Best Birding Weekend!

There had been strong North(North)Western winds the past days and there were a lot sightings of Pomarine Skuas. Fortunately my school ended early and after I got my gear I was off to Muiden.
I think I have to explain some things for the foreign readers. My county lies inland but has an open connection to the (wadden)sea, therefor seabirds can fly into the long stretch of water but they have a lot of methods to migrate elsewhere but my county.
The black circle is Muiden, the red area is my county, the black dots are (what I believe) the best seawatching post in the Netherlands. The upper purple arrows mark the normal migration pattern, the lower purple arrows mark the migration with strong Northern winds. When there are hard winds from the N(N)W some birds tend to migrate inland (black arrows), but when those winds are not fierce enough and dure to long they migrate the way of the pink arrows. But when the winds are good and the time is right, the birders from my county all hope for the birds to migrate along the green arrows, that's the way we can see them within the borders of our county and at quite a good range (compared to some seawatching spots).

(This figure and text is how I see it, it doesn't necessarely means that it IS this way)

9-11:
As I was cycling through Muiderberg (few km east of Muiden) I got a text message from Jeroen who was already on the location and had seen various Pomarine skua's. When I got to the place Jeroen had to go because he had to work but told me that Ruud (who was on the Dashorstdijk just a few km. north of Muiden, saw 2 Pomarines flying south) Jeroen told me that whenever Ruud said that, he'd see them. I settled and waited and half hour, nothing showed but a few distant Little gulls, Frans v. Lier joined me and after 15 min. talk I noticed 2 skua's making their way towards us. I've never seen Pomarine Skuas untill that point but it was clear that these 2 were Pomarines, an adult and a juvenile. I followed them with my scope and had great views of them, they came closer and closer and I got my camera just in case, the juvenile flew right over my head while the adult bird passed within 30m!! STUNNING!!
I quickly regained the ability to think clear and started to look for more. Frans had to go and shortly after he left the wind became stronger. I put on another sweater pulled my hat over my ears. Then, my heart stopped.. I noticed a small black bird flapping it's wings while holding it's paws stretched, it was as close as 50 m. away but I couldn't identify it straight away because I never seen anything like it. I pulled myself together and made myself realise that I was looking towards my first Leach's Petrel! I could check every feature while it made it's way, very slowly, to west. Harry joined me and I noticed another Leachs Petrel but further away than the first.
We saw 11 more Pomarine skuas, 1 Arctic skua and 2 Grey Plovers.

10-11:
Martijn and I were the first in Muiden (even after we checked some other cr*p).
We didn't see a thing and started to think if we wouldn't go and see something else, Peter joined us and immediately saw 2 Pomarine skuas flying west. After a few RB mergansers and Dunlins I noticed a smal black-and-white bird near the end of the pier, it was mobbed by a Great Black Backed gull, in my mind I knew it but I didn't dare to shout it. About 30 seconds later Peter shouted: Little Auk, flying West near the end of the Pier! Martijn and I got on it straight away and saw it beautifully and it even landed (with the same GBBG mobbing it!). We called, shake hands, cheered, it was the first Little Auk for my county since 1959!! Hans and his female gang came,followed by Diederik. Diederik noticed the second Little Auk which showed even better than the first. Not gonna bore you with the rest but we did see: 1 Velvet Scoter, 3 Common Scoters, 5 Black-Legged-Kittiwake, 6 Pomarine skuas, 2 Long-tailed ducks and 1 Black-throated Loon (unfortunate beyond the boundaries of my county..).

11-11:
I decided to be social this morning and have breakfast with my dad. Bit of a mistake when I came in Muiden, turned out that I missed the best county bird so far: Northern Fulmar..
Pitty, but I didn't weeped for long and started to look for some proper birds. There were lots of people around, and it was really nice and we had good laughs.

Can't even remember what we saw first, but I bet it was a Little Auk, stunning little creatures and I even found one that was present for quite a while, I saw 5 of the 6 in total. 1 Common scoter was present for a while, a fem/imm Long-tailed Duck made it's way back north, 3 Kittiwakes drifted west and a few Pomarine skuas did so too, 1 Red-throated Diver plunged quite near but we couldn't find it afterwards. Hans got a call from Ruud who was on the same spot in the norht as he was before, a first CY Glaucous Gull was flying toward our county. A possible first county species for all of us, it wasn't 'till long when Hans shouted: I got it! Within seconds we had all good views on it, stunning bird.

