2017 review

2018 is almost upon us so it's time for my month-by-month review of my 2017 birding highlights (lifers in CAPS).

January - SIBERIAN ACCENTOR (Denmark); a leftover from 2016's amazing and unprecented influx, I made a special twitch for this very special vagrant.

February - Red-breasted Goose (Bulgaria); they kept us in suspense for three days but we finally got to see around 10% of the estimated world population!
March - Grey-headed Woodpecker (Brussels); a lone male singing in the Forêt de Soignes/Zoniënwoud and my first in Belgium.
April - Yellow-browed Warbler (Brussels); an intra-Brussels twitch to this lovely little bird with the long name was the best medicine to get over a cold.
May - Spotted Flycatcher (Kalmthout Heath and Brussels); there seemed to be above-average numbers of this rather cryptic species this spring and it was also a new addition to my patch list.
June - Black Stork (Ardennes); 3 flew overhead (only the second time I've seen this species in Belgium) whilst I was waiting in vain for my first ever Greenish Warbler to show.
July - Green Woodpecker (Switzerland, Brussels and Couvin); seen several times this month, one of my biggest surprises of the year was looking out of my window to discover a juvenile in the dead tree opposite.
August - Ornate Hawk-Eagle (Cristalino Jungle Lodge); more than just a surprise, I was lucky enough to witness something utterly unbelievable within ten days of arriving in the Amazon.
September - RUFOUS-TAILED ATTILA (Cristalino Jungle Lodge); Rich Hoyer seems to find one of these every year so it was extra special to discover my own one feeding in the open along the river.
October - LONG-TAILED SHRIKE (Zwin); a first-autumn bird which turned up while I was away in Germany thankfully stayed just one more day, thus allowing me to twitch it before it disappeared.
November - Desert Wheatear (Holland); a dapper first-winter male and my first in Europe at the end of a rather unsuccessful day's twitching. 
December - Hawfinch (Brussels); despite the huge influx of this species into north-western Europe, I never expected to be watching one from my living room, making it the 55th species on my balcony list.

Strangely, I saw or heard 167 species in Belgium year for the second year running.  Birding trips to Denmark, Bulgaria, The Netherlands, the Alps and the French Riviera took my European year list to 234, whilst I added another 378 in Brazil, making a total year list of 612 species.  Of these, just eight were lifers, namely Siberian Accentor, heard-only Greenish Warbler, Straight-billed Hermit, Rufous-thighed Kite, Rufous Attila, Rufous-tailed Xenops, Cinereous Tinamou and Long-tailed Shrike.
My bird of the year has got to be Siberian Accentor (above) way back at the end of January.  At the time, everyone was wondering whether 2017 would see any of these birds returning but there have been no reports since so this may well have been my one and only opportunity to connect with this species in Europe.  A few more of my pictures of this bird can be seen in the linked post so, instead, I will round off with the million-dollar shot taken by one of my guests at Cristalino this year.  Sunbittern is always a favourite amongst our visitors yet getting a shot of the distinctive sunburst pattern in the wings takes a lot of patience and luck.  The same lucky group who had the Ornate Hawk-Eagle encounter on their way out of the lodge had a very succesful three days with me, seeing both their most wanted species, namely Zigzag Heron and Harpy Eagle.  One morning, however, we were boating upriver when we encountered a Sunbittern on the rocks together with a pair of Muscovy Ducks.  We slowed down for the obligatory Sunbittern shots as, even with its wings closed, it is still a very attractive bird, when the unthinkable happened as one of the Muscovy Ducks took a step too close and the Sunbittern reacted by flaring out its wings.  My guests, of course, were ready and got this amazing shot to make any professional photographer green with envy.

Sunbittern by David Lang

Amazonian advent Day 24

2017 was the year of the Tapir. 
Come the end of the dry season, we usually expect to see one or two per boat ride but this year was ridiculous.  The prolonged heatwave, with daytime temperatures around 40°C, forced the tapirs, deer and even tinamous down to the river to cool off and escape the horseflies in numbers which I've never seen in all my six years of guiding at the lodge.  We were regularly counting double figures per boat trip and one lucky lady got to see 20 in one day!  

Pairs were a regular sighting, especially just upstream from the lodge, but the icing on the cake were a couple of very young babies accompanied by their mothers and which several groups got to see.  Despite looking for all the world like a brown watermelon on legs, isn't it just the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Photo by Fábio Paschoal (Muito obrigado!)

Merry Xmas to all my readers and may 2018 bring you plenty of birds, butterflies and, who knows, maybe even tapirs!

