Ezumakeeg, season has started!

Ezumakeeg is looking good! Waterlevel is perfect and today there were hundreds of waders, including a distant Pectoral Sandpiper which was hiding inbetween Ruffs. Furthermore several 100s Ringed Plovers, about 70 Little Stints, 10 Temmincks, several Dunlin and Curlew Sands and a Sanderling. Yesterday's Broad-billed Sand could not resist the Zugunruhe and left. The pair of White-tailed Eagles apparently have produced 2 youngs this year!

Meanwhile Icky has returned in the garden and is now irritating the local Starlings, Blackbirds and the Barn Swallows by perfectly imitating their alarm calls. He is brilliant!

Collared Flycatcher at Eemshaven

A first for Groningen, and again a stunner! Unfortunately a very secretive bird and this is all I could make of it. Note the typical Eemshaven habitat with windmills everywhere, and in the middle the new RWE-powerplant which costed 2 billions!

About the flycatcher; the brownish primaries indicate a second-year bird (male of course!), and this may explain the rather limited white primary-patches.

Cretzschmar's Bunting update!

Forget the previous pictures, evening light is much nicer!

Cretzschmar's Bunting at Lauwersoog!

A stunning Cretzschmar's Bunting was found at Lauwersoog this afternoon. This first twitchable for NL soon gathered a large crowd, thanks and congratulations to Jeroen Breidenbach for finding this beautifull bird! (digiscopes below)

Bingo!

Dotterels in evening light at Anjumerpolder. Pininfarina could not have drawn the design of these birds, wow! Meanwhile Ezumakeeg is full of Swifts again, they are back.

(last ones are digiscopes)

another amazing garden bird

After last week's Little Owl today was again a big surprise; a Grasshopper Warbler was hiding in the back garden! It took some patience to have better views of this extreme skulker but eventually it showed, just next to the house!

I have build a nestbox for the owl and broke a whole in the wall (but haven't checked since). And the Swallows have returned again!

More spring/Lauwersmeer soon

at last, spring!!

We had to wait long for it but finally migration has really started. Only last week the first Swallows arrived here in the north but today there were 100's migrating along the coast. Also good numbers of Meadow Pipit and it was good to see the Yellow Wagtails had returned between the sheep.

On the ground there was also many action and the few bushes that remain on Eemshaven held many Robin, thrushes (including 5 Ring Ouzel) and both species of redstart. I have actually never seen such a high density of Robins!

Yesterday an early Caspian Tern was at Ezumakeeg but the best records were at home; 2 loudly calling Mediteranean Gulls migrated over the garden yesterday and today I was even more surprised to find a Little Owl inside the barn! This is a very rare species here, and I feel obliged to drill a hole in the wall and put a nestbox. Enough to do next week!