The first day of 2019 was horribly grey and drizzly yet I still forced myself out to start my new year list, beginning with the park next to my apartment where these Ring-necked Parakeets provided a much-needed splash of colour. The park still contained both the Blackcap I was surprised to find at the end of November and the male Firecrest seen regularly throughout December. After that, I made a brief visit to our overwintering Pygmy Comorant to make sure it was still there, also seeing Kingfisher and Great Egret in addition to the commoner species so that I finished the day on a respectable 40 species.
The saying out with the old, in with the new, could not have seemed less appropriate, the best birds of the day being lingerers from 2018. The following day, however, I made a visit to the Brussels patch I have been visiting regularly for the past twenty years. I'm already the observer with the most species and, as you can imagine, adding a new one is a very rare occurrence. Nevertheless, as I passed the reedbed, I heard the distinctive, explosive call of a Cetti's Warbler. I stood in the rain for about twenty minutes waiting for it to show but it remained stubbornly hidden, although it did call repeatedly, leaving me in no doubt as to its identity. This is an extremely rare bird in Brussels as a whole and the first-ever for the reserve. In with the new, indeed!
After that, I continued my regular circuit, finding a lone Alexandrine Parakeet feeding quietly on some treetop seeds, checking in on our regular female Ferruginous Duck, and managing to pick out three Bramblings amongst the numerous Chaffinches. After having a particularly bold Robin feeding from my hand, I headed home with a year list of 55 species, which is not bad for day two.