Amazonian advent Day 23

Despite the abundance of butterfly pictures in this year's advent calendar, I 'only' took around 120 photographs of them this year. 
This one, however, a female Trochilia Metalmark (Argyrogrammana trochilia), is my favourite as it was a new species for me and quite possibly the first documented record for the Cristalino region, if not the whole of southern Amazonian Brazil.

Amazonian advent Day 22

Agami Heron, or hummingbird heron as it is called in Portuguese due to its extremely long, dagger-like bill, is one of the most sought-after species along the river which even the least birdy ecotourists can appreciate! 

Amazonian advent Day 21

On what was possibly the hottest day of the year, this clever Lesser Anteater with a drippy nose decided it would sleep on our floating deck above the cool river, much to the delight of the groups which arrived that afternoon to an unusual and very unexpected welcome party!  The following day, it was gone.

Amazonian advent Day 20

The Euselasias, in the metalmark family, are difficult to observe as they always perch upside down on the underside of a leaf.  This is Euselasia eurypus.

Amazonian advent Day 19

This small Green Anaconda was the only one I saw this year and had obviously just eaten going by the bulge half way long its body.

Amazonian advent Day 18

There are 19 species of woodcreeper at Cristalino, all subtle variations on the theme of reddish-brown with varying amounts of streaking and slightly different bills.  They are, therefore, a nightmare to the uninitiated, especially as some of the local subspecies look very different to the nominate forms pictured in the field guides!  This is the Dusky-billed (eytoni) subspecies of Buff-throated Woodcreeper, the commonest woodcreeper on the reserve.

Amazonian advent Day 17

Another butterfly today, this is Lowland Owlet or Opsiphanes invirae.

Amazonian advent Day 16

It's taken me several years to get a decent shot of Giant Otters.  This year, they were pretty elusive but, when they did show up, they put on a great show.

Amazonian advent Day 15

This species of millipede was extremely common this year, especially once the rains had started.

Amazonian advent Day 14

The Syrmatia family of  swordtail butterflies are very rarely observed in the wild and so there is very little information on how to tell them apart.  This one, possibly Syrmatia nyx, was one of the many nighttime visitors to our mothsheet which provided countless goodies for the guests and guides to admire.  A butterfly biologist who spent a whole year at the lodge only ever saw one of these and that was dead!

Amazonian advent Day 13

Blue-and-yellow Macaws.

Amazonian advent Day 12

Another hairstreak today; this tiny thing is Tmolus echion.

Recharging the batteries

Brussels, and it seems most of northern Europe, has had heavy snowfall the past couple of days yet, this time last week, I was enjoying the sunshine and blue skies of the French Riviera.  Although more a short break from winter than a birding trip, I did get to do a couple of nice walks amongst the limestone garrigue, with skulky Sardinian Warblers calling all around.  I was surprised to find a flock of feeding Crag Martins as I didn't realise they overwinter there.  On my last day, I did the scenic walk around Cap Ferrat in the hope of maybe spotting an offshore shearwater but the sea was far too calm.  There were plenty of Goldcrests and Firecrests in the coastal pines and I finally got good looks at some Sardinian Warblers, but the best sighting by far was the view from the tip of the headland.

Amazonian advent Day 11

This year, the Red-handed Howler-Monkey's paid regular visits to the lodge, often waking everyone up around 4am.  The group seemed to consist of twelve individuals, including two very young babies, perhaps only a few weeks old.  Here are an adult (above) and a youngster (below).

Amazonian advent Day 10

The Euptychia group of woodland satyrs are a terribly complex and difficult family to identify about which very little is known.  Only recently, one species was discovered to actually be the female of another species!  Nevertheless, I believe this beauty may be Chloreuptychia marica.

Amazonian advent Day 9

I saw some great-looking Pleasing Fungus Beetles this year.  Above is Erotylus mirabilis whilst I could only identify the below as far as genus; Gibbifer sp. 

Amazonian advent Day 8

The wonderfully metallic metalmark Caria castalia.

Amazonian advent Day 7

Red-necked Woodpecker, a fairly regular visitor to the lodge clearing.

Amazonian advent Day 6

A nice portrait of the fairly common Forest Giant Owl, Caligo eurilochus

Amazonian advent Day 5

Yet more good camouflage today in the form of these Proboscis Bats.

Amazonian advent Day 4

I again did a lot of butterfly photography this year; this is Panthiades bitias aka Bitias Hairstreak.

Amazonian advent Day 3

This Common Potoo is another master of camouflage, sitting on its daytime roost (or possibly even nest) and looking for all the world like a broken branch.

