Confinement birding part 5

Last Monday, my first Swift of the year passed high over my balcony in a north-easterly direction.  Obviously a migrant, this was around ten days earlier than I usually see my first local birds but, yesterday (Sunday) morning, there was already a small group of three to five hawking insects above the park, at one point even being chased by a Peregrine!  Yesterday was the second time I managed a day list of 23 species from my balcony, strangely with quite a few different species each time but I just can't seem to break the 23-species barrier.  Other than that, I've done a couple more walks in the forest now that the birch pollen season seems to be coming to an end.  The first was pretty birdless although I did get to watch one of two Reed Warblers singing away in the reeds of the Etang de Boitsfort.  I thus paid a bit more attention to the flowers than I usually would and was pleased to find these Yellow Pimpernels.
Today, I tried to find the pair of Ravens which were discovered over the weekend and look as if they might be setting up territory for the first time within Brussels.  There was no sign of them of course but my first Garden Warbler of the year was a nice consolation prize and there were a lot more butterflies around, including this rather plain Green-veined White, which should normally show at least a hint of a black spot on the forewing.

Since my first butterfly of the year just over a month ago, I've seen Holly Blue and Brimstone from my apartment, with Orange-Tip, Large White and Speckled Wood in the forest.  The biggest surprise of the day and perhaps my confinement so far was still to come, however, as I passed the boating lake in the ever so busy Bois de la Cambre only to notice this pair of Garganey.  This is a scarce passage migrant in Brussels and I usually have to twitch someone else's birds in order to add them to my year list so it was especially pleasing to discover my own on the way home.

Confinement birding part 4

Shower-time!

It rained on Saturday for the first time in at least four weeks.  My local Woodpigeons really seemed to enjoy it, jostling for position on the most exposed branch possible and turning their underwings up towards the sky.  I never realised they could be such fun to watch but then got thinking that I don't think I've ever seen them bathing so perhaps they only ever take showers.  After the rain had cleared the air of all that nasty birch pollen which had kept me stuck indoors for the past seventeen days, I did a three-hour long walk in the forest and immediately ran into this little fellow.

I was surprised to find one in the middle of the day but maybe it had just come out of hibernation (it still had a leaf stuck onto its rear-end) or was just thirsty and/or looking for worms after the rain.  In any case, it certainly seemed to know where it was going as it trotted right past me along the path.  I didn't find many birds although I did add a distantly singing Willow Warbler to my stagnant year list, the most pleasing sight of the day being this nice patch of bluebells, of which we don't have many and I rarely get to see in bloom like this.

Confinement birding part 3

It has been another very quiet week of trying to spot migrants from by balcony, with just a few more Swallows, a group of five Jackdaw, and 3 Herring Gulls of note.  There was also what may have been an immature Great Black-backed Gull, an extremely rare bird this far inland, but it was just too far away to be certain, my tentative identification being predominantly based on how big it looked since I thought it was a stork at first.  Things are going over, however, and two other migration counters elsewhere in Brussels managed to connect with a pair of Caspian Terns migrating over the city! 
Following on from the unexpectedly successful review of my Australian notebook, I also went through my notes from Mexico 2010, where I participated in the annual Swainson's Hawk migration count.

I was much better at keeping notes then so wasn't really expecting to make any more discoveries but, lo-and-behold, the 'Western' Scrub-Jays I saw in Mexico City have since been split as Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay, thus making it my fifth lifer in confinement.  Of course, I didn't take any pictures of this 'species' I'd seen many a time in California, so I thought I'd show some transatlantic cousins instead.  At the top of this post is, obviously, a Great Spotted Woodpecker taken from my balcony recently, while the woodpecker I would regularly see from my balcony in Chavarrillo was this Golden-fronted.  This, again, is rather different to the ones in Texas and may well be split off at some point in the future.

