Weatherwise it's ridiculously warm on Texel on this last day of 2021. At 10°C it doesn't feel like winter at all but we're at new year's eve nonetheless. With my wish to challenge myself every year I aimed for 200 species seen this year within walking distance of my home on Texel. A lot of notable species were seen. Many selffound and some twitched. Best selffinds were Greater Sand Plover, Spotted Crake, Bee-eater, Purple Heron, ad. summer Sabine's Gull and White-winged Black Tern. I also managed to pick up Lesser Grey Shrike, Glossy Ibis, Red-rumped Swallow, Black-winged Stilt and Red-necked Phalarope found by others. This brought me to a total of 209 species with a record BigDay on foot on 8 May with 142 species seen. Additionally, I refound a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker by bike, bringing the grand total of my ecofriendly yearlist to 210 species.
From the UK, Josh Jones and Birdwatch Magazine launched #LocalBigYear for 2022 with many across the pond already participating. In my Twitterfeed already 5 other topnotch Dutch birders told they would participate; Steven Geurts, Arnold Meijer, Klaas Jan Arkema, Lisette Cuperus and Marc Giiyt are all are on board of this ship, welcome! All will have different strategies and live in different parts of the Netherlands. Some will walk, others will bike more often. I'm very curious at the results and I'll try to make regular updates in this weblog.
For reference I made a 10km circle around my home. I 'll only bird on the island of Texel and may occasionally wander beyond this circle but it gives you some idea of the area.
Happy ecofriendly birding in 2022!
