Boobies!

After Vlieland, I still had some days off and was hoping to get away somewhere warmer.  I had more or less decided on the Algarve anyway, when news of an immature Red-footed Booby hanging around Sagres harbour sealed the deal.  I arrived into Sagres late in the afternoon with little time before it got dark so decided to check out the harbour quickly and there it was, sitting on a buoy.  Of course, I didn't have my camera with me but at least it was still around.  The following morning, I checked out the Ponta da Atalaia headland with its abundant Thekla Larks, and the very first bird I saw out to sea was the booby going off to fish, followed by lots of Gannets plus a few Balearic Shearwaters, which was a lifer for me earlier this year in Spain.  By the time I got back to the harbour, this time with my camera, the booby had returned from its fishing foray and was back on its favourite buoy.

Not a lifer since I'd already seen them in Hawai'i, this was my second booby in the WP, the first being a Brown Booby I saw on the Jordanian side of the Gulf of Aqaba from Eilat's North Beach.  The next two days were mainly spent at the Cabranosa migration watchpoint although the strong south-westerlies meant that little was migrating apart from Chaffinches.  Once the wind changed, however, we did get a nice group of 65 Griffon Vultures, as well as two Black Storks.  I created a bit of a stir amongst the local birders by relocating a juvenile Red-backed Shrike, apparently very rare in this part of Portugal, and some seawatching from the scenic Cabo de São Vicente, the south-western tip of mainland Europe, gave me my best-ever look at some Great Skuas.  I had hoped for a Great Shearwater or two but I knew the chances were small so I had to content myself with a few distant Cory's and my only lifer of the trip being this Austaut's Blue, the southern Mediterranean equivalent of our Common Blue.

J'aime la Vlie

I first visited Vlieland thanks to 2023's Yellow-browed Bunting.  I really liked the island and its birding opportunities, especially during autumn migration and so have been back there every year since.  My 2024 visit was timed too early and ever so quiet as a result, although I did discover how good the island can be for seeing rainbows.  This past week was ever so windy with yet more rainbows but the birding was quite good too, by far the highlight of my 2 days on the island being the 1st-winter Common Rosefinch I found.  Bramblings were absolutely everywhere and one of the few species migrating into the strong westerlies.

The same winds were pushing seabirds ashore, with Guillemot, Arctic Tern, Kittiwake, Little Gull, several Red-throated Diver and a distant Fulmar, while the Kroonspolders held the usual collection of waterfowl, including several Pintail.

The second morning started rainy so I spent the first few hours in my room, watching passing flocks of Oystercatcher, until I heard a gull screaming and noticed this magnificent adult Arctic Skua chasing it around the ferry harbour, giving me one of my best-ever looks at the species.  Whilst birding on Vlieland can produce rarities, for me it is more about the sheer numbers of birds with the constant calls of Brent Geese everywhere, and I ended up seeing or hearing 85 species on the island, plus a Rook in Leeuwaarden station on my 7.5 hour journey back to Brussels.

Owl overdose

The Uitkerkse Polders are by far the best place in Belgium to see Short-eared Owl, with numbers fluctuating each winter, although I have never seen more than two at once.  The past few days, however, simply ridiculous numbers have been reported and I was convinced people were double-counting birds in flight but decided I had to check out what was going on.  Having started in Heist, where I got a great view of the long-staying juvenile Barred Warbler, I arrived at the owl location to find around 30 birders and four visible Short-eared Owls roosting amongst the grasses of a dried-up hollow.  By the time I left, two owls had already started hunting yet another nine were still sitting on the ground, making a total of 11 (and, going by other people's counts, it seems there were even more hiding out of sight)!  I've no idea if this an early influx or, perhaps, as some people have suggested, the result of successful breeding in the area but now is definitely the time to get to the polders if you want to see a Short-eared Owl or eleven!

Mooreigers

I spent a day at the coast this week hoping to see some migration but the southerly wind put paid to that idea.  The trees, on the other hand, were alive with Goldcrests plus the odd Firecrest and, whilst I'll never beat my photo from 10 years ago, I did at least manage a shot showing why they are called Goldcrests.

The polders already contained a 500-strong flock of White-fronted Geese, which seems rather early to me and bodes well for the winter.  Cattle Egrets used to be scarce along the coast but are now more or less guaranteed, mirroring their rapid range expansion elsewhere, and this one also posed for a photo which does justice to its name, although I prefer my English bastardisation of their Dutch name, Koereiger.

Birding by instinct

Last Thursday, I had a feeling the conditions would be good for stork migration and tried watching from my balcony in the hope of connecting with some.  After an hour of seeing nothing whatsoever, I had given up and was getting ready to have a shower when a report came through of a flock of storks on the north-western edge of Brussels, heading in my direction.  Half-dressed, I rushed back out and spent the next fifteen minutes frantically scanning the sky and wondering why I couldn't see them until I finally spotted them.  They were moving quickly, however, and soon disappeared behind the trees but I reckon the flock contained around 150 White Storks, with a Marsh Harrier following behind!  Yesterday, I went out onto my balcony to hear a sharp call that just didn't sound right for a Robin and made me think of Spotted Flycatcher, although that was highly unlikely since I've only seen it from my balcony once before.  I then saw a greyish bird flit between the trees and managed to spot where it landed through a gap in the foliage.

New autumn's resolution

Autumn migration is well underway with a Hoopoe on my Brussels patch, in exactly the same place as the last one in September 2002, and a female Woodchat Shrike on a nature reserve in Vlaams-Brabant.  This species was new for my Belgian list so I went to look for it yesterday and found it easily, although it was very far away making it impossible to photograph.  A pair of Migrant Hawkers in Brussels, on the other hand, were too busy copulating to worry about me, allowing me to get this nice image.

Since migration is kicking off and lots of good things seems to be turning up, I decided to make a resolution to do a quick tour of my local park every day that my work schedule allows.  During my first visit this week, there had obviously been a minor fall, with several calling Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps plus a nice little surprise in the form of a singing Firecrest, which I've only seen once before as early as August.

Le Sylvandre

Last weekend, I returned to the Forêt de Fontainebleau, south of Paris, with the specific aim of finding a Woodland Grayling, or Sylvandre as it is known in French.  This is one of a complex of three, virtually identical and very variable species which can only be confidently separated by examining their genitalia.  Back in 2021, I thought I found one in Modane yet this species has yet to be confirmed in the area so it is much more likely to be an atypical Swiss Grayling, which is common there.  Woodland Grayling, however, is the only one which occurs as far north as Paris, although it is far from common and mainly flies in late July and August.  After three hours of hiking through the forest, I had seen hundreds of Gatekeepers but not a glimpse of a grayling and had already given up hope when one suddenly floated across the track.  After an exclamation of relief followed by a brief chase, it first landed on the sandy track and then moved to a nearby post so I could finally get my first, definite photo of one.  Compared with my 2021 photo, it is much more mottled and the inner edge of the white band is more curved, both features used to help to tell it from Swiss Grayling without having to resort to a magnifying glass.