The second day of the year brought many social activities and therefore birding was limited to watching birds from the house and garden. Still I was happy to tick off Brambling, Chaffinch, Skylark, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Sparrowhawk and a superb young male Goshawk dashing through the garden stressing out our rooster.
Total: 67
On January 3 I walked back and forth along the Prins Hendrik Zanddijk with my girlfriend, my mum, my youngest daughter Liselotte and our dog, totalling 7km. For geographical reference see the satellite image below. It's an artificial body of sand meant to defend the low-lying polders behind it. A biking path runs on top of it for some distance and a nice viewingpoint to watch the birds in the inlet.
 |
| Prins Henrik Zanddijk view from south |
 |
| Satellite image of Prins Hendrik Zanddijk |
Birds along the way were plentiful and I added some expected birds but
Grey Wagtail was a surprise for sure. Other additions were
Lesser Black-backed Gull,
Shoveler,
Teal,
Common Ringed Plover,
Bewick's Swan,
Moorhen and
Goldfinch. Weather was sunny and windy but still much too warm for this time of year. We also found a weakened Dark-bellied Brent Goose. I decided to pick it up later and bring it to a bird shelter on the island. It probably had avian flu and died later that evening. It's kind of disheartening to see and hear how bad this pandemic is raging through bird populations around Europe and beyond. I wonder what the best strategy is, but my feeling is that you shouldn't let sick birds wander around because they can infect other animals.
 |
| Brent Goose, probably with avian flu |
In the afternoon my girlfriend and I did our second run of the year to improve our fitness for this challenging year. Luckily, we're only novices and our training app takes it easy on us. Our 2.4km was easy and to my disbelief we spooked a Jack Snipe from a roadside ditch not far from my house.
Total: 76A walk with my grilfriend and the dog on January 4 gave a nice opportunity for a try to connect with the Black Guillemot that spends its second winter just around the corner from the ferry port. On arrival, the wind of the last few days had subsided which made scanning the sea much easier. A male Eider was new for the yearlist and spotted first by Manon. One minute later she also spotted a bird swimming a little further out and for sure it proofed to be our Black Guillemot. I made some quick phonescope shots for all you lovely readers.
 |
| Black Guillemot - Mokbaai |
Scanning through a distant group of Wigeons I picked up on I small duck flying through my scopeview. It proved to be a female Long-tailed Duck, a scarce winter visitor in the parts and a welcome addition to the list. We walked on and refound this duck hanging out with the local Goldeneyes, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers and at least 3 Greater Scaups. We decided to walk towards the area "de Petten" (where I saw the Glossy Ibis three days ago). Target was the Greenshank seen here the last few days. On December 25 I even saw two of them. I was stunned when 3 Greenshanks proved to be present. When two of them flew over our heads to start feeding in intertidal mud of "de Mokbaai" I wanted to phonescope them and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that they had landed next to a Spotted Redshank, also a very scarce winter visitor on Texel. The icing on the cake here were 2 Rock Pipits actually feeding on the rocks covered with seeweed. In this area they are not regularly found.
 |
| Greenshank - Mokbaai |
 |
Spotted Redshank - Mokbaai
|
All happy and energized we decided tot walk back on the inland side of the dike. Lots of Snipes took wing and 2 Little Egrets were feeding in a ditch. We also managed to pick up a lot of litter on the way to dispose at home. A good way to make your walk even more nature friendly!
A know this route from the back of my hand and we easily picked up three calling Water Rails on our way home and I was very pleased to see a female Hen Harrier hunting over the fields around our village. This magnificent raptor is slowly but surely disappearing from our lovely island as a breeding bird and I don't see them as often as I used to, also in winter.
No comments:
Post a Comment