Big weekend

Great Bittern by Phil Gunson

I had a big birding weekend this past weekend, starting on Friday with a quick visit to the female Ferruginous Duck which has returned to the canal in Anderlecht every winter since 2013.  On Saturday, I guided a visiting birder to a lake in West Flanders, finding him three lifers - Bittern, Smew and Long-eared Owl.  The Bittern was showing exceptionally well right in front of the hide, as you can see, and seemed to be blowing bubbles in the water to attract fish.  This is not a behaviour I have heard about before but it seemed to be working since we witnessed it catching a young perch.

Long-eared Owl by Phil Gunson

Sunday was my annual wild goose chase around Zeeland with my Dutch birding friends.  The Brouwersdam was unusually quiet, apart from lots of Red-breasted Mergansers and a single Razorbill, although we did spot a 1000-strong flock of Brent Geese on the way.  We then moved to the location of last year's 3000+ Barnacle Geese, which were back in exactly the same spot.  This time, however, they were concealing several other species - one Tundra Bean Goose, at least two Cackling Geese, a presumed escape Ross's Goose, plus a Red-breasted Goose I only saw very briefly before the whole flock took flight and we lost it again.  By the end of the weekend, I had seen or heard a total of 95 species!

Barnacle Geese by Theo Hortensius

Where to watch birds in Munich

I was in Munich last weekend and, at the suggestion of a local birder, went birding at the Starnberger See, about an hour to the south.  I did a lovely, 7.5km walk along the lakeshore from Seeshaupt to Bernried and the weather was perfect with no wind whatsoever.  The best birds were a group of five Black-throated Divers but I also saw several other species which can be tricky for me to find in Belgium, such as Goosander, Common Scoter, Red-crested Pochard, Yellow-legged Gull and Tree Sparrow.  The following day, I visited the Nymphenburger Schloßpark, which is famous for its Tawny Owls.  A local photographer, who had just taken pictures of one, gave me directions and I was soon looking at a nice, rufous morph on its daytime roost.  Finally, having researched sightings on eBird, I visited the Maximilianbrücke over the river Isar in the hope of seeing a Dipper and succeeded, with a pair of the city's thriving population of Mandarin Duck also there.