Organized chaos

2 splendid pictures of the Red-flanked bluetail made made by Diederik Kok©

Jan asked me if I would like to go to a Little bunting that had been wintering in Katwijk, I definitively was! I asked if Diederik Scholten (birding friend of mine) could come to, that was o.k but there was still one place left so we filled it up with Conny (no offense ;-)
I needed to point out the way for Jan so I got to sit in the front seat!

The Little bunting was sighted at a small area called 's Gravendijk wich is actually one of the better places in Holland to see wintering Little buntings.
's Gravendijk was partially flooded so we almost needed to swim to the spot.
The Little bunting was soon located thanks to the manny birders standing around it.
Quite a brilliant bird it was indeed but it didn't show really well, I heard it a few times but it foraged most of the time in tall gras or in a ditch.
After a few minutes some birder got a message that the Red-flanked Bluetail was re-located at the same spot!
I immediately got an offer to ride with someone but because I was with Jan I rejected the offer.
After convincing Conny and Diederik that this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see this marvelous bird we soon convinced Jan too (who had actually seen the bird of 1985 on Texel!).
We decided that, while we were in the area, we wanted to go for the Uitwatering, Katwijk.
Since a few years a Glaucous gull is wintering in the area wich was in his 3th winter plumage now.
We soon found a group of gulls and while I was checking it for the Glaucous I located a Yellow-legged cousin.
After checking the gulls (no Glaucous) I pointed my telescope towards the sea and started to scan the sea.
The first (and only!) diver that flew by was a Black-throated! Soon followed by 2 Common Scoters and a Horned grebe, a Guillemot was swimming offshore.
When I turned to the gulls in the Uitwatering I spotted one witch pale primaries and I realized it was the Glaucous!

^Glaucous gull among the Herrings

When I was watching the gull 4 Waxwings were flew by at close range.
After a quick snack we set off for Zandvoort.

Being the only one to know the spot I again had the entitlement to sit in the front seat!
After a short walk we'd arrive at the spot were it was literally crammed with birderers.
I soon saw some familiar faces with who I made a quick chat, the bluetail had shown itself for a few minutes in the same tree, but is flew of and was not sighted since.
They assured me that the bird would show up again so I wasn't concerned.
Suddenly I spotted 4 birders looking relieved with their binoculars sticked to their faces, I soon realized (with another birder) that they saw the bird!
It was impossible to walk straight through the thorny bushes surrounding the birders so after a huge detour I arrived at the spot seeing 3 extraordinary happy faces and one photographer that was looking at his display with eyes widely opened and his mouth hanging somewere around his knies, he had managed to get some stunning photographes of the bird as close as 9 feet!!
I decided this would be a good spot to wait for the bird to show again.

^some of the birders (Jeroen Steenbergen in front)

After a while, in the corner of my eye, I saw a man pointing in the bushes and tap his wife on her shoulder to alert her of something in the bush.
I silently (there were 10 birders surrounding me so I didn't want to cause a charge at the bush) walked towards the couple and when I looked alongside the man's pointing finger I soon saw the mythical creature, this pimped robin, this 'Christina Aguilera' among the birds sitting 10 inches above the ground, 10 feet away mouse-still looking around. This is fantastic, a Red-flanked Bluetail seeing it at that close range is something I will never forget!
For half a minute this creature is sitting on a branch but then it sets of.
I did manage to see the bird 3 times for more then a second and even heard it calling 1 time, but most of the time I got runned over by some over active twitchers that didn't see the bird yet...
Conny founds the croud almost more amazing then the bird itself!!

^searching for the Bluetail

After an hour or so we decide to leave because light faded fast.
We took a piece of apple pie at the local restaurant and set of to see a Rough-legged Buzzard before dark (not before we spot a Firecrest near the car!).
We didn't managed to see the buzzard but we didn't really care, THE species of the month (year?) was allready seen.
We did manage to see a Red-breasted Merganser flying past in a group of Goosanders near Naarden.

Red-flanked what?

Sjoerd managed to get his dad to drive all the way to Zandvoort on Friday.
Althought his dad needed to go to an meeting in het afternoon we thought we'd have enough time to see the bluetail.
After a long drive through Aerdenhout we'd arrive at Zandvoort.
We parked the car somewhere in the south eastern tip of the town and started walking towards the dunes we allready saw groups of birders anxious to get to the spot the fastest.
We'd take it easy and soon realized that the twitchers hadn't their binoculars glued against there eyes and we figured the bluetail wasn't going to be an easy one.
After 1 hour we heard someone screaming at the other end of the spot, together with 20 birders we runned to the spot, as soon as we got there someone told us that an Iceland Gull just flew over the spot and it was coming from our direction!!
3 hours and a few tame Firecrests later we decided that it was hopeless and we left.
Not seeing the bluetail I did enjoyed myself with the Firecrest wich are very smart little birds!

Ticking a Dowitcher!

Quite a hard decision: Red-flanked Bluetail or an appointment...
Well, the appointment was also birding so I just went of with Jan and Sjoerd for a friendly birding trip to the famous Oostvaardersplassen between Almere and Lelystad.
A female Hen Harrier was hunting near the Paradijsvogelweg in southern Flevoland, 4 Goosanders were sighted to.
A strange starling was flying among the Common Starling but it unfortunately was just a leucistic one and not a Rose-coloured relative.
Sjoerd didn't ever see Tundra Bean Goose so we stopped along the Ibisweg to check the available White-fronted Goose, there was a large group of White-fronted foraging and there were quite a lot Tundra's among them!

At the Grote praambult we didn't find the pair of White-tailed Eagle's and there was nothing special to see either.
The Kleine praambult was just as his 'big brother'.
A Spoonbill along the Praamweg was quite a surprise because Spoonbills are all but common in the winter in Holland.
From the hide near the Knardijk we saw a Great Grey Shrike at great range.
Close by the hide there are roosting Long-eared Owls, we didn't find them in the first place but a friendly photographer pointed them out for us, they showed extremely well at close range.
^Long-eared Owls

Along the Houtribdijk we saw 2 Scaups and 1 Chiffchaff.
The light was fading fast so we drove straight to the spot were the Dowitchers was sighted.
It should be foraging along a busy road were 3 possibility's to park the car (what is actually illegal I think).
We did manage to see a lot Little stints and Golden plovers but nothing even close to a Dowitcher.
When we drove on we figured we should go the other way so we turned, then Jan said: 'Should we stop 1 more time?'. Yeah sure why not?
I didn't get out the telescope and we just watch with our binoculars.
Within seconds I picked out a strange little black dot that was flushed by some Shellducks and flew towards us.
I soon realized that this was the Long-billed Dowitcher we were looking for!
I reported it to Sjoerd and Jan and got out of the car to get the telescope.
Faster then a speeding bullet I managed to get the telescope at the correct hight en located the Dowitcher, that was still foraging in the same area.
I took some (very poor) shots and showed Jan the bird through the telescope.
Jan found it extremely billiant that I had located the bird with my binoculars.
I made a little drawing from the bird that I worked out at home.


^Very poor record shots

^Jan (front) and Sjoerd watching the Dowitcher

At Andijk (a small village by the IJselmeer) a Black-throated Loon was sighted a few weeks before.
We didn't found the loon but a Horned Grebe was swimming close in shore, also a amazing large group of Goosanders was foraging between the wharves.
^Horned grebe

When we returned home Sjoerd saw a Little gull flying past the car on the Houtribdijk and we saw stunning groups of Goosander (400-500!).

Yesterday a Red-flanked Bluetail was found near the seaside resort of Zandvoort.