January - PINE BUNTING (The Netherlands); a successful twitch to the overwintering female in Zeeland.
February - Bittern (Brussels); on my third attempt, I finally got to see the elusive Bittern at my patch, only for there to be two birds together a few days later.
March - Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Brussels); my first at my local patch (after more than 15 years!) discovered by chance whilst trying to locate a noisy Jay.
April - LITTLE BUSTARD (Spain); several birds seen well, including two in display flight, during a guided tour with Catalan Bird Tours.
May - Marsh Warbler (Brussels and Mechels Broek); being the only observer to have recorded this species at my Brussels patch, I was wondering if I may have been mistaken, when I finally got confirmation by hearing and seeing one there late in the month.
June - DIADEMED TANAGER (Brazil); one of the first species I saw at our accommodation near Itatiaia National Park and seen every day during my short stay there.
July - SCALED GROUND-CUCKOO (Brazil); the birder's holy grail (see below)!
August - PAINT-BILLED CRAKE (Brazil); following hot on the heels of a Grey-breasted Crake, this was found in exactly the same spot and is even rarer at Cristalino than the Ground-Cuckoo, with only two previous records for the area.
September - Spotted Crake (The Netherlands); I thought I'd missed this bird as I was blocked by reeds when it first appeared, only for it to reappear out in the open once I'd given up on it.
October - Hume's Leaf Warbler (Blankenberge); my 2nd ever and first in Belgium at the end of a long day with lots of birds but no other rarities.
November - Long-tailed Duck (Ostend); three succesfully twitched on the Spuikom in Ostend. Only my second observation in Belgium and my first ones in over five years!
December - Black-throated Diver (Genval); a very confiding first-winter just outside of Brussels.
The bird of the year title just has to go to the enigmatic Scaled Ground-Cuckoo. I never even dreamed I might be lucky enough to see such a difficult bird yet I saw it at my first attempt, thanks to an invitation by my friend Rich Hoyer to tag along with his group. You can get an idea of why it is the most desired species in the Amazon by reading his write-up here. Suffice to say another guide at the lodge tried a dozen times and never got to see it. Not so for photographer George Lin, however, who also saw (and photographed) it and has kindly let me use his picture.
During 2016 I saw or heard just 167 species in Belgium (since I did a lot of travelling), 268 in Europe, plus another 544 in Brazil, making a year list of 812 species, my second-highest ever!
Lifers in Europe were the Pine Bunting, Siberian Rubythroat, the Spanish sextet of Rock Sparrow, Little Bustard, heard-only Dupont's Lark, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Great Spotted Cuckoo and Black Wheatear, plus heard-only Great Snipe in Sweden. My first trip to the Atlantic rainforest provided 85 lifers, with an unexpected total of eight during my fifth summer season in the Amazon, making 102 lifers for the year. I very much doubt 2017 will bring me as many but I'll certainly give it a try, perhaps starting with the Franklin's Gull which has been frequenting the Meuse near Liège!
