Wot, no nuts?

One evening last week, I hung out some nuts on my balcony, fully expecting it would take the local birds a few days to discover them.  By 10am the next morning, however, there was already a Great Tit feeding away and, by the weekend, the Monk Parakeets had emptied the bag entirely.  Only two other species were quick enough to react before the parakeets invaded, namely Blue Tit and Jay (see below). 
This morning, I spent an hour and a quarter watching the migration from my balcony with the following results; Skylark 8, Cormorant 4, Brambling 1, Redwing 78, Song Thrush 1, White Wagtail 1, Rook 2 and Jackdaw 6.  Best of all though was a huge flock of Woodpigeons, I reckon somewhere between 400 and 500, with at least one Stock Dove tagging along.  I then went for a walk in the Dijle valley south of Leuven this afternoon, and saw another 210 Woodpigeons go over, but the sheer scale of today's migration is put into context by one observer's count of 44,847 in the south of Belgium!  My balcony list now stands at 36 species, other additions to those mentioned above being fly-by Egyptian Geese, Greenfinch, Black-headed Gull, plus a Great Spotted Woodpecker seen from the comfort of my living room.

Autumn arrivals

I had hoped to be writing about my first Olive-backed Pipit but, having spent all weekend in the same spot at the Belgian coast while I was busy working, it was no longer around on my day off yesterday.  Still, as I got out of the coastal tram in Heist, the bushes were alive with Goldcrests, Coal Tits and Chiffchaffs.  Redwings were absolutely everywhere, with at least twenty of them foraging together in one grassy field.  There were also good numbers of Song Thrushes and Blackbirds, especially first-winter birds, around, plus various small flocks of Siskin, Greenfinch and Goldfinch, with a few Bramblings passing over.  Some Long-tailed Tits were in a mixed feeding flock containing at least two Firecrests and I wasted a good half hour trying in vain to get a photograph of one, but they just wouldn't stop moving.  Now, if Long-tailed Tits are too active to photograph, then you might as well forget about the 'crests but, when a Goldcrest started gleaning insects right in front of me, I just had to give it a try.  Sure enough, the first twenty or so pictures were blurry or only showed some random body part.  My preserverance eventually paid off, though, with this unbelievably lucky shot of the whole bird, including its gold crest!

Balcony birding

I've only managed to add two new species (Rook and Long-tailed Tit) to my balcony list since my last post, although the latter was from within the warmth of my living room as they were feeding together with three Coal Tits in the tree directly opposite which almost touches my balcony.  Identifying things from my balcony is quite difficult as it faces west, meaning most of the migrating birds come from behind my building and aren't visible until they have passed over me and are heading away.  I already have possible Snipe, Goshawk and Peregrine, therefore, as well as numerous passerines, on my unidentified list, together with various heard-only species.  Even balcony birding is not pleasant any more now that the weather has turned cold and grey unusually early, with the first snow showers already noted in the Ardennes.  My only trips out so far this month have been to my patch in the south-east of Brussels, where I saw a migrating group of around 140 White-fronted Geese with a single Shoveler trying to keep up.  Firecrests have again been very conspicuous, and I even got to see one male flaring his crest, which does not happen very often.  My visit there last Friday produced 49 species; nothing really unusual but it was nice to see 7 female Teal lined up on a submerged log.  One doesn't usually give these ducks a second glance as, apart from the green speculum, they appear very drab.  It's only when you get up close, you realise how wonderfully and intricately vermiculated their plumage is.

New horizons

I've moved to the leafy suburbs of Ixelles, where my new apartment has a lovely balcony overlooking Parc Tenbosch.  After 14 years in my old place in the centre of Brussels, I'd managed a birdlist of just 18 species, which in itself is pretty good considering the only greenery I could see was a few potted plants in our concrete courtyard.  I thus spent most of the first weekend in my new place on the balcony watching migrating Coal Tits, Chaffinches, Meadow Pipits and one Buzzard passing directly overhead.  At one point, I think I even had a Snipe on migration but I spotted it too late to be sure.  I have a view of lots of trees, too, so local birds I've seen so far include Nuthatch, Short-toed Treecreeper and Goldcrest.  After just one weekend, my new balcony list is already at 25 species!  My new neighbours include Jays, which I've seen every day so far collecting acorns (above) and, of course, the noisy parakeets (below).  If you look closely in the lower right-hand corner, you can see the face of a Monk Parakeet, which have built several of their communal nests in the park.