Agger Tange

The Eurasian Curlew, also known as the Common Curlew, is Denmark's largest wader. It has a length of 50-60 cm (including a 10-15 cm long bill) and a wingspan of 90-105 cm. Light and robust, it has a long neck, long grayish-blue legs, and a long, downward-curved bill with a pale inner part, which can be quite exaggerated in length in females but considerably shorter in young birds, where it can be almost the same length as the bill's clear base.

The Eurasian Curlew primarily finds its food on tidal flats, where it can use its curved bill to follow the path of lugworms and pull them up without breaking them. In addition to lugworms, it also feeds on snails, insect larvae, crustaceans, mollusks, and even berries. It's mainly the females, with their slightly longer bills, that search for food on tidal flats, while males are more likely to find food in meadows, where they inspect cow dung for insect larvae.

The Eurasian Curlew breeds on Agger Tange.

 is a super elegant flyer and it holds the record for the bird that covers the most distance during its migration. Arctic Terns that breed in North Greenland, for example, can travel all the way down along the coasts of Europe and Africa, around South Africa, and further to Antarctica!

Denmark is one of its southernmost breeding areas. In National Park Thy, it breeds at Agger Tange, where it benefits from the artificial bird island located east of the spit, near Svaneholmhus. The Arctic Tern actually builds its nest directly on the beach, making it very vulnerable to both human disturbances and nest-predating predators like foxes, minks, and raccoon dogs.

The Arctic Tern is slimmer with a longer tail and shorter legs compared to the Common Tern (seen in the picture below). The adult Arctic Tern has a darker red beak, while the Common Tern's beak is orange-red with a black tip. The Little Tern, with a yellow beak and black tip, is only half the size of the Arctic Tern. All three tern species can be found on Agger Tange, and you can also see beautiful drawings of them in the bathroom at Lange Mole, painted by Carl Christian Tofte. 

The beautiful white spoonbill is not actually a stork; it belongs to the ibis family and is the only bird in this group, mainly consisting of tropical birds, that breeds in Denmark. However, the first part of its name is accurate because the spoonbill's distinctive beak forms a small spoon that it moves sideways through the water. This feeding method helps the bird locate small fish, insect larvae, snails, mussels, and crustaceans, which make up its diet.

The spoonbill immigrated as a breeding bird to Denmark in 1996 and is now seen in several places in the country, although breeding birds have not been found outside of North and West Jutland.

The spoonbill prefers open coastal areas, lagoons, and river deltas and nests on small islands, often associated with colonies of silver gulls. It is essential that these islands have dense reed vegetation, are free from foxes and other small predators, and experience minimal human disturbance. After the breeding season, the breeding birds from Northern Jutland gather in Vejlerne, where they build up the necessary fat reserves before migrating to their wintering areas in West Africa.

In National Park Thy, you can often see spoonbills in the lagoon on Agger Tange from late spring throughout the summer. However, the park has yet to confirm breeding birds within its boundaries.

The whooper swan is similar in size to the mute swan but can be distinguished from it by its yellow beak, which lacks the mute swan's black knob. Its neck is held straight, in contrast to the S-shape of the mute swan. Unlike the mute swan, the whooper swan has a high and melodious trumpeting call. This is because the bird's trachea has a special extension that lies in a deep hollow in the sternum. It is an unforgettable experience to hear the almost melancholic song of the whooper swan, which can be heard from a great distance on calm evenings or nights.

In Nationalpark Thy, the whooper swan is the bird of the winter half-year. They arrive in Thy in October and migrate north again in March-April. During the first couple of months, they search for food in lakes and shallow fjord areas and bays, where they feed on aquatic plants. Later on, they primarily find their food on land, foraging on agricultural crops outside the boundaries of the national park.

In recent years, a growing number of whooper swans have started to overwinter in Denmark, and the species has also reintroduced itself as a breeding bird. It is estimated that there are 12-15 breeding pairs in the country, although none as of yet in the national park.

The whooper swan has been fully protected since 1931.

The greylag goose measures 75-90 cm in length and has a wingspan of 150-180 cm. It is the largest of the so-called greylag geese. Compared to other greylag geese, its body is plump, the neck somewhat thick, the head large, and the beak long. It has an orange-red beak without black markings and flesh-colored legs.

The greylag goose was common in the mid-19th century but declined significantly due to year-round hunting, which was allowed at the time. In the early 20th century, the population in Denmark was reduced to only 20 pairs, after which hunting restrictions during the spring season helped the population recover. Today, the Danish population consists of more than 15,000 pairs.

Simultaneously, both the winter population and the number of migratory birds have increased. Surveys have shown that in September alone, there are around 30,000 greylag geese present at places such as Agger Tange, Ove Sø, Vejlerne, and heathland areas near Lyngby, Ålvand, and Hanstholm Wildlife Reserve.

The significant increase in the past four decades is likely due to further hunting season restrictions and the establishment of reserves with hunting bans at overwintering sites in Spain and Holland. Additionally, milder winters and the more widespread planting of winter crops have contributed to this growth.