Snow parakeets

We had our first snow of the winter last week, resulting in some nice photo opportunities.  Thankfully, it had all melted by the weekend for my almost annual wild goose chase around Zeeland with my Dutch birding friends.  In fact, it was rather mild, with unseasonal sightings of both White Stork and a single Spoonbill also helping to make it feel almost spring-like.  The Brouwersdam, however, was cold and windy as always, and we saw most of the species which are typical winter visitors there, including Red-throated and Black-throated Divers, Slavonian Grebe, Goldeneye, Common Scoter, Eider, Red-breasted Merganser and Purple Sandpiper, as well as an unexpected Guillemot.  The main target of this year's wild goose chase was Lesser White-fronted Goose yet, despite careful scanning of all the goose flocks we encountered, we were unable to locate any.  My scrutiny was rewarded with a single Tundra Bean Goose, however, which I was very pleased to find amongst a 1000-strong mixed flock of Barnacles and White-fronted Geese, although it only showed its tell-tale bill for a short while before going to sleep and blending back in amongst the crowd.

Blue arrows

Common Kingfisher by Julie Hollinshead

2019, so far at least, seems to be the year of the Kingfisher.  As mentioned in my last post, I already saw one on January 1st, with another on 2nd, and yet another at a third location within Brussels a week later.  Furthermore, they were all perched birds, the one on my patch even seen catching a fish, as opposed to the typical flashes of blue darting across the water one usually gets.  I've mainly been birding within Brussels so far, finding some good local species such as Fieldfare, Hawfinch, Bullfinch (below) and even a Black Woodpecker!  On my one trip outside of Brussels so far this year, I went to a lake I've not visited for a while, getting to see the even more elusive Bittern in flight, as well as a redhead Smew, taking my year list to 75 species.

In with the new

The first day of 2019 was horribly grey and drizzly yet I still forced myself out to start my new year list, beginning with the park next to my apartment where these Ring-necked Parakeets provided a much-needed splash of colour.  The park still contained both the Blackcap I was surprised to find at the end of November and the male Firecrest seen regularly throughout December.  After that, I made a brief visit to our overwintering Pygmy Comorant to make sure it was still there, also seeing Kingfisher and Great Egret in addition to the commoner species so that I finished the day on a respectable 40 species.
The saying out with the old, in with the new, could not have seemed less appropriate, the best birds of the day being lingerers from 2018.  The following day, however, I made a visit to the Brussels patch I have been visiting regularly for the past twenty years.  I'm already the observer with the most species and, as you can imagine, adding a new one is a very rare occurrence.  Nevertheless, as I passed the reedbed, I heard the distinctive, explosive call of a Cetti's Warbler.  I stood in the rain for about twenty minutes waiting for it to show but it remained stubbornly hidden, although it did call repeatedly, leaving me in no doubt as to its identity.  This is an extremely rare bird in Brussels as a whole and the first-ever for the reserve.  In with the new, indeed! 
After that, I continued my regular circuit, finding a lone Alexandrine Parakeet feeding quietly on some treetop seeds, checking in on our regular female Ferruginous Duck, and managing to pick out three Bramblings amongst the numerous Chaffinches.  After having a particularly bold Robin feeding from my hand, I headed home with a year list of 55 species, which is not bad for day two.