MAY 2015
It’s no secret the Netherlands are always worth a visit at least for birding. Especially
the north seems to be blessed with migrants and sometimes one can get the impression,
the countless dutch birders even find every vagrant may it ever so inconspicuous.
Therefore, no doubt a stopover in Holland travelling from the german North Sea to
a Wildeye Sound Recording Course was a pleasant duty.
Like always Arnoud was so kind to made a to-do list for my first stage.
The lake Zuidlaardermeer brought me my first opulent dawn chorus of the year
(can’t help it – obviously I missed the whole spring while beeing offshore) and plenty
of coastal birds.
PFR10743, 1-10, 150504, Eurasian Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla, song, ultra cristallised song
Zuidlaardermeer, Netherlands, Telinga parabolic reflector
PFR10737, 1-10, 150504, Song Thrush Turdus philomelos, song
Zuidlaardermeer, Netherlands, Telinga parabolic reflector
A few recently arrived Common Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus sang odd
songs. I was lucky enough to see one of them carefully listening to his neighbor and
adapting to his song.
Following Donald Kroodsma, this must have been a second calendar year bird
– the less complex songs leads me to that conclusion too.
PFR10740, 1-00, 150504, Common Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus, song, counter song
Zuidlaardermeer, Netherlands, Telinga prabolic reflector
PFR10748, 1-11, 150504, Common Tern Sterna hirundo, scolding calls
Zuidlaardermeer, Netherlands, Telinga parabolic reflector
After this beautiful morning I found myself down on my luck – I dipped on an
Iberian Chiffchaff Phylloscopus ibericus (present since weeks) and a Buffelhead Duck
Bucephala albeola (o.k. non-dutch birders wouldn’t seriously consider a Bufflehead
as a wild bird ;-)
But the next day brought under Arnouds patronage my first ever Iberian Chiffchaff
singing in a backyard. The friendly residents invited us into their garden to get
closer to the bird.
Unfortunately a heavy storm came up and we had only ten minutes for recording it.
PFR10758, 1-00, 150505, Iberian Chiffchaff Phylloscopus ibericus, song
Snakkerburen, Netherlands, Telinga prabolic reflector
A really special encounter were several families of Eurasian Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia
nesting in trees right beside a highway, next to a well frequented petrol station.
With our parabolas we led some attention to the colony and decided to went off.
Just dutch birding!
Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia
PFR10762, 1-00, 150505, Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucordia, juv, begging calls
XXX, Netherlands, Telinga prabolic reflector
photo credits:
Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia © Arnoud B. v.d. Berg | The sound approach
Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia © Arnoud B. v.d. Berg | The sound approach