Wheatears back on Terschelling

This is a wheatear video.

Translated from Staatsbosbeheer in the Netherlands:

Wheatear back in Terschelling heathland after many years

Saturday, August 6, 2011

In the Landerumer Heide nature reserve on Terschelling, this spring four wheatear couples have nested. This is the first time in years.

Twenty years ago, a hundred couples lived in the Terschelling heath. Because the heath became too bushy, wheatears did not feel at home anymore.

The wheatear is a songbird sized between a sparrow and blackbird. The birds live in open sandy areas.

For some time now, the heath is being grazed by horses and goats. They ensure that the heathland remains open.

The sand which is present in many places attracts rabbits which in turn provide suitable breeding places for wheatears. As the birds nest in abandoned rabbit burrows.

The drifting sand is also of direct relevance to the birds. They eat insects which live on the roots of the young European beachgrass, which grows on drifting sand.

Duck ringing at Landerum, Terschelling: here.

February 2012. Every year, the northern wheatear songbird, weighing on average no more than two tablespoons of salt, flies from the Arctic region of the Western Hemisphere all the way to sub-Saharan Africa and back, according to a new study including a researcher at the University of Guelph: here.

What Happens To Young Birds Once They’ve Left Their Nest? Here.