Amazonian advent Day 2

This White Witch is a moth which has the biggest wingspan of any butterfly or moth, so big in fact that it almost always lands on a tree trunk facing sideways so that the wings do not stick out either side, which would compromise its camouflage.

Amazonian advent Day 1

As with every year I've been to the Amazon, it's time for my online advent calendar featuring some of my favourite pictures taken during my time at Cristalino Jungle Lodge.  Traditionally, I've always started with one of the lodge chickens, more commonly known as Bare-faced Curassows, so here is the female showing off her stripey plumage.  This year, though, I was there much later than usual, well into October, so I got to see the start of the rainy season, with a lot of misty vistas from atop the canopy towers as a result.

Dutch double

I had a day's twitching around Holland at the weekend, our first destination being a Dusky Warbler in Katwijk aan Zee.  It had moved on, however, after four days in the same spot, so we then moved slightly down the coast to try for a Pallas' Leaf Warbler which had been seen that morning.  Once there, it looked as if we were heading for another failure as the tree it had been regularly visiting was very empty and even the nearby tit and Short-toed Treecreeper calls soon died away.  After half an hour of waiting, though, there it was all of a sudden, together with a Goldcrest, completely silent and constantly feeding.  I didn't even bother to try and get a picture but there were plenty of others who did.  Funnily enough, my only other Pallas' Warbler was also in The Netherlands exactly ten years ago.  With the windy conditions, we next decided to try the pier in Scheveningen hoping for some windblown seabirds but it was even quieter than my recent trip to Ostend, with one Great Crested Grebe and a couple of Common Gulls being the highlights!  A first-winter male Desert Wheatear had just been relocated at Schiphol airport, however, which was on our way back to Amsterdam, so we made a brief stop for that right at the end of the day and the bird was visible as soon as we stepped out of the car!  This really was a beauty and my first in Europe as I'd only ever seen them in Israel and Jordan.  So, despite Dusky Warbler yet again eluding me, it was a succesful day with two rarities seen well.  The following day, I twitched this Iceland Gull on its favourite canal in the centre of Amsterdam which is almost certainly the same bird I already wrote about two years ago but looking completely different now it is in its fourth year.

The hungry hordes

I visited my Brussels patch this past week and found a nice group of birds feeding amongst the leaf litter.  See if you can find and identify the four species in the above picture!  Our female Ferruginous Duck is back for her sixth consecutive winter and this winter-plumaged Black-headed Gull was a timely reminder that winter isn't too far off.

As a result, I hung a peanut bag on my balcony on Thursday afternoon, the first time I'd put any food out for my 'garden' birds since March, and expected it would take a few days for them to find it.  Within half an hour, however, I already had these two Ring-necked Parakeets tucking in with a pair of Jays looking on.  Amazing how they can suddenly appear where there had been no food for months on end, almost as if they were just sitting there waiting for me.  The Jays have since emptied the bag completely in less than four days, surely stashing most of the nuts away for harsher times as I can't believe they were that hungry!

Raining Redwings

I headed to the coast today to try my hand at some seawatching.  As soon as I exited Ostend station, however, I noticed small groups of Redwing passing over and, by the time I reached the dunes, I was standing directly in the path of several low-flying flocks with hundreds of them passing all around me.  Within ten minutes, I counted at least 400 Redwings, together with a few Fieldfares and one Mistle Thrush.  Something big was obviously happening and another observer further along the coast counted 2100 in one hour.  Over the sea, things were much quieter, although I did get great looks at some passing Brent Geese, and a winter-plumaged Red-necked Grebe briefly stopped on the sea right in front of me.  Other than that, though, I just had one unidentified diver and a couple of Kittiwakes plus a slow but constant stream of Common Gulls passing by.  The day definitely belonged to the Redwings, therefore, so here again is that lovely picture I took a few years ago and have posted previously.

Back just in time!

