Birds of Vlieland island

This video is about waxwings on Vlieland island in the Netherlands, 21 January 2011.

Last weekend, birds were counted on Vlieland; as Dutch ornithologist Peter de Boer reports.

The count was especially of shorebirds near the island at high tide. Then, birds have moved from drowning big sandbanks to smaller areas close to land, making it easier to count birds.

The counters saw over 81,000 birds. The three most common Vlieland species were bar-tailed godwit (24,000), dunlin (16,000) and oystercatcher (13,000). There were also quite some herring gulls (4,000), shelducks (3,700) and sanderlings (3,000).

There were 1,300 eider ducks.

Rare birds: two black brent geese, four peregrine falcons and a yellow-legged gull.

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