Cbirding, English Style

Southern Holland

2008-01-21T10:27:00.000-08:00

Well, you probably thought I was dead, well I actually don't think that because nobody is reading this =)

At first I have tot tell you that I lost my digiscoping adapter somewhere at a (deadly boring) Hooded Merganser somewhere halve way December so no 'pretty' digiscoping pic's from me anymore.

I met Peter ter Heide at a Little Crake twith but never chatted with him since, some dude gave him my email and he immediately asked if I wanted to go to the most Southern tip of Holland and I obviously said yes. Southern Holland (it's called Limburg) shouldn't be called Holland, it's beautifull, rather quiet and has amazing species you won't see anywhere else in the country. The fact that there was a Ring-necked duck too made it a bit more exciting.
We visited that first, it was swimming quite far out onto the water but it actually showed well.

^Female Ring-necked Duck, Eijsden

A Yellow legged Gull drifted by, a Green Woodpecker was calling and a Little Grebe was present. We then drove to the best known site for Eagle Owls. The ENCI-Groeve is a marl-pit where Eagle Owls have their nest, they roost on 1 spot which is good visible from the edges of the pit. It was a Lifer for me (as was the duck btw), I hoped the owl would do something but it sat there twisting its head, I did get 1 glimpse at its nice big orange eyes but I've seen better on the hand of falconers. I'm not whining though..
Next we drove to Gulpen where we dipped a Dipper but did see a (quite tame) Grey Wagtail.
Vaals was up next, goal species would be Eurasean Treecreeper (continental form) and Middle Spotted Woodpecker, we didn't see any of them. We did see 2 Roe deer, 1 Firecrest and 2 Crossbills that had a low an deep call. A Badger was a roadkill. We then visited Sibbe, a well known site for Corn buntings, we eventually found 7 which we flushed, 1 more was present but flew away shortly after. A Goshawk was present too.
The last (real) stronghold of Crested larks in the Netherlands was up next, we saw 7 birds and some of us saw 2 Grey Patridges.

^Crested Lark, Venlo

A report came in from 34 Cranes being present near Horst, after a quick discussion (my option to go for a Ring-billed Gull was denied because it was out of region) we went for them. It was a nice ride through the 'peelen' from North-Brabant. We saw 2000+ Tundra Bean Goose and a Hen Harrier.

^Crane, Horst.
^From right to left: Berto, Thomas, (someone I don't know), Mark and Peter.

What followed is a real story.
We wanted to go to a Cattle Egret but didn't know how, some old dude was going there so we followed him. I noticed that Mark had a Pine Bunting (or hybrid with Yellowhammer) in his garden last winter, we chatted about Pine Buntings and Yellowhammers and later about White-throated and White Crowned sparrows. When we were close to the egret a report came in, Mark was the first to read it and read out loud: Pine Bunting..
We laughed and said: suuuuuure Mark!
Then Thomas and Peter got the same message. A Pine Bunting was present not that far (but far enough) from where we were now (1.5 hour drive and within 1 hour it would be dark). More ironicly it was when we noticed that the spot was very close to the Ring-billed Gull!
We did managed to catch up with the Cattle Egret but it had a bitter taste.

^Cattle Egret, Venray.

We tried to eat our sorrow away at a 'Great-yellow-M', didn't helped much.

Bit sad that I caught pneumonia somewhere on the way and am still sick of it now..

Best Birding Weekend!

2007-11-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

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!!

2007-11-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-09-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-07-20T04:15:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-07-19T01:54:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

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.

Cow or Cattle?

2007-05-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

Since a few weeks a Cattle Egret has been spotted near the Naardermeer quite close to where I live.
In Dutch this bird is called Koereiger, since you can't read Dutch I should translate that for you: Cow Egret. The most common 'joke' that is made here when this bird is spotted somewhere were no cows are present is: Why is this bird called Cow Egret, shouldn't it be 'Sheep Egret' *hahaha*. Or something like that, it's quite lame and I don't participate in it.
Enought dwell on this stupid joke, Cattle Egret here ya go!