It's not just the smell of autumn which is in the air but plenty of migrants too!  Friday morning, I noticed lots of passerines going over my balcony so I sat down and counted them for one hour, totalling almost 200, plus five Cormorant.  The vast majority of the songbirds seemed to be Chaffinches and a few Meadow Pipits but I had a huge surprise when three Parrot Crossbills came past.  There is a major influx of these happening at the moment with unprecented numbers turning up all over The Netherlands and the first few appearing in Belgium.  I thus did another mini migration count on Saturday morning, this time counting 320 migrants in one hour, of which 230 were Chaffinches, with smaller numbers of Brambling, Redpoll, White Wagtail, Skylark, Blackbird, Redwing and Rook.  With all this passing through the centre of Brussels, it felt inevitable that something fantastic would turn up and, sure enough, whilst I was hiking in Germany on Sunday, Belgium's first Long-tailed Shrike fell into the ringers nets at the Zwin.  It was released in front of a lucky few and I was cursing myself for not staying in Belgium but it thankfully stayed overnight, allowing me to to go see it yesterday.  It kept returning to its favourite hunting perch and so the relatively modest crowd, for a national first at least, of around 50 people all got great, prolonged views and, I'm pleased to say, kept their distance.  Getting any kind of photo was a challenge, therefore, but here is a heavily cropped image where you can at least make out the colouration

I never expected to be watching a lifer within a week of getting back from Brazil and what a beauty it was too.  Bring on the autumn!

Cristalino chronicles part 6

I'm back in Brussels again after a horrible 48-hour journey, starting with a nightmare flight from Alta Floresta which ended up being diverted to Goiânia due to a storm preventing us from landing at Cuiaba.  The plane was bouncing around all over the place with people screaming and being sick until the pilot eventually decided to give up on approaching Cuiaba airport after two terrifying attempts.  I must say Azul airlines were exceptional and, instead of flying me all the way back to Cuiaba for the following day's flight to Brasilia, put me on a short flight to Brasilia the same evening so I could have a restful night there before my international connection.
Stephen's law finally kicked on my final afternoon at the lodge, when we got fantastic looks at White-whiskered Spider-Monkey from Tower 1 with me then finding a roosting Short-billed Leaftosser close to the lodge on the way back.  Leaftossers have become extremely rare at Cristalino and this was my first, of any species, since 2014.  On my very last morning at the hotel in Alta Floresta, I finally got a glimpse of my first Cinereous Tinamou.  I had heard this species every year I'd been but never managed to see one and, although this was a typical view of just a body, the head being obscured by vegetation, the size and colouration ruled out any other possibility, plus it started singing shortly after.  That was thus my fifth lifer of the season, taking my total birdlist for the seven weeks to 370 species.  Back in Brussels, the leaves are falling and the smell of autumn is in the air.

Cristalino chronicles part 5

Boom!  The rains have finally started with an impressive storm which brought two hours of torrential rain, strong winds, thunder and lightning.  Almost immediately, bird activity seems to have picked up and, today, I had another great morning on one of the observation towers.  This is also the time scarce austral migrants turn up and I finally got my third lifer of the season with a Rufous-tailed Attila along the river.  It's funny how some groups seem to be luckier than others.  My latest group got to see spider and howler monkeys plus Giant Otters and two Agami Herons, all on their first morning.  One guy really wanted to see the trumpeters so I suggested going for a short walk late one morning and, within ten minutes, three of them crossed the trail right in front of us!  If only it was always that easy.  Finally, last year's Paint-billed Crake, only the third for the Alta Floresta region, has made a repeat appearance and is running around out in the open, much to the delight of my last two groups.

Cristalino chronicles part 4

The temperature here has finally dropped a little but we are now shrouded in smoke from farmers burning off their fields.  Strangely enough, though, I had one of my best mornings ever on the tower, with a mixed flock which stayed close to the tower and 45 species seen during the three hours we were up there.  Sungrebes are now all along the river, there having been none at all until 16 September, and 100-strong flocks of Greater Ani are passing through.  My last group saw howler, spider and saki monkey at the lodge all on the same day, and also got to see an immature Harpy Eagle, with a group of Dark-winged Trumpeters as their leaving present on the way out.  Finally, we added a new species to the lodge list when an immature male House Sparrow turned up in the staff clearing!  Although common in Alta Floresta, it must have flown over around 10km of contiguous forest to get here, but disappeared again after just two days.

Cristalino chronicles part 3

I've now been here exactly three weeks and have broken the 300-species barrier.  Some of the bird highlights of the past few days have included Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl, a heard-only Southern Nightingale Wren, Agami Heron, Common Potoo on its daytime roost, and today's big surprise of two Magpie Tanagers, which should only be in the more open areas around Alta Floresta.  Perhaps the horrible heatwave we are currently experiencing, with daytime temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius, has something to do with them showing up here.  In any case, tapir sightings have increased even further as they are forced to the river to cool off; we had 15 on this morning's boatride, including a mother and her stripey calf, with another mother and calf this afternoon.  Most exciting of all, though, was a Green Anaconda we discovered this morning resting on a rock to digest whatever it had recently eaten.

