Going blonde

I made a quick visit over the border into the Dutch region of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen this week and, as with my previous trip to the Netherlands, there were a lot of birds around, including geese, ducks, Spoonbills and even a hybrid Chilean x Greater Flamingo.  The target of the twitch, however, was my lifer Buff-breasted Sandpiper, and the group of Ringed Plovers it was hanging out with conveniently flew in and landed fairly close by as soon as I arrived.  The Dutch name for it translates as blond cavalier, and this juvenile certainly had a lovely, yellowish tinge to its plumage.  At one point, I had the Buff-breasted, a Pectoral Sandpiper and a Little Stint in the field of view of my telescope all at once!  Pectorals do nest in eastern Siberia but, as far as I know, Buff-breasted only breeds in North America, so it's anybody's guess just where the group of Ringed Plovers accompanying these two rarities have come from.  I did manage this distant record-shot of the Pectoral Sandpiper but my attempts at the Buff-breasted were even fuzzier so, instead, here are some great pictures taken by somebody with a much bigger camera.

Wot, no birds?

Earlier this week, I did my annual hike across the rolling hills of the Reuland Plateau in Belgian Luxembourg in the hope of seeing Nutcracker.  It was a bit early for them, however, and I didn't get to see any although I did hear what was possibly one calling way off in the distance.  The only migration I saw was a single Marsh Harrier and a group of six Barn Swallows right at the end of the day, and there were very few passerine migrants around too.  The only birds of note were the ones I typically have to go to this part of Belgium for; Tree Sparrow, Red Kite, Eurasian Treecreeper, Common Crossbill and a heard-only Raven.  Thankfully, though, there were still a few butterflies around to liven up the 20km walk.  Some Pale Clouded Yellows took me a while to identify as they just wouldn't sit still, in stark contrast to this Peacock, which is always a pleasure to see, even when part of its wing is missing.

Zeeland zillions

I had a nice day with my Dutch birding friends in Zeeland at the weekend.  We started with a twitch to some terribly distant Dotterel which were just brown birds in flight but then moved to the harbour of Stellendam, where the mudflats were teeming with zillions of birds.  Oystercatcher and Curlew were probably the most numerous waders, with several hundred of each, but we also counted at least 150 Spoonbill and 250 Sandwich Terns.  A small group of Sanderling contained one bird still in summer plumage, as were a big group of Grey Plovers, and I managed to pick out one Bar-tailed Godwit from the masses of other birds present.  The best birds, though, were an unusually confiding Rock Pipit and a pair of Caspian Terns, one adult and one juvenile, which appeared out of nowhere and sat on the nearest sandbank for us to admire.  By the end of the day, we had tallied 63 species.
Yesterday, I made my first visit to my regular Brussels patch since May.  There were much fewer species around of course but our female Ferruginous Duck is back again, having disappeared to parts unknown since early June and there was one Red-crested Pochard in eclipse plumage.  There was also a colour-ringed Great Egret, which I presumed was the one which turns up there regularly but, having sent the details to the ringer, it turns out its a 1st-year Dutch bird ringed in the nest in South Holland, around 115km north of Brussels, just three months ago! 

The greenish grass of home

I've done very little birding since I got home from Brazil, except for one morning of guiding around Mechels Broek which only produced around 40 species, the most exciting of which was a Ruddy Shelduck!  Migration is well underway but there has been little of interest to tempt me out until late yesterday afternoon, when a Greenish Warbler was found at the Belgian coast.  It was still there this morning and a short walk from Heist train station so off I went.  It was in a tiny migrant trap but ever so mobile and difficult to find.  I saw it about four times during the hour I was there and got good but brief looks as well as hearing it give its distinctive, disyllabic call a few times.  This is the first one I have seen, having made a long trip for the last one in Belgium well over a year ago when I only managed to hear it singing.  I was happy, therefore, just to see it but the finder of the bird had been sitting there all day trying to get some good pictures and eventually succeeded.  I continued down to the beach instead, finding no less than five Wheatears plus this Whinchat all lined up along a fence.

There were, in fact, lots of passerine migrants around, including another group of at least four Whinchats, two Pied Flycatchers, two Common Redstarts and a showy Firecrest.  Best of all though and totally unexpected was the Osprey, which first looked as if it was migrating along the beach but then circled around for the longest time before trying to catch fish in the sea.