A male Peregrine flew west as did 1 imm. Hen Harrier. Ronald noticed a small bird (wader) flying just behind the piers, I couldn't find it at first but when it flew into my telescope view the other people had already id'd it as a Grey Phalarope, a absolutely magnificent county bird, it even landed long after everybody looked at it. Harry had a good time afterwards, he saw a Arctic skua (easiest skua in my county) which made that he saw every skua in our county! I think Ruud has them all too, I'm glad I do too =D

^Adult Pomarine skua, first picture of this species in my county? Probably, but stunning even if it was the 188th.

18!!

Turned 18 today and send my share of the CO2 gasses into orbid right away.
Driving was a fun experience, a bit scary too though. But no real twitcher can go without a license so I have to do it ;-)

Finally!

Finally, a picture of the stunning good looking lad adding this page!!
The Greek God standing next to me is my good friend Diederik who apears to find it realy funny to dip all kinds of rare species, but I don't think he gives a sh*t.
Oh, the thing I do with my fingers, don't blame me, Menzie taught me..

Something else: Lauwersmeer

I didn't posted something for like a million years, so, here goes.

The Lauwersmeer is something mystical for every (Dutch) birder, we all know the stories when you were younger, rare birds everywhere and common birds in high numbers.
At least I had those feelings with the Lauwersmeer, and today was the day I went there for the first time, realy special!
We departed a bit late but it wasn't a real problem. The Ezumakeeg is realy cool, although it was a bit empty we did managed to see some birds like: Common Greenshank, Wood sandpiper, Curlew, Ruff, Snipe, Spoonbill, Common sandpiper, Golden plover and a few Avocets.
This Spotted redshank and Marsh harrier were also present.

^Spotted redshank
^Marsh harrier

A group of terns flew by of which i identified at least one as a certain Arctic! While we were driving and checking for any Kingfishers, Jan and I noticed a stork that was easily identified as a Black stork! The bird almost flew against the car, we chased it and from the car I could take this picture, I'm realy happy with it!

^Black stork

The promised Glossy ibis wasn't present in the Bandpolder so we went to the Jaap Deensgat, Jan noted 2 storks wich turned out to be juvenile Blackie's! They were a bit distant though. From the hide we had great views on Caspian tern, Peregrine, Spoonbill, Spotted redshank (250!!) and a few Black terns. 6 Ruddy shelducks were resting.

^Caspian tern

Behind the hide there grew some of these great flowers: Grass-of-Parnassus.
When I was checking a few Yellow wagtails a Green sandpiper flew by. When I turned around there was (again) a Black stork in the air, this time an adult, it landed on a huge distance.

^Parnassus

We went to the harbour to have a quick lunch, there were Wheatears and wagtails on the dike and Little, Sandwich and Black terns feeding, I never seen Little so close.
We then checked Paesens which is a good place for waders, when you are in the right period which we were obviously not! Though I managed to see some birds: Grey plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Curlew and 1 Dunlin.

Around 8:00 we started driving south again. Lot of Black kites and few Red brothers were along the road, 1 Turtle dove perched on a whire and a brief view of a Cirl bunting wasn't satisfying for me. My dad wanted to see the bridge near Millau so we drove there, came across another old bridge referred as the 'Eifel towers bigger brother', 2 Crag martins flew by and 1 Black kite was heading east.


^Black kite

The bridge near Millau is quite impressive, there were lots of people around but I did manage to see some nice birds here. 1 Clouded Yellow was present and also lots of grasshoppers. When I started to check the hills I noticed a sound nearby that was a bit familiar, a Cirl bunting! I got a few crappy shots of it before it flew of. A Short-toed Eagle made it's way across the sky and after a quick search I found a few hanggliders and 6 Griffon Vultures among them! Very cool birds and although they were a bit distant I got great views of them.

^Cirl bunting, male

^Griffon vulture, note the broad wings and short tail..

We drove through the Cevennes that gave me a great opportunity to have good (car) looks of Short-toed Eagles, 3 Montagu's harriers were alongside the car near Millau. Craq martins flew by and the first Bee-eaters and Rollers started to appear. We couldn't find a good place for the night. Near Paulhan I saw lot's of Bee-eaters and 1 Hoopoe, few Serins and 2 Rollers, the most amazing bird was a Blue rock thrush that flew along with the car for a few seconds and gave great views. We finally found a place to sleep near Beziers, 2 Green woodpeckers flew by (very high, migration?), Serins and Crested larks were calling.