Confinement birding part 2

I've not discovered any more lifers during the past week although an immature Marsh Harrier, which migrated northwards early on 1 April, became the 65th species I've seen or heard from my apartment since I moved in 4.5 years ago.  Other than that, it has been very quiet birdwise and I only managed one short birdwalk in the Bois de la Cambre, which is about ten minutes away.  I did find the avian equivalent of a high-rise apartment building though, as one large, dead tree seemed to house one or two pairs of Jackdaw as well as nesting Stock Dove and Middle Spotted Woodpecker!  My nesting Great Tits seem to have decided they have gathered enough moss and are now bringing feathers instead, whilst the local Woodpigeons are going crazy for the buds of one tree.  I regularly counted up to a dozen of them at once and this particular individual has taken a liking to sitting on my windowledge, presumably as it was warm being just the other side of the wall from my radiator.

Confinement birding part 1

Well, that didn't take long!  I wrote last Tuesday that I was looking forward to seeing my first Swallow of the year and, on Saturday morning, one winged its way past during a great session of birding from my apartment during which I saw or heard 22 different species.  The above Grey Heron was one of two which also migrated over, as did three Redwings.  The biggest surprise of the morning, however, was a lovely male Black Redstart, which is a new addition to my apartment list.  A pair of Great Tits seem to be nesting on the corner of my building and return every five minutes with a new beakful of moss.

I'm amazed at the amount of moss they've brought over the past few days and wonder where they are depositing it all.  Great Tit was also the subject of a nice discovery when I decided to go through my notebook from my 2002 trip to Australia.  This was mainly to help pass the time and relive the experience, now that any form of travelling seems unthinkable for the foreseeable future, but also to make sure I'd recorded all relevant subspecies with a view to potential splits.  I soon found out that the Great Tits I saw during my stopover in Hong Kong have since been split as Japanese Tit.  Here again is one of my local birds with, for comparison, a stamp from North Korea showing the considerably less colourful Japanese form.

I then discovered that the Australian forms of what I'd recorded as Black-winged Stilt, Clamorous Reed Warbler and Richard's Pipit have also been split, resulting in a total of four new species for my life-list.  Who would have thought I'd be adding new birds during this period of confinement!

Full stop!

It's OK, my punctuation hasn't gone awry.  I'm well aware this, my first butterfly of the year seen during a walk in the forest today, is a Comma.  It's just that a comma would indicate there is more to come, whereas today felt much more like a full stop.  The confinement measures currently in place in Belgium mean that we are only allowed to go out for local walks or exercise.  The Sonian Forest is the only birdy place within reasonable walking distance of my apartment but, as with my regular patch just over a week ago, it was full of noisy kids, dogs running all over the place and far too many people to really enjoy.  Despite all this, I still managed to find three different Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, one of which looked like she may have been excavating a nesthole, a Firecrest, some Hawfinches, and got to watch a Kingfisher doing a strange display flight high up amongst the trees.  Not too bad, considering, but the birch pollen season has just begun so the forest is the worst place for me to be for the next month or so.  It thus looks like my birding for the foreseeable future will be restricted to watching for migrants from my balcony.  The past few days I've had groups of two and four Cormorants go over, as well as single Buzzard and Sparrowhawk, and I'm really looking forward to seeing my first Swallow of the year.  Little things, but we have to make do with what we can at the moment and simply hope that we'll once again be able to visit the coast for the breeding waders or do a long hike in the Ardennes.

Crazy, crazy times

These are strange, disconcerting times for everyone but, meanwhile, the natural world is going about its business regardless.  I finally heard my first Chiffchaffs in the Sonian Forest on 7 March, about ten days later than last year, which is strange considering how mild it has been.  Two days later, the first had reached my local park; it usually takes them a few days extra to penetrate into the city.  This Alexandrine Parakeet, taken through the bars of my balcony to avoid scaring it off, was checking out the activity at my peanut feeder.  Despite their bigger size and heavier bill, they are extremely wary and much more discrete than their boisterous cousins, the Ring-necked Parakeet, and this one didn't dare to come any closer to feed.  Last Saturday, I made a brief visit to my Brussels patch, where my old friend, the female Ferruginous Duck, now approaching the end of her 8th winter in Brussels, was busy sleeping.  It was extremely busy, however, almost like a bank holiday, since everything else is closed and the only thing people have left to do is take a walk in the park.  Stay safe, everyone!