tved, DK

Summer House, Tved - Slept well and woke up at about 4 AM to the sound of Common Cuckoo, Eurasian Blackbird and Common Wood Pidgeon which were all new birds for me! Went back to sleep and got up at around 9 AM, showered, had coffee, bread, cheese, and a left-over cookie from the plane. Lotte was scheduled to teach a class to some Vestas employees and said she would be gone until about 1 PM. We were both feeling a bit jet lagged so it felt nice to just hang out enjoying the beautiful weather (partly cloudy 52-66 deg F) and listening to the sounds of birds. 

We went over to Lotte’s house around 1 PM. Since we didn't speak Danish, Lotte agreed to call KLM airlines about our lost luggage. They told her to call a different number which didn’t work. Eventually, Lotte called the Delta number for "lost luggage" and they said they would deliver the luggage later today or tomorrow but would call first. We then talked about plans for next few days. Lotte was planning on going to a graduation ceremony at her school the next morning. After that, we planned to visit a friend named Mohamed at his house in Odder but would need to pick up Marie’s car first. Marie said she had plans Friday night and asked if she could leave her dog, Gismo with Lotte. Marie was also hoping to have a pizza party at her place with us, possibly Saturday or Sunday. On Saturday, we (Lotte, Marie, Carol, and me) planned to go to see Erik compete in the Taekwondo championship in Aalborg.

Later in the day, Lotte was planning to have a “midsummer celebration” at her house. Midsummer is a huge deal in Denmark and Lotte invited neighbors and friends over for food and a bonfire. The celebration was a nice opportunity for Carol and me to meet some of Lotte’s friends and neighbors including Andrii, Natalia, Sevastian, Solomia, Anders, Ann-Dorthe, Susan and Morton, Jakop and Nina Buchanan, Trina, and her son Asbjorn. Food included barbequed hamburgers, chicken, squash, and pineapple. Also, a fresh vegetable salad from Lotte’s garden, beer and vino.

After eating, people gathered around a small bonfire and talked. Later, Carol and I went with Marie to watch the neighbor’s humongous bonfire. Lotte told us her neighbor saves up scrap wood over the year and puts it in a pile that he burns on midsummer.

The size of the fire would have caused a few heart attacks in the U.S. However, it looked like precautions had been taken and a ten-foot-tall bonfire in Denmark didn’t appear to be as big of a deal as it would be in the U.S.

The night was beautiful, and it was quite strange to see the sky still light at midnight! A little later, Lotte drove us back to her summer house where we crashed for the night.

Things I Learned On This Day (#TILOTD) –

• Common Cuckoo birds sound like a cuckoo clock
• Tved, Denmark doesn’t have an entry in Wikipedia
• Tved, Denmark is 10.5 degrees north of Vancouver, Washington
• Hej means Hi and Hej Hej means Bye Bye in Danish

Birds - Birdspotting

Spotted some pretty cool birds last week. Bald Eagle, Wood Ducks & Spotted Towhee at Vancouver Lake Regional Park. Cedar Waxwing, Golden Crown Sparrow & Hairy Woodpecker in our backyard. The biggest surprise though was a Puffin & Rooster in our backyard covered with snow 😯 😂

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)

Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)

Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus)

Puffin (metal sculpture)

Rooster (metal sculpture)

Birds - Bewick's Wren

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Spotted this Bewick's wren (Thryomanes bewickii) on our backyard bird feeder. Bewick's are pretty active & normally I only catch glimpses of them foraging for bugs in the bushes. But this guy was pretty bold & got close enough for me to photograph with my phone. Last pic is him dive bombing me 😂

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)

Birds - Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

It's truly amazing how Anna's hummingbirds are able to survive the cold winters here in the PNW. This guy stayed busy guarding our two feeders from at least two other Anna's. I'm thinking we may need to put up a few more feeders 🤔

Birds - Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)

Found these Tree Swallows at my new favorite birding spot, Shillapoo Wildlife Recreation Area in SW Washington. Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) occur from Alaska east through southern Nunavut to Newfoundland and south to California, northern Arizona, Texas, and Georgia. Fun fact: A group of tree swallows are known as a "stand" of swallows. 

