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!