^Quite a typicle Dutch landscape, without the egret though..

^Gave a nice flight show

Quail

2007-05-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

Just before dinner I got a text message that Hans had found a Quail not far from where I live, I decided to go for it.
When I arrived the Quail called a few times and was quiet for the rest of the time, 1 White Stork migrated south and a few Sparrowhawks flew by.
Later that evening I got a message of a Knot that was present in the Bovenmeent.
It was a juvenile bird moulding to adult plumage so I didn't went looking for it, I'll wait till the next (adult summer) one.

Allmost 500 miles...

2007-05-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Jan and I decided this would be a nice day to go somewhere, but where?
Jan thought it would be nice to go and watch seabirds at Camperduin (famous migrating point that brought much rarities in the pas).
We took the long way through Flevoland and that wasn't without reason, we both wanted to see Montagu's Harrier that has one of its last strongholds in Flevoland, we saw three birds forage including 1 male + female displaying!

^male Montagu's

A bit further I finally nailed Common Whitethroat for this year!
It was wagtail heaven here too, several wagtails were foraging on a small field, many alba's and flava's but allso 6 thunbergi, 1 flavissima and 1 yarrelli!
After a 1 hour drive we arrived at Camperduin, Jan needed some coffee so I joined 2 other birders and started looking at the sea.
Seawatching is something special, the one or two times I've done it I didn't see anything rare so it can be quite frustrating looking at water for 3 hours, but although I didn't see anything back then I did have a good time!
This time it was something different, it was migrating time so it wasn't till long when the first group of Bar-tailed godwits flew by.
The 2 other men were excellent trained seawatchers and (when I asked) they explained me things like how to distinquish Knot from Bar-tailed Godwits on a long distance.
After a while I even was brave enough to call migrating birds so they could write it down, the first thing was a Curlew, then 20 Bar-tailed Godwits and even a Greenshank they both missed!
I wanted to see a Little Tern and I succeeded eventually with 9 birds flying North.
Grey Plovers were easy to pick out because the deep black armpit, BT Godwits were easy as well but Dunlin and Sanderling were quite hard.
But I eventually got grip on them and identified most of the birds that flew past, the Common vs. Arctic Tern were very hard and from the hundreds of terns that flew by I could identifie 4 Arctic Terns but they allmost flew through my shirt.
Some numbers:
376 BT Godwits, all North
41 Grey Plovers, all North
11 Dunlin, all North
2 Curlew, North
9 Little Tern, 8 North 1 South
100+ Sandwich Terns, North but some foraging
6 Whimbrel, North
35 Sanderling, North
219 Knot, North
1 adult Northern Gannet, foraging
1 Little Stint, North
28 Common Scoter, North
2 Little Gull, both South, 1 adult and 1 juvenile
And some more normal birds like Common Ringed Plover and Turnstone.

Jan couldn't stand the wind and watched from the restaurant.
As I walked back to the car I heared a Grasshopper Warbler singing nearby, as I listened to the bird a small falcon flew by: a Merlin! As soon as I had my binoculars to my eyes the bird was gone.
Near the migrating point there are some good spots for waders so we checked them.
At the first one (the Putten) a group of 200 Sandwich Terns was present, a few Avocets and BT Godwits were foraging.
Because of the drought in Holland the last week most of the other spots were dried out, near the Stolpen we found a group of 54 BT Godwits and 9 Knots.
Near 't Zand we found an other group with 9 Greenshanks an few Avocets and 1 Spotted Redshank.
From a hide near airforce command center the Kooy we saw some more Avocets, group of Brent goose, 1 Pintail and these 2 very cooperative Shelducks.

Jan noticed a Little Gull that was present on a small lake.
From the edge of the Kooy we could see amazing numbers of birds, thousends of BT Godwits, hundreds of Knots, few Common ringed Plovers, many Eiders, 3 Little gulls and a few Grey Plover.
1 BT Godwit was foraging in front of the car and (with a little help of Jan) I could het this picture.

