The last frontier

Having seen over 400 species in Europe, out of a total of around 450 regularly-occurring species, there are very few places within Europe left for me to visit which would provide more than two or three new birds.  The Spanish steppes, however, did represent a gaping hole in my European list, so I have just returned from a successful 3-day tour with Catalan Bird Tours.  We started in the Llobregat marshes next to Barcelona airport, where this Ashy-headed Wagtail, presumably of the cinereocapilla race, was showing off right in front of the hide.

We then headed up into the rocky hillsides of the Garraf, where we got distant views of a large flock of Rock Sparrows, my first lifer of the trip.  The following two days were spent mainly in the steppes around Lleida, where another five lifers followed in quick succession; Little Bustards displaying at close range, Pin-tailed (as well as Black-bellied) Sandgrouse in flight, at least four singing Dupont's Larks, all of which stubbornly refused to show themselves, several garrulous Great Spotted Cuckoos - my 2200th species in the world!, and five Black Wheatears.  We also spent a long time searching for and eventually finding the recently-split Iberian Green Woodpecker, although, looking back at my notes, I realised I've already seen this in Portugal.  Just as impressive as all the new species, though, was the phenomenal density of Calandra Larks singing all around us, together with Thekla, Crested, Greater Short-toed and Lesser Short-toed Larks.  An Audouin's Gull which drifted over as we had a post-trip drink on the rooftop terrace of a hotel in Sitges was our 132nd species in three days, and I even found time to photograph this beautiful Adonis Blue, one of two new species of butterfly I got to see.

Hop-la!

Talk about timing!  I wrote on Friday 8 April that the Peregrine eggs on the cathedral in central Brussels were due to hatch, and the first one finally came out of its egg the following day.  By now, there are three young chicks to admire; one of the five eggs failed, and we are still unsure about the final one.  The parents seem to have no trouble catching enough food for their offspring, with Song Thrush being the most frequent meal so far.  Indeed, migration is in full swing and this is the time of year when anything can turn up anywhere.  This time last week, I finally added Hoopoe to my Belgian list as one was found on some derelict ground in Brussels and I just managed to see it after work on the evening of its second and final day.

Last Friday, I had a quick walk around the park behind my apartment and was surprised to hear a singing Nightingale, the first in the Brussels region this year.  Someone then went and discovered an adult Black-necked Grebe at my patch on the outskirts of Brussels, a new species for the site, so I had to make another mad dash after work to make sure I also got to see it and add it to my site-list.

Any day now

I know they already featured several times on my previous blog, but I just have to mention our Peregrine Falcons once again.  Since 2004, a pair has been nesting atop the St. Michael and St. Gudula cathedral in the heart of Brussels, just a flightless chick's leap from the Central Station.  The current female is now 14 years old and has succesfully raised a total of 36 chicks since 2006, 19 of those fathered by her own son!  This year, egg-laying started on 27 February and hatching was expected around 5 April but there is still no sign of any little beaks.  As there is a live camera transmitting images from the nest 24 hours a day, you may well get to see a Peregine chick hatch if you take a look over the next few days. 
Do also check out the wonderfully informative website, including a full list of the species recorded as prey, or pass by the information booth located at the foot of the cathedral if you are in central Brussels.

Four out of five

Green Woodpecker by Karisha Kuypers

This morning, I did my second visit to the section of forest I was assigned for the project aiming to map all of Brussels' breeding woodpeckers.  During my first visit, I heard a pair of Green Woodpeckers and saw two Middle Spotted.  Today, the Green Woodpeckers were very vocal and I managed to see four of our five resident species.  I saw a Middle Spotted just outside of my area and heard another but the highlight was a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers.  Having visited twice over the past three weeks, I reckon my 50-hectare section contains 2 pairs of Green, 1-2 pairs of Middle Spotted, 1 pair of Lesser Spotted, plus at least five or six Great Spotted territories.  Only Black Woodpecker seems to be absent, therefore.  Chiffchaffs are now everywhere having been very late arriving since I didn't see my first one until 22 March, and the Wood Anemones are starting to bloom so if finally feels like spring is here!

Ruby, ruby!

Back in mid-January, I mentioned the Siberian Rubythroat which had just been found in a Dutch garden, atttracting hundreds of admirers on its first day alone, all of whom had to file through the garden owner's living room to see the bird!  Amazingly, but no doubt thanks to its daily helping of mealworms offered by the locals, the bird is still there.  After two months of deliberation, therefore, and failing to convince myself that I could afford or even wanted to to make such a long trip for just one lifer, I finally had a weekend planned in Amsterdam and got to do my own pilgrimage to Hoogwoud, North-Holland.  As you can see, I did get to see this northern jewel of a bird but it was by no means easy.  After about 45 minutes of waiting, I detached myself from the small group of people, including some who had driven all the way from Hamburg and England, at one of its favourite patches of bushes to check out the second patch just around the corner and there it was, sitting up and scolding at an intruding cat.  I had time to fire off just three pictures, before it dropped down into the bushes and out of sight.  I quickly summoned the others and most people got very brief views of it skulking around in the undergrowth but it never showed like this again the whole time I was there.  I would have liked to have been able to admire it a little longer but I was very pleased with the above photo, the red berries almost mirroring the colour of the ruby's throat.

Less(er) is more

Wednesday was a big day for crane migration so I had planned to go to the Ardennes yesterday to try and see some.  The SNCB's inability to run trains on time put paid to that idea, however, so I ended up 'just' doing another tour of my Brussels patch instead.  It started out very well, though, with a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker drumming and calling.  I've been going to this site about once a month on average for the past 15 years and this is the first time I've seen one there, although I did think I heard one calling about a year ago.  Great Spotted were also very active and I completed the spotted trio (a very rare occurrence!) with a Middle Spotted calling constantly.  I relocated the Bittern, watched a Firecrest singing, and ended up with a total of 50 species without a single spring migrant, not even a Chiffchaff, the first of which should be here by now.

March on fire

This month has started very much in the same vein as February, with plenty of grey and wet days, especially whenever I'm not working!  As a result, I've not been out birding but I did have a nice surprise this morning when I looked out my window to see a male Firecrest foraging in the tree opposite.  A new bird for my flat/balcony list closely followed by another one, a singing Dunnock, taking the total to 42 species in the six months I've been here.  I have, however, committed myself to surveying a 50-hectare section of the Sonian Forest as part of an effort to map all the breeding woodpeckers in the Brussels region, so that will keep me busy as soon as the weather allows me to go out and look for them.