Lauwersmeer

Many birders must have stressfull day, chasing the first ever American Robin for NL by car, foot and bike. Lauwersmeer was very comfortable starting with a Wryneck in Lauwersoog (shy als always).

Then we tried Ezumakeeg, the Pectoral Sandpiper showed well amongst a few Curlew Sand, Dunlin and many Wood Sandpipers and Ruff (digiscoped). The area looks very promising for coming weeks.

An afternoon boat-trip on Lauwersmeer started a bit rainy but in the end we found 15+ Black Terns and a mixed flock of Swifts (10s), Swallows and House Martins. The light was already gone - no pictures.

Noordkaap (handicapped)

Camera broken and my lens is in repair for a month now, not a good time of year. I thought I made a good decision to buy the new D7100 with 24MP as all reviews stated that the D300s is completely surpassed by this newcomer, years in electronics is a century in life. But in fact the increase of megapixels results in huge noise and the usefull ISO800 on a D300s compares to ISO200 on the D7100...

Anyway, the weather forecast looked very promising for today and to have at least something to get a picture of that close ringtail I picked up a second-hand 70-300mm zoom. Which is a sh*tty lens for bird photography but that I knew in advance. The Easterly winds on Noordkaap resulted indeed in an entertaining day, the highlights being an Osprey, a Black Kite and 2 female Montagu's Harrier.

female Montagu's Harrier, note evenly barred and dark-tipped primaries. and the absence of pale collar

this Black Kite spent some time cruising the Emmapolder and I was able to drive my car under it

the same Black Kite

The movement of Swallows was spectaculair and more than 2000 passed very close. Yesterday a pair arrived in my barn, they have returned!

Swallows on the move!

Sand Martin

Gemmi Pass 2270m

one of the few moments without clouds

Rather unlucky with the weather but the large raptors did make some flights, although rather distant. Spectaculair place and on the list for a revisit with bright weather! A few Snow Finches we only flybys.

Gypaete barbu, the king!

Alpine Accentor

Alpine Chough

and then there was snow!

always thrilling Golden Eagle

The previous Ring-necked Duck was an escape indeed.

Do you believe in ducks?

I do not, especially inland ducks always look suspicious. This afternoon I found a male Ring-necked Duck in river Dommel, just south of Nijnsel. I did not have the time to check the wings and legs thouroughly but I do not believe this can be a genuine wild bird (although it was rather shy).

not very typical habitat...

Anyway, I will add some more images from last weekend (Switserland) soon.

More Cranes!!

Again massive Crane-migration today! The weather felt like the start of summer with temperatures of 20+ C and triggered the remaining birds to return home. Bargerveen proved to be a good spot again and early afternoon I counted 8 flocks of in total 111 Cranes, often thermalling on the warm air.

Brilliant birds!

more Bargerveen

The Crane experience, or expedition. Days with mass migration of Cranes are rare and as I realised they were on the move I headed for the viewpoint in Onnerpolder. After an hour in cold wind and no Cranes I decided my best chance would be in Bargerveen, the extreme Southeastern tip of TOH and still an hour drive. But it turned out to be a good decision. Not for the numbers, but as I arrived I immediately saw a flock of big birds coming in from the West, would they be!?

Yes! And they are coming my way!

And still coming my way! By now I could hear them calling.

The sight and sound of a close flock is priceless! A mixture of trumpetting adult and screaming immature birds.

The next hours some more flocks passed, distant and all heading straight East. Many flocks drifted over the Southern part of Holland in the morning but corrected their direction during the day. As a result almost none were seen in Friesland and Groningen.

Another spectaculair sight was the big roost of Starling, close to the German border.

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Spring!!

Today the Cranes officially decided that spring has started! Many thousands migrated over the Netherlands and in the afternoon I was able to enjoy this spectaculair movement on small scale over Bargerveen (154 birds in total).

I will add some more pictures coming days.