And we're off, on the 19th of July my dad, mum and I went for a 2 week trip to Spain and France. We decided we would sleep twice in a motel before heading for our house in Spain (where my uncle had stayed the week before). The first stop was near Le Rabot at Motel des Bruyeres, it had a swimming pool, huge 3 person cabins and an amazing forest behind it.
First picture to be taken was from the car of this female Blackbird that perched next to a stop sign.


^Blackbird, female

Near our cabin few Serins were singing together with some Greenfinches and Golfinches. In a small pond there were a lot of Small red Damselflies, Blue tailed Damselfly and a Coypu. In the forest a lot of Green woodpeckers were calling, as were some Bullfinches, Barn- and House martins flew by. This female Sooty copper showed well, as did some Brown Emerald Damselflies.

^Sooty Copper
^Brown Emerald Damselfly
^Coypu

One huge Bog!

What do you want on a Sunday that might be sunny, a beer? sleep 'till 12:00? Or getting up around0 5:00 and go for 1 huge bog? I went for the latter, together with Pim J. who (fortunate for me) picked me up in front of my house. 1.5 hour and 3 dead Hedgehogs later we arrived at the Fochtelooerveen (don't try to pronounce that, please..) finding it filled up with fog so we went for an other walk close-by.
While Pim was phoning his wife I suddenly located a Corncrake that was calling nearby and after a couple of yards we heard another one calling closeby, I even got to make a recording that can be heared here : http://waarneming.nl/sound_details.php?id=504
Thx to Menzie I even got to make a Sonogram (above), I can't tell you much about it though. The Corncrake repeated it's song 5 times, the bending thingie in between is a Linnet (clearly audible on the recording). We heared 3 Corncrakes in the area, couple of Yellowhammers, manny Linnets and 1 Whinchat. 1 Siskin flew by as we drove to the next walk.

We made a walk through another area next to Fochtelooerveen, few Goldfinches feeding, 1 Crossbill flew over our heads and 1 smexy Red-backed Shrike male in the bushes, Pim spotted a female after that close by. A pair of Whinchats perched quite nicely.
We ended up right next to the Fochtelooerveen so we figured we'd make a walk there instantly, I was very excited with my first Small Red Damselfly, it was a dull female though there were some males present:

Winchat seems to be very common in these parts of Holland, I rarely get to see them in my county. Few Stonechats present and again a lot of Linnets.
Next we drove to one of Hollands most extraordinary hides, it's shaped like a 7 and is 16 meters high, we got good views on Common Cranes and Hobby's. Het Fochtelooerveen is the only place in Holland where Cranes breed, they started in 2001 and in 2005 even 2 pairs! We saw 5 birds including 1 juvenile, unfortunate we didn't see the Short-toed Eagle that has been lingering there for years now.

^The hide of all hides

^PJ


The Cranes were a bit distant but I managed to get 1 'decent' shot.


The Fochtelooerveen, really large, compare with the White wagtail in pic. 2

The wagtail was so close to the tower that with 20x you could hardly get the entire bird on screen, so I made a close up.

While I was photographing a Ringlet this damselfy flew by, it was a White legged Damsefly, a new species. When I reported the sighting I got a message that it was the first White legged for the Fochtelooerveen ever..


This Sooty Copper was near the parking lot.


We then dropped by the only place in Holland where Red-necked Grebes breed regurly, a lot of Yellow Wagtails on the road to the hide.


And again the northerns have developed a strange kind of hide, you have to walk 162 meters underground in order to climb a stair to the smallest hide ever ;-)

Diependal is sort of an oasis for birds, in the middle of all kinds of meadows there is this huge water area with reed. 2 Spoonbills were present, as was 1 Great white Egret. Pim found the first Red-necked and Black-necked Grebe of the day. When I was trying to get a glimpse of the closest Red-necked Grebe I noticed 2 swans, they were swimming away from me so I couldn't see their beak. When they started foraging 1 of them showd his lower jaw (underside of the beack) and that was yellow! With Mute swans that part is black (sometimes lighter but never yellow), when 1 turned his head it was clear to me that I was looking at the only pair of Whooper swans in Holland atm, really cool! At another hide there were 12 Black-necked Grebes, 2 Goldeneyes (!) and 1 Red-necked Grebe.

^Spoonbill
^Red-necked Grebe

We drove home, well, I thought we did. Pim had other plans, we stopped at the Vossemeerdijk near Kampen and had a look at some flamingo's, 10 of them were Chilean and 3 Greater, another new species for me!

^2 Greater Flamingo's ^1 Greater Flamingo (right)

In Flevoland we had good times seeing some Foxes and a female Montagu's Harrier.

