January 5 - 7: Good progress

 January 5 was a day with lots of wind and showers. My plan to make a longer walk for some forest species was cancelled in the middle of a hailstorm 3 minutes after we left the house. But I really wanted to score some new species! So I did a shorter walk along the dike just south of the village. In this area there's always a chance to see auks, rare ducks, white-winged gulls, Snow Buntings, etc. Unfortunately,  I had no such luck but just around the corner lies the "buitenveldje" (see pics below), a field of grass outside the dike and the spot where I rediscovered the island's fourth Greater Sand Plover on November 7