An eagle bogey

I have finally added White-tailed Sea-Eagle to my Belgian list (now at 303 species) thanks to a long-staying immature in the Dijle valley.  It has been there since 25 October but this was my second attempt to try and see it.  The first time, it flew off in a southerly direction before I arrived and everyone assumed it had moved on, only for it to return just ten minutes after I had left!  This time, though, it was sitting, amazingly well camouflaged, at the edge of the reeds when I arrived and we were soon treated to it circling over the lake, scattering the assembled gulls, Cormorants, and waterfowl, including two Pintail drakes.  A group of six Cormorants then entertained us by doing some formation fishing, and there were two Little Egrets plus three Great White Egrets present, one of the latter showing just how big they are by standing next to a Grey Heron.

 

A couple of Grey Herons migrating over Brussels last week were new for my balcony list, as was a single Fieldfare in a flock of Starlings.

Reuland wanderings

Yesterday, I did my annual, autumnal hike across the Reuland plateau, together with a visiting birder who wanted to see Nutcracker.  It was a beautiful day as you can see above but much quieter birdwise than this time last year, with very few migrants around.  Nevertheless, we managed to see both Short-toed and Eurasian Treecreepers well and got great looks at Marsh, Willow, Crested and Coal Tits, the latter of which we watched bathing in a puddle.  There was no sign of any Nutcrackers anywhere so we arrived a little disheartened into Stavelot, where a big group of at least 150 Fieldfares were pretty much the only birds we'd seen all afternoon.  As we were waiting for the bus, however, I noticed a big line of Cranes in the distance which contained at least 650 birds.  The same group was spotted almost an hour later, 65km to the south, meaning that they were flying at 60km per hour at least, although it is unlikely they were flying in a straight line.  No sooner had they disappeared, I noticed what I thought was going to be our umpteenth Jay of the day flying over the road but, at first glance, it seemed rather dark.  It then circled around, revealing the shorter tail, broader wings and distinctive bill shape of a Nutcracker, giving my visitor a brief but convincing view before it, too, flew off out of sight.  Phew!