19 to go!

After the very slow months of August and September, I thought my big Belgian year target of 250 species was probably out of reach but the successful stormy day earlier this month has put me more or less back on track.  Indeed, last week saw me back at the coast again during another storm which produced both Arctic Skua and Guillemot.  Yesterday saw me heading down to Belgian Luxembourg, involving a four-hour round trip, just to add Tree Sparrow to my year list.  This species seems to be disappearing fast from Belgium and is now very hard to find so I went to one of my most reliable sites.  I only managed to see one of them and not very well at that, unlike the above bird photographed some years ago in Yorkshire, but it's another step closer to 250.  Redwings were absolutely everywhere, with good numbers of Fieldfares, and groups of Skylarks seemed to be passing overhead all day long.

BE #231 (Arctic Skua, Guillemot, Tree Sparrow)

BRU #116

The floodgates have opened!

Last Friday, 15th October, I had the first migrating Redwing of the autumn from my balcony, which got me thinking how late everything seems to be this year, especially compared to the madness of 13th October last year.  Saturday morning, I thus went out on my balcony again and, this time, it was Song Thrushes which seemed to be everywhere.  I didn't see huge numbers of birds but the species going over included Song Thrush, Redwing, Starling, Skylark, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch, Brambling, Siskin and 4 Greylag Geese.  By 10:30am, things seemed to have quietened down, so I came inside to have some breakfast and warm up, whilst still looking out of the window.  At 10:45, however, I spotted something large and brown descending into the park and I instantly recognised it although my head told me it just wasn't possible and had me searching for other ideas of what it could be.  Sure enough, though, I just got the binoculars on it in time to confirm my first Short-eared Owl in the whole of Brussels, let alone for my flatlist.  It seemed to be looking for somewhere to roost, harassed by two Carrion Crows, and soon disappeared behind the trees, leaving me gobsmacked.  I decided not to go into the park to try and find it since I didn't want to risk flushing it so soon after it had arrived to rest, especially with the limited hiding places in such a busy park  Instead, I went for a walk in the Sonian Forest, hoping some other good birds had turned up but all I found was this magnificent caterpillar.

I'd never seen anything quite like it but then saw a second one during my walk and a friend (thanks, Marcel), soon identified it as a Pale Tussock moth (Calliteara pudibunda), in the family Erebidae, which is well-known for its hairy and elaborately ornamented caterpillars.

The past two days have not been quite as busy migration-wise but there is still lots on the move.  This morning, having already tallied several Skylarks, a group of around ten Coal Tits, and a Sparrowhawk, I got to watch some interesting interaction when a female Chaffinch, which had become isolated from her group, landed in the tree next to my balcony and started calling like mad, presumably looking for some new friends.  Suddenly, a female Brambling dropped out of the sky and sat next to her for a few minutes, both of them calling non-stop, until they took off together on the next leg of their journey.  Farewell, my fringillid friends.

BE #228

BRU #116 (Skylark, Greylag Goose, SHORT-EARED OWL!)

Storming on

I made three separate trips to the coast this past week.  The first was last Wednesday, when a storm seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally add Gannet to my year list.  Conditions were unpleasant to say the least since I had to crouch down behind a wall to get out of the wind, with sea spray from the waves breaking over me every so often, but I did get to see plenty of juvenile Gannets.  Interestingly, I didn't see a single adult go past, as if they know better than to get caught up in a storm.  The strong winds also pushed a single Razorbill, a couple of Kittiwakes and a group of Common Scoter my way but the biggest surprise were a couple of dark birds wheeling over the waves in typical shearwater-fashion.  They were far out but I got good enough views to confirm the underside was completely dark and even glimpse the whitish underwing coverts of one bird so I was pretty confident I'd just seen my first Sooty Shearwaters in Belgium.  Sure enough, this was a big day for this species, with a friend stationed further down the coast tallying 27 of them during the course of the day, and my two birds also being reported by other observers at various locations along the coast.

Two days later, I was back at the coast again trying to find Yellow-browed Warblers since my Brussels bird of the past two autumns hasn't returned (and I've been checking the park almost every day!).  I did hear two calling but, frustratingly, was unable to locate either of them.  The bushes were absolutely alive with Song Thrushes, however, flying out in all directions, and I was just thinking that so many thrushes having arrived meant there just had to be something else, when a Barred Warbler popped up in a bush ahead of me!  I only got brief views before it disappeared and no-one else saw the bird at all, but it was enough to rule out a late Garden Warbler, so I was very pleased with only my second (and first self-found) Barred Warbler in Belgium, in exactly the same location as my first.  As if that wasn't good enough, I then went on to get a fantastic view of a Wryneck, a species I'd pretty much given up on finding this year since it is getting extremely late for them.

After two visits in three days, I had no intention of returning to the coast over the weekend but then someone went and found a first-winter Rustic Bunting on Saturday which was showing extremely well all day and again on Sunday.  After the successes of the past week, I just had to give it a try, therefore, especially seeing it too was new for my Belgian list, having only ever seen them on their breeding grounds in Lapland.  I soon located the crowd of people (111 people reported it on Sunday) surrounding the bird as it crept mouse-like through the marram grass feeding.  At first, it was difficult to see well but it eventually flew up into a tree and started preening for all to admire.

BE #228 (Gannet, Razorbill, Kittiwake, Common Scoter, Sooty Shearwater, Yellow-browed Warbler, Barred Warbler, Wryneck, Bearded Tit, Rustic Bunting)

BRU #113 (Cetti's Warbler)

Berlin beans

I was back in Berlin for another city trip last weekend but made a visit to Moorlinse Buch, north-east of the city, at the recommendation of a fellow birder.  At first, and despite being on the outskirts of the city, almost on the border with Brandenburg, it seemed like any old city park with just a few Greylag Geese, Coots and grebes present.  There was a lot of songbird migration, however, with a constant stream of Chaffinches, accompanied by numerous Siskins, at least one Brambling, a Woodlark and even two Bearded Tits.  It soon became clear, though, that it wasn't only songbirds which were on the move, as a flight of 180 Greylags arrived a little after 9am.

The 09:05 flight from Scandinavia!

More and more mixed groups of geese continued to arrive all morning so that, by the time I left a couple of hours later, the 30-strong flock of Greylags had grown to around 600, together with 60+ Tundra Bean Geese and 20-30 White-fronted Geese.  The Bean Geese were especially nice to watch since I rarely get to see them well in Belgium, with one bird in particular having me in fits of laughter as its attempts at preening its tail feathers ended up with it spinning round and round on the water like a dog chasing its tail!

A passing Crane even came to check out all the commotion of the arriving geese before deciding that was not the kind of company it wanted to keep and flying on.