Bluethroat, avocets, black-winged stilts

19 May 2013. After the Nieuwkoopse Plassen, to Waverhoek nature reserve.

Near the entrance, a bluethroat singing on a reed stem.

Then, it flew away.

Northern lapwings.

Shelducks.

Avocets. Redshanks.

Shoveler ducks.

Then, a rare bird: a black-winged stilt.

White dead-nettles flowering.

House martins. Barn swallows. Swifts.

A spoonbill flying.

Greenshanks looking for food in the shallow water.

On the far side of the reserve, a dike and a fence.

A brimstone butterfly.

Then, a hobby, trying to catch insects in the air.

A black-winged stilt sits down on a sandbank. Probably, its nest.

A buzzard in a tree.

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Bar-headed geese, fox, harrier, grebe chicks

On 19 May 2013, as described earlier, still in the Nieuwkoopse Plassen nature reserve.

A common tern flying. The light makes it look almost like a black tern.

A buzzard flying.

Marsh marigold still flowering, though the flowers are mostly finished.

A carrion crow.

Red campion flowers.

A fox sitting on a meadow.

About thirty meter to the right, a male pheasant. A buzzard flies above them both. The fox does not try to catch the pheasant, maybe knowing that the bird has seen it already. After a long time, the fox goes away, to the left.

A female marsh harrier flying.

And a swift.

A curlew on a dung heap.

Then, two bar-headed geese on a meadow between ponies.

More to the right on that meadow, two barnacle geese with a gosling.

A mute swan on its nest.

A great crested grebe swims with three chicks on its back.

Just before our boat arrives back in Noorden, a blue tit on a reed stem.

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Sedge warblers and curlews

On 19 May 2013, again to the Nieuwkoopse Plassen nature reserve.

Early in the morning, we arrive in Noorden village, where our boat trip will start.

Starlings. A cuckoo calls.

Collared doves. Greenfinch.

A great crested grebe swimming. Egyptian geese on the bank.

A curlew near a boat landing.

Sedge warblers. Chiffchaffs.

A common tern.

Tufted ducks swimming.

Great cormorants flying.

Black-headed gulls fly to their nesting colony, close to here.

A reed bunting.

Another curlew on the bank.

A marsh warbler singing.

A Savi’s warbler singing.

A blackcap singing.

A song thrush.

A gadwall male swimming.

A black-headed gull on a pole points out which way the boat should go.

A barn swallow.

An Egyptian goose with a gosling.

Another gadwall duck male.

Water lilies just emerging from their underwater wintering. Most leaves still red; no flowers yet.

A coypu swimming.

A curlew on an earth hillock.

First, sedge warblers on reed stems.

Then, a sedge warbler on a stump.

A black tern flying.

Two Canada geese swimming.

Stay tuned, as there will be more on this.

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Cape Verde iago sparrows want emigration to the Netherlands

Translated from Dutch travel organisation BirdingBreaks; about one of their travels, from the Cape Verde islands to the Netherlands:

The participants had special visitors during this journey. On Raso island 11 Iago Sparrows (Cape Verde Sparrows) boarded the ship, and did not want to leave it. Later, some birds disembarked in Madeira. But at present there are still three birds on board and en route to the Netherlands! Expected arrival: May 19 in Flushing!

UPDATE: meanwhile, on 20 May 2013, the shio with the birds has arrived in the Netherlands.

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Cuckoo, linnet, and purple heron

On 12 May 2013, again to the Zouweboezem nature reserve in the Netherlands.

This reserve is famous for its black terns and its purple herons.

As we approach the reserve: shelducks near the Lek river.

Near the parking lot, chaffinch and chiffchaff singing. An oystercatcher.

A bit further: a reed warbler sings.

A sedge warbler sings.

Then, a male reed bunting.

A willow warbler and a wren sing.

A common tern flying.

A northern lapwing in a meadow.

Black terns fly above the meadow, hunting for insects.

A great cormorant.

Bearded reedlings fly away.

On a reed stem, an ergot fungus, Claviceps microcephala; in the sclerotium phase at the moment.

Marsh marigold flowers.

Black terns fly over their nesting colony, but few of them have started nesting yet. Tufted ducks sit on some of the black tern nesting platforms. It seems that the cold spring has delayed the terns’ nesting season.

A yellow water-lily flowering. That is early for this time of the year.

A great crested grebe.

A Stereum hirsutum fungus on a fallen branch.

Near the hide, a male shoveler duck swimming.

Canada geese. A mute swan. Wigeon. Gadwall ducks.

Many shiny alder leaf beetles on small trees. Some of them mating.

Water violets flowering.

A Savi’s warbler and a blackcap sing.

White dead-nettle flowers.

A green-veined white butterfly.

In a meadow, orchid flowers.

A black-tailed godwit flies, calling.

An Egyptian goose flying.

A male and a female marsh harrier fly together.