After a while Jan noticed a Red-Breasted Merganser, a very nice male!
While driving to Den Oever 2 Med Gulls flew past the car.
Den Oever wasn't really exciting, and what we hoped for (Kentish Plover) didn't show...
1 Spoonbill was present though.
On the other side of Den Oever we found a male Greater Scaup.
A Wheatear foraged somewhere south of Den Oever.
As we drove back to home I noticed a few Marsh Harriers in Flevoland, 1 Wheatear on the Arendbuizerveld ( 'Long-tailed Buzzardfield') and 4 Fieldfares migrating near the Grote Praambult.

As we got home we saw that we'd drove 480 Miles!

Pectoral fun

2007-05-01T03:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a Large White-faced Darter Dragonfly was reported along the Kromme Rade.
I saw this species last year but that wasn't quite satisfying so I tried my luck today.

At the Snip 1 Pied Flycatcher was singing allmost similar to Common Whitethroat.
I saw 1 Green Hairstreak, the only place I know for this species is the Westerheide so this was a surprise.
A bit further 3 Redstarts were displaying, 1 sang like a Chiffchaff, Barn swallow, Pied flycatcher or Willow warbler, didn't knew they could do that.
In the Spanderswoud this Wood warbler was displaying quite near a path and I tried to get a picture and this was the result:

Somewhere else in the Spanderswoud 1 Black Tailed Skimmer was present.
In Gooilust my first Northern Hawker and Common Blue were present.
At the Kromme Rade 1 Goshawk and a Hobby flew by, 3 more Redstarts were singing.
Along the Kromme Rade a lot of Dragonflies and Damselflies flew: Downy Emerald, Four Spotted Chaser, Hary Dragonfly, Large Red Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly and Variable Damselfy.
Of all the butterflies this Map Butterfly was the most beautifull, they are not common in this part of Holland.

The Large White-faced Darter was easely found and with the help of a other odonata lovers scope I could get a few pictures:

Later I saw 2 Scarce chasers and heard a few Cranes fly by, but I didn't see them...
This White wagtail was near the parking lot.

In the evening I got a report of a Pectoral Sandpiper, I immediately left for the bird.
It did show well but not close enough for good pictures.

^Note the pointy chest figure

Later, Harry de Klein found a Jack Snipe.

Hoopoe

2007-04-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

When I got back from school today I decided it would be nice to drop by the Kromme Rade, a long stretched path right through good habitat for warblers and especially a good place for Dragon- and Damselfly's.
When I started packing I got a phone call from Jan that he was looking for the Iberian Chiffchaff but couldn't find the right spot, I put him on the right track and later got a message that he'd found the bird.
The more interesting phonecall came 1 hour after that.
When I was minutes from leaving my phone rang, Marijn, said the text on the phone. That could be something interesting!
By the first words of him I was stunned, did he say Hoopoe? Yes he did, it was located right behind my house on the heath.
While getting some more info from him I packed my telescope, tripod, camera and an other phone to get the message to more birders.
Within 5 minutes I was on the right location but didn't see any birders.
I started scanning the heath but it wasn't working, no bright orange, black and white striped bird was crawling around here...
Then, just as I hang up some fellow birders, I spotted the bird! But it was gone seconds from discovery...
The bird flew to the forest and I couldn't locate it there, tough luck, but it was a Dutch tick for me so I wasn't complaining.
Other birders soon joined the search for the bird but we couldn't relocate it.

Texel

2007-04-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

Texel is the biggest of the 5 wadden sea islands, I've been there 2 times before but I was too young to remember.
My dad has the most marvelous job of all, he works all over the Netherlands and often in other country's, I never came to think about it of joining him but since a few months I do.
Today he needed to go to Texel so I joined him.

Above is the route I walked, I didn't rent a bike because it was to damn crowded and it would have taken me some hours...

^One of the best pictures I made today, looks like art doesn't it?

