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.