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)

Birds - Redhead

Redhead (Aythya americana)

Just recently discovered a really cool birding spot near Vancouver Lake called Shillapoo Wildlife Recreation Area. It's an ephemeral wetland area that, right now has an amazing amount of waterfowl and song birds. This week I was able to add a Redhead duck to my life list. Redhead (Aythya americana) are not common here in the PNW and would normally be found in their northern or inland breeding grounds this time of year. It looked like there were some younger Redhead with the adults so it's not clear what they were up to.

Birds - Common Yellowthroat

Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) male 

As the name suggests, Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) are a common warbler found in practically every marsh, reed-bed and patch of cattails from coast to coast. Despite that, I feel lucky to have photographed this male and female hiding in the grass at Shillapoo Wildlife Refuge Area. According to allaboutbirds.org, Common Yellowthroats are easy to find during spring and summer in much of North America. Just visit open habitats such as marshes, wetland edges, and brushy fields and listen for the male’s wichety-wichety-wichety song. If you don’t spot one after a while, try making a “pishing” sound; yellowthroats are inquisitive birds and often pop into the open to see who’s making the sound.

Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) female

Road Trip - Seaside, OR

Tillamock Head, Seaside, OR 

Took a drive to the coast to get away from the heat and breathe a little salt air. Seaside, OR is about 90 minutes west of Vancouver, WA and has some nice wide open beaches that are great for walking and as we discovered on this day (June 26), clamming. 

Tillamock Head, Seaside, OR 

Clamming season here closes from July 15 - September 30 but the best time to do it is at low tide which might have explained why there were clammers everywhere. 

Clammers and Glaucous-Winged Gull

I don't usually pay much attention to seagulls because they're kind of hard to ID. Luckily that didn't deter me this time and I was able to photograph and add Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) to my life list.

Glaucous-winged Gull

These gulls are common year-round from coastal Alaska to NW Washington. In the winter, they can be found all along the Pacific Coast and rarely stray far from the coast.

Birds - House Wren

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

I’ve seen a lot of House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) at Vancouver Lake Park but this is the first time I’ve seen one with a nest hole full of babies. I must have taken at least 100 photos before I was able to get this one with the momma and her babies with their mouths wide open.

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) nest with mother and babies

Birds - Red -Breasted Sapsucker

Red Breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber)

Discovered two nest cavities with Red-breasted Sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus ruber) on the west Vancouver Lake Park trail. Both had babies that could be heard from several hundred feet away. I lucked out with the above photo and caught the momma giving stink-eye to her baby who was sticking its head out begging for food right after she just got done feeding it. Sapsuckers get their name from eating sap in holes they drill in trees. They also eat insects attracted to the sap and sometimes catch insects in flight and eat seeds and berries.

Red-Breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber)

Birds - American White Pelicans

Had a surprise encounter on the road to Vancouver Lake Regional Park with a large flotilla of American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) . White Pelican are seasonal visitors in SW Washington. According to Wikipedia, White pelicans are a large aquatic soaring bird that breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Central America and South America, in winter. Preferred habitats include shallow lakes and coastal lagoons.

Note: The Trump administration recently finalized its deconstruction of clean water rules that protect wetlands such as this. The new rules would limit or remove protections for vernal pools or ephemeral bodies of water that appear during the rainy season.

As a result, polluters will no longer need a permit to discharge harmful substances into these bodies of water. Developing or polluting these areas could destroy critical habitat for species that depend on vernal pools for water and food. According to The Center for Biological Diversity, the new rules could accelerate the extinction of more than 75 species. Polluting these ephemeral bodies of water and wetlands could also have impacts on drinking water. An EPA study found that 1 in 3 Americans get some of their drinking water from ephemeral bodies of water. 

Birds - Barred Owl

Had a close encounter of the best kind with a Barred Owl (Strix varia) on a walk at Vancouver Lake Regional Park. I often wonder how many times I've walked by birds like this without a clue due to their excellent camouflage.

Barred Owls are fairly common in woodlands throughout eastern and northwestern US and Canada. In recent decades Barred Owl have expanded their range in northwestern US where it now competes with endangered Spotted Owl.