Cristalino chronicles part 2

Well, there's not been anything quite as exciting as an Ornate Hawk-Eagle trying to catch a Green Ibis since I last wrote but every day is different here in the Amazon.  One of my guests got to see 11 tapirs in one day, which is ridiculous even for this time of year.  My latest group 'only' got to see nine of them during their four-night stay but also saw the elusive tayra as well as a southern tamandua.  After two weeks here, I had seen or heard around 280 species of birds and I now have a few days off to find some more before my next group arrives.

Cristalino chronicles part 1

I finally arrived at the lodge 24 hours late due to an accident which temporarily closed Cuiaba airport, and together with my first group of eight guests so I had to start guiding straight away.  The group really got on well together so it was great to start off with such a nice, easy-going group.  We also got to see some good things including three tapirs, a Neotropical River Otter asleep on a log, and both howler and saki monkeys around the lodge itself.  I then had just one morning off before my next group and was having a lazy breakfast when I noticed a Straight-billed Hermit, a lifer, right next to the dining room!

I was a bit apprehensive about my second group as they were keen birders and I'm still struggling to remember all the calls.  They were really nice too, though, and, with the help of Francisco, the local bird guide, we found them some fantastic things.  I'd asked them what they most wanted to see, and they replied Zigzag Heron and Harpy Eagle. Well, we saw the former catching a big fish out in the open and the Harpy Eagle twice, with a supporting cast of Tapajos Hermit, Amazonian Pygmy and Mottled Owls, Razor-billed Curassow, several Gould's Toucanets, and four Bare-eyed Antbirds showing ridiculously well. They saw around 200 species during their four-night stay and I even got another lifer with them in the form of a migrant Rufous-thighed Kite.  They were already very pleased, therefore, but there was one last surprise in store as we headed down to the main river on their way out.  I had noticed something thrashing around in the water and got the boatman to stop as I guessed it was Giant Otters hunting. I then noticed some wings, however, and then more wings as the thrashing mess materialised into an adult Ornate Hawk-Eagle with a Green Ibis in its claws. The hawk-eagle was struggling to drag the ibis up the riverbank and then let go, leaving a stunned ibis and incredulous group of people behind.  Even after six years of coming here, there are still things that leave you open-mouthed and amazed at what you have just witnessed!

All change

Last week, I just did a little naturalising around Brussels, taking pictures of dragonflies such as this Black-tailed Skimmer.  My current work contract is coming to an end and I didn't really have any plans for the coming month or two until the next one starts.  On my regular patch, however, I came across this Red-crested Pochard, the first in Brussels since January, its coral-pink bill giving it away as a male in eclipse plumage.

  
This is a plumage we don't often get to see here and is also a sign of change, since the males are only in this plumage for a short while after the breeding season.  It turned out to be a good omen since I was contacted over the weekend by Cristalino Jungle Lodge, where I have spent five summer seasons guiding.  They were in desperate need of a guide at extremely short notice so, Monday evening, my flights were confirmed to depart this coming Saturday for another seven weeks in the Amazon!  I'll try to post some regular updates from there but now I need to pack!

Out with a bang

There's already a certain feel of autumn in the air as the Swifts had deserted the skies above Brussels by the end of July.  In addition, there seems to be a slight downturn in the variety and numbers of butterflies on the wing so, last week, I had one more day's butterflying in Belgian Luxembourg before it's too late and I ended up seeing no less than 24 species, the most I've seen in one day this year!  The Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries were showing well this time but I found yet another hairstreak I'd not seen before, namely Brown Hairstreak, which is our biggest one.

Yesterday, I visited one of the few Belgian colonies of Silver-spotted Skipper which is conveniently located right next to Lommel train station and they were even easier to find than to get to.  I thus added yet another species to my Belgian list, which now stands at 62 out of of the 103 recently recorded species in Belgium. The only ones left are all either rare or localised and require a species-by-species effort for me to connect with.  

July round-up

The rest of July was fairly quiet although I did get to see my first Scotch Argus butterflies near Han-sur-Lesse; within ten minutes of stepping out of the bus, I was watching several of them feeding on flowers.

Last week, I made another visit to the Tienne Breumont, hoping to see some more butterflies but it was cold and overcast so only the Six-spot Burnet moths were showing.

I did find another orchid, however, which I believe to be Fragrant Orchid, and watching this Dipper feeding was a nice way to pass the time as I waited for the bus back.

 

Alpine butterflying part 3

Blue-spot Hairstreak

White-letter Hairstreak

Almond-eyed Ringlet

Niobe Fritillary

Heath Fritillary