East Sailor Marshes

In Dutch it's called Oostvaardersplassen (or, more commonly, short: OVP) literally translated in English it's called: East Sailor Marshes. The first time I went there was in the winter of 2002, I saw my first Hooded crows and Peregrine, and even discovered a Ruddy duck.
I visit the OVP quite frequently (once or twice a month I think) and got the opporunity to visit it on 4 July and 6 July. On both days I made the same route but on 6 July the weather was pretty poor.

I especially wanted to see Turtle doves, I never got the chance of seeing them perched on a whire or something, bit of a shame...
Near Almere Hout was the first stop, 3 Turte doves were the first birds to notice! A shame they where only migrating. Few Linnets and a Common Whitethroat present allso.
Near the Wulpweg (all the roads in this part of Flevoland are called after some birds like Great Bustard, Curlew, Little Grepe etc.) we saw 2 stunning Montagu's Harrier, the male was foraging close to the car and I got a few decent shots from it. 13 Great White Egrets where present too.
Bit further 18 more Great White Egrets where present.

^Male Montagu's Harrier
^Great White Egret, with a vole

In the Reigerbos we saw and heard 3 Turtle doves but couldn't get a shot of any of those, 4 little Map Butterflies were also present, great little butterflies in their black and white outfit.
Then we actually entered the OVP, we saw 1 Hobby, few Spoonbills, a lot of Great White Egrets, 1 Little Egret, 7 White storks + this Avocet with her companions.

^Little Ringed Plover, female
^Little Ringed Plover, male
^Avocet, probale female
^same again

Edited these scruffy pictures to make clear the differences from male and female Little Ringed Plover.

On the 6th we didn't saw much accept for 1 Little gull and 40 Great White Egrets.
We did catch up with some cool orchids.

^Broad-leaved Helleborine

^Marsh Helleborine

And this is actually a plant from the coast of Holland but it still grows here.

^Grass-of-Parnassus

Little spotted bird

In the evening Martijn and I went to Tienhoven to look for a Night heron. In Tienhoven the last breeding pair (wild?) Night herons of Holland breed, and it happens to be around the corner with Hilversum. Last year the heron had specific times to pass the marshes (11 pm) but this year it seemed harder, many birders had looked for it (you can't really call it looking, you just stand on a dike waiting for the bird to pass) but none had succeeded. We didn't succeeded either but we had a lot of fun with this shrew.


^Those South American rocks sure taste weird!

From the Binnenpolder a Bittern was calling, 1 Green sandpiper was foraging and a Great White Egret was present. In the Tienhovense plassen a few Black terns and 2 Spoonbills past overhead.
In 2005 the conditions in Polder Achteraf where so good that multiple couples of Baillons Crake breed there, the number rose from 2 to 9 birds! Although 3 where actualy accepted by the CDNA (The commision who checks if rare birds should appear on the Dutch lists).
In 2006 one of the best bird-sound experts (Magnus Robb) found at least 1 bird, this bird didn't call frequently and was very hard to hear.
So, since we where near Polder Achteraf we decided to check that. It was midnight and we almost checked the entire area. The last stop, waiting, and then: shrrrrrrk. Was that it? Martijn didn't seemed so sure but I was! Then again, this was definately a Baillons Crake. Although it didn't call the 'usual' long, frog like rattle, but a far more shorter one almost whith a whisteling under tone. The bird was pretty close so Martijn and I got our cameras and recorded the bird as best we could.



^This one is from Martijn

The next thing is kind of freaky and must be one of my weirdest bird experiences.
Short after we heird 1 bird a presumed 2nd bird started calling, because the strenght of the song can diver from the direction the bird is calling we didn't know for sure. Short after, the 2 birds started calling simultaneously, that was pretty cool. The next moment the bird that was closest to us started moving from us (hearing the strenght of the song), it seemed like the 2 birds where calling next to eachother in a grassland, we couldn't see anything though. Next thing 1 call started to get very strong in a short period of time, then it sounded right in front of us, and then (!?!?) above us! One of the birds was scared away by the other and was flying away! It flew a circle around us before (presumably) landing in the meadow, Martijn and I just stared at eachother, we couldn't believe it. This wasn't just an incident because we heard the same thing later on.
It is commonly known that rails, crakes and coots can call during flight and often do. They are allso known for their night-migration habit. In the Netherlands Coots calling while migrating during the evening is often mistaken for Long-eared Owls. Which isn´t that weird when you come to think about it.