Mexican whistle

Having given myself all day to find the Blyth's Reed Warbler, I then had time to explore the neighbouring nature reserve, the Reeuwijksche Plassen.  Although I had heard of it before, I didn't have a clue what could be seen there, but soon found a pair of Ferruginous Duck.  This is a good bird for The Netherlands and were probably overwintering individuals from Germany.  I didn't locate any spring migrants but the final lagoon was chock-a-block with Wigeon, which I presume were gathering before heading off on their migration.  They were certainly very excited, with the sound of their whistles filling the air and, every now and then, a ripple of whistling would work its way through the flock just like a Mexican wave.  I made several attempts to count them but it was simply impossible as they were everywhere I looked.  In the end, I settled for a conservative estimate of 20,000 to 30,000!

BRW!

My biggest bogey bird has finally fallen!  Earlier this week, I heard about a Blyth's Reed Warbler in Gouda (NL) which seems to have overwintered since it was discovered on 1st February.  It is also right next to a train station so I just had to give it a try yesterday.  I arrived to what seemed to be the right spot to find I was the only one there, which is not surprising considering the bird has been around for five weeks, so I started scrutinising the many bramble bushes.  There was plenty of movement in the undergrowth, but it always turned out to be Robins, Dunnocks, or Wrens and I was beginning to wonder whether I was in the right place, until three young birders arrived and spread out to cover more of the area.  After 1h40 of searching, I finally spotted it working its way through the vegetation and called the others over.  It showed really well for around 15 minutes before flying away over a ditch, and one of the boys even managed to get this picture, despite it being constantly on the move.  Even though there is a leaf in the way, the long-billed, flat-headed profile is obvious, as is the cold brown colouration of the upperparts.  2020 was supposed to be my year for seeing Blyth's Reed Warbler since I had a trip to Latvia planned, until Covid came along of course, and to add insult to injury, I couldn't find the one singing in Amsterdam either.  Since then, I've had little opportunity to try, despite them now breeding on Texel.  The dubious honour of the commonest European species I've not yet managed to see now belongs to European Storm Petrel.