It started fairly good with a flying Sparrowhawk above my house, then 4 Black redstarts were singing on the Media park, (a closed area for public).
Together with a colleague of my dad (they needed to work remember) we started our trip to Texel.
As we joined the Germans and other Dutch people on the boat to Texel from Den Helder I spotted the first cool birds, a pair of Brent goose were foraging on the pier, 9 Eiders and 1 Turnstone were present as well.
The crowd on the boat was throwing bread into the air to see the gulls up close, I started photographing some but as we got closer to Texel I realised that my photo's were all ruined because of my iso speed.
I did get 1 desent shot of a Lesser black-backed.

^Texel in the distant
A few Pintails flew by, as did 2 Red-breasted Mergansers and a Eider.
As described above I didn't rent a bike and started to walk towards the dunes, 5 Linnets were singing along the track.
I decided to walk around the Mokbaai, were a lot of waders should be foraging.
No waders yet to be seen, I looked across the Mokbaai and saw that they were foraging at the far end of the baai, but I would check that later.
At the other end of the baai were 28 Brent Goose, 1 Grey plover, 24 Eiders and 4 Turnstones, a few nice sea birds and I enjoyed them well.
Texel is often recalled as an island of sheep, I did see a lot of them, among them was this youngster.
I wish I could be it, lying around and just sleep all day... man would I like that!

In 'The Petten' some Avocets were foraging.

The Spoonbills have their nests right in front of a lookout, very nice to see them so well!

^Some Brent Geese in the Petten

Mandarins

2007-03-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

When I checked a pond where I went fishing as a little boy I spotted a Mandarin Duck.
That was a few weeks ago now and the number of Mandarins rose to 4, 3 males and 1 female, the 3 males try hard to impress the female but she doesn't seem to notice.
Yesterday I could make some pictures just before sunset, the colours are amazing in that light!

^The Mandarin spooked the hell out of the Coot by doing that, the Coot didn't know where to hide after this incident

Cold shower

2007-03-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

A few years a young Blackbird drowned in our pond in the back yard, ever since then we have 4 bricks forming somekind of staircase in the pond.
From time to time Blackbirds (and sometimes Hedge Accentors) use the bricks as a bath.

When I got back home today I saw a female Blackbird in the backyard, I immediately took out my camera and waited.
After a few minutes the Blackbird started taking a bath, the complete bath lasted for about 30 minutes and you could see the bird enjoying it!

Amsterdam

2007-02-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today I needed to go to the capital of Holland for an assignment for school.
Together with a hell lot of other children and some teachers we set off from the Hilversum Train station.
When you go by train to Amsterdam from Hilversum you go straight through the Naardermeer, today I saw a Great White Heron.
After visiting the Rijksmuseum we got a bit of free time and I walked to the Vondelpark, but not before I had a snack
This tupid Pigeon almost stole it, but I just killed the damn bird and left it to be eaten by other Pigeons.

The Vondelpark is now crowded by a group of Ring-necked Parakeet of which I saw 21, these birds are quite beautifull but they make the most awfull sounds.

This Egyptian goose was also present, how manny foreign birds can a man take??

On the way back home I spotted a Little egret from the train near the Naardermeer.

That's what I call Twitching!

2007-02-18T11:02:00.000-08:00

My dad asked me if I would like to come with him to Groningen (a remote area in the northern part of Holland were I seldom have been). At first I didn't feel anything for the plan but when news broke that a Dusky warbler was spotted near the town of Groningen I immediately said yes.

So off we were on Sunday morning around 08:00... I really did need that sleep so I often fell asleep in the car.
After a 2 hour drive we arrived at the town Groningen, I forgot to tell that I had brought my bike with me so I could get everywhere!
The first thing I heard was a singing Song thrush followed by an Oystercatcher and some ducks.
This arrea was completely new for me so I really just followed my nose. My nose never lets me down and after an half hour or so I arrived at a spot called Vinkhuizen, since a few years a Siberian Lesser Whitethroat is wintering there.

