Helgoland: Collared Flycatcher

Yesterday's highlight during our Birdingbreaks/Roots trip to Helgoland. This female Collared Flycatcher was ringed in the Fanggarten on May21st, went missing on a well watched small island to be relocated on 26th in Kurpark. Maybe she left the island and returned?!

More pictures later this week.

American Golden Plover on Terschelling

The birding highlight of a non-birding weekend on Terschelling. The bird was feeding solitary and was regularly chased away by the local Lapwings. Primary and toe projection, call and flank pattern all fit American but I did not have the time to study this tricky plumage in detail. The finders must have!:-)

And a distant digiscope;

1-2-3 Pectorals!

Wader migration is going loose! Almost all Temminks have left but today it rained Pectoral Sandpipers in Ezumakeeg; 2 different birds showed very well in the southern part and in fading light we found a third, a slightly limping bird, in the northern part (all digiscopes below).

Pec1:

Pec2:

Pec3, Belegfoto;

Pectoral Sandpiper

Digiscope-images of the Ezumakeeg bird, it showed a little closer this evening!

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)