Then, a black-tailed godwit, driving away a Canada goose. Considering that Canada geese are capable of driving away big gorillas, quite a feat.

A purple heron; flying, then standing at a ditch bank.

A group of grey lag geese, with also two barnacle geese.

A male pheasant.

Many grey lag geese have goslings.

Then, something special. A male cuckoo. Usually hidden from view, but not today.

A jay flying.

A carrion crow drives away a buzzard.

A false puffball slime mould on a tree stump.

Then, a female linnet.

And a male linnet.

Then, Lentinus tigrinus mushrooms.

We are near the exit of the reserve. Corn salad flowering.

In Ameide village, a white stork on its nest on the roof of the church.

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Pied flycatcher and wren, bye bye national park!

After 3 May in the Drents-Friese Wold national park, came 4 May.

Our last morning there.

In the garden, a female pied flycatcher singing.

In the forest, not far away, a wren.

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Blackcap, robin, tree pipit, pondskaters

After 2 May 2013, 3 May: our last full day in the Drents-Friese Wold national park.

In the garden, a male blackcap sings.

Then, to Boschoord forest.

A tree pipit on the forest floor.

Sounds of robin, chaffinch, great spotted woodpecker.

Jays, blackbirds.

A wood-pigeon sitting on a branch above the footpath.

Two brimstone butterflies.

A speckled wood butterfly sits down on a fallen coniferous tree branch.

As I come back, a male blackcap on the lawn.

There is a female “orangecap” blackcap as well.

A tree sparrow has a feather in its bill. To line its nest?

A robin in a tree.

The robin flies to the lawn, and flies away again.

A great tit in another tree.

A male blackbird on the lawn.

Late in the afternoon. The forest again.

A red squirrel.

In the small lake, where a few days ago I saw only whirligig beetles, there are pondskaters now. Maybe because it has become warmer?

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Stonechat, skylark and meadow pipit

After 1 May in the Drents-Friese Wold nature reserve, comes 2 May.

On the edge of the Dolderdumse veld heathland and forest, a male stonechat sits on a shrub.

This photo shows the favourite habitat there of stonechats, heathland birds.

A skylark singing and flying.

A kestrel. A buzzard.

A tree pipit. Probably the same one as a few days ago.

In Wapserveld reserve, a yellowhammer sings.

Brimstone and orange tip butterflies.

In a meadow, a skylark.

Later, in another meadow, a meadow pipit.

Back in the garden, a female pied fly-catcher sitting on a table.

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Linnet, mistle thrush and World War II

1 May 2013.

After yesterday, still in the Drents-Friese Wold.

In the garden, a male blackcap.

First to the Doldersumse veld.

On the edge of heathland and forest, a male linnet.

A bit further, a mistle thrush, high up a tree.

On the Wapserveld, a brimstone butterfly.

Young edible frogs, just over a centimeter in size.

A common redstart male in a tree. See on the migration of this species here.

A speckled wood butterfly.

Not far away, in Berkenheuvel nature reserve, is the Onderduikershol.

Here, in 1943, local anti-nazis built a secret hiding place in a sandy hill. Here, people persecuted by the nazi occupiers, and British and US American pilots whose planes had been downed, hid.

In November 1944, the German SS and Wehrmacht discovered the hiding place. They arrested eleven people and sent them to concentration camps. Like with Anne Frank‘s family, only one person of those eleven prisoners survived those camps.

In front of the Onderduikershol, fresh flowers put there by schoolchildren.

Near a lake at Oude Willem, a white stork.

Tufted ducks and mallards swimming.

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Grasshopper warbler and black-necked grebes again

30 April 2013.

After 29 April, today to Fochteloërveen nature reserve.

Early in the morning, a curlew calling.

In the Aekingerzand reserve: yellowhammer sound.

A female pied flycatcher.

At the Staatsbosbeheer information centre, sculptures in wood, of pine martens, and a bee.

The left half of the gate is a sculpture of an adult black woodpecker …

… bringing food to its chicks in the nest, in the right half of the sculpture.

In Appelscha village, cuckoo flowers.

Greenfinch sound.

Chiffchaff. Chaffinch.

As today, the queen of the Netherlands abdicates, and the crown prince becomes king, some people have Dutch flags flying. At least one house has a Frisian flag instead of a Dutch flag.

A dunnock sings. A collared dove on top of the bridge.

We arrive at the Ravenswoud watchtower.

A cuckoo calls.

Grey lag geese swimming.

A chiffchaff. A chaffinch.

A buzzard circling in the air.

In the Fochteloërveen, a grasshopper warbler sings.

A male stonechat.

In the hide, barn swallows nest.

In the next lake, at least three black-necked grebes.

A meadow pipit, flying and singing.

A male hen harrier.

Then, a butterfly. A small male blue butterfly. A group in which it is difficult to find out the exact species.

A hobby flying.

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