I found the bird straight away and it showed really well.
I made some pictures with a camera I borrowed and was almost ready to go when 2 other birders arrived, I made quick chat with 1 of them and he told me that the Dusky warbler was showing well.
When I was seconds from leaving this guy (from Norwegian origin) told me that he was driving past the spot where the Dusky was set so he could drop me off if I wanted, the bike seemed no problem but it was in the first place (very small car...).
The damn thing just didn't seemed to fit in the car but after a lot of pushing and trying we finally got it right.
We chatted about vagrants and rarities and the drive that would have taken me 1.5 hour just took me 15 minutes!
When I arrived I immediately started looking for the bird and I wasn't the only one, 4 other birders were looking to including one guy that was already searching for 2 hours!
After I searched all along the campsite I started to look in the garden of a house near the camping.
When 3 birders arrived (and almost immidiately left) they told me that the bird was most commonly found in the North Western part of the site.
When I started to search these bushes together with an other birder we found the bird!
It was calling frequently and showed well for a few seconds!
After chasing it (in a good and loving way) for half an hour we lost it but after some time I re-found the bird in the garden and now it was showing really well.

After I made some pictures I was satisfied and left (being there for 2 hours).
I made a quick visit to the same Whitethroat and started cycling back to the spot were my dad should pick me up.
When I was almost there I heard a familiar sound, 9 Waxwings were calling from a large tree but when I wanted to make a picture they flew away in South Western direction.
On the way back to 't Gooi I saw some Rooks along the road.

Stunning day

2007-02-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

The Red-flanked Bluetail was still present yesterday so I figured out a trick to get a non twitching friend of mine to get as close as I could to Zandvoort before asking: We could drop by the Bluetail....?
The plan was to go to IJmuiden first to catch up with some sea birds, Martijn (the non twitching buddy) and Diederik had never gone to IJmuiden before so I had to be their guide.
The first thing we spotted was a Rock pipit foraging along the shore, the second was a pair of Eiders. Especially the female got a lot of attention (we all know the males plumage from a 3 year staying bird on our local patch).
I was more interested in the flying gulls, I spotted one that had paler underwings then the Herring and a whiter head, a Yellow-legged!! The tail excluded Caspian.
A colleague of my dad was nice enough to loan me his Canon camera with a 200mm lense, since birds on the pier are very accustomed to the fishermen they are too to the other people, including 3 fanatic birders with camera's.
After seeing some Turnstones we spotted a Purple sandpiper foraging among more Turnstones, the poor bird got to hear a lot of digital 'clicks'.
Suddenly I spotted a gull that we immidiately identified as a Kittiwake, the bird flew by at close range. Later on we spotted 2 more.

^Kittiwake

Martijn and I spotted a diver spec. flying to the north, although I don't have much experience with divers I was most certain that this was a Red-throated Diver.
The bird landed on sea and as we watched it with our telescopes it was clear that it was a Red-throated one.
At the end of the pier is a lighthouse were people (when it is the right time and the wind comes from the best direction) often watch seabirds, there was nothing to see.
2 Turnstones came very close and enjoyed Diederik's Sultana's, we got very nice views when foraging 5 ft away. ^Turnstones

4 Snow buntings were foraging near the car park.

^Snow bunting

We decided that we would twitch a little (yes!) and headed for a Pallas' Leaf Warbler near Driehuis.
We didn't spotted the 10 birders watching the bird and drove straight past the spot...
Because it was a dead end we headed back and then I saw a photographer through the buses, this must be it!
The bird was gone for 10 minutes now and people were leaving, I thought I'd seen a better spot so I walked straight to it.
An other birder spotted the bird at the spot were I was heading!
The bird gave some splendid views in the next half an hour, then suddenly Martijn said: It is getting dark, should we go by the Red-flanked bluetail?
I didn´t even needed a lie to get him their, what a relief!
I pointed out the way and as we arrived in the area we didn´t see anny birders, did the bird left or wasn´t annybody interested annymore?
The bird didn't left and there was some interest in it from some locals and photographers but they were all hidden in the bushes.
I found myself a real nice place to photograph next to Martijn de Jonge ( www.martijndejonge.nl ), he assured me that the bird will show up and that I should be capable to get some shots even with the 200mm.
The bird did show up and it showed extremely well at close range, there wasn't a binoculars needed for this bird, I even found it kind of dull to watch it through a telescope...

^Red-flanked Bluetail, sitting on his favorite branch

Treecreeper Magic

2007-02-15T09:57:00.000-08:00

A few days ago a Eurasian Treecreeper was discovered at a camping sight called: Franse kamp.
Missing the bird on 10 minutes I rediscovered the bird the next day, very nice bird indeed with the white belly and huge white eye-streak!
Unfortunately it wasn't the best weather at the time.

Seeing the nice weather today I almost skipped all my lessons and went birding all day long, I didn't do it though.
Seeing the sun drop fast I went just after school to the Franse kamp and started searching for the treecreeper.
After an hour or so I found 3 fellow birders that told me that they'd seen the bird! But it was gone now.
After 2 of them left and 1 started searching elsewere I decedid to scan the treetops in the middle part of the Franse kamp.
I found 1 female Green woodpecker enjoying the last sun-rays and a Black woodpecker flew by.
A calling Wood lark flew high over, allso I heard 5 Hawfinches.
After hearing a familiar sound at the other end of the field I walked down to that part and started to search for treecreepers again.
The call seemed to come from a tree close by and after a few Short-toed Treecreepers flew by I walked around the tree seeing a whitish treecreeper flying to another tree, when it landed it foraged for a few seconds and started flying to an other tree.
I noticed that this treecreeper was whiter than the others and it sure could be the Eurasian!
Finally the little rascal had settled down on a birch tree and I got a better look at the bird, it immediately was clear to me that this was the Eurasian treecreeper and I finally saw it calling to! That was the absolute proof for me that this was an Eurasian.
I got a few great views on the bird but it ultimately flew away in eastern direction.
When cycling back I noticed a Raven calling somewhere in the forrest.

Hello

2007-02-12T06:21:00.000-08:00

Because my other blog pulled quite a lot foreign viewers I decided that it would be time to start a little blog in English, most of the time they are just summaries and not as extensive as the Dutch blog.
I hope to reach a larger public with this blog and that everybody can enjoy birds as much as I do!
I'm Dutch so don't be mad if you can't read the posts ...
Greetz,
Christian

^The strange guy adding this blog ;-)

Rook-o-holic

2007-02-04T10:08:00.000-08:00

There is something about Rooks that has always attracted me.
Maybe their facial features? They obviously have a better sound than Carrion Crows.
Today I came across a few of those funny creatures near Vleuten.
Vleuten is a hell of a distance away from my homepatch so what the **** am I doing there?
I just wanted to get better views over the Blyth's Pipit and because I just love to cycle I jumped on my bike and drove the whole way (it's about 50-60 miles).

The way to Woerden wasn't that hard, the way back to Hilversum wasn't quite hard either, but so soon after eachother was to much for comfort...
The vexation of not seeing the Blyth's pipit today was almost enough to drive myself into the nearest pond... Nah... that's nothing for me, I just found it dreary that I drove the whole way and didn't see the bird, but that's what birding is all about! When you saw everything you'd hoped for there would be nothing about it annymore!!
I did actually searched for the bird (together with 10 or so) but that didn't pay off.

When I cycled along Vleuten I noticed a Rook! Rooks are not common in 't Gooi so this was an opportunity I couldn't resist!
I threw the bike in the bushes, got my telescope out and started digiscoping.
After 1 shot the group flew away to a more distant patch, I managed to get 1 decent shot.

When I drove near Tienhoven I saw 2 Red-Breasted goose foraging, amazed by this observation I started photographing the 2 birds.
Note the ring by the 2 birds and the fence surrounding then (you guessed it, their not wild..).
But it was a funny opservation because yesterday I saw my first foraging Red-breasted Goose! (I did see a bird a year ago that flew by).
Because the bird I saw yesterday didn't show well I just got a closer look at these 2 beauties.

2 Tawny owls were roosting at a spot near Breukelen.

Organized chaos

2007-01-07T08:11:00.000-08:00

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?

2007-01-05T07:51:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-01-04T06:43:00.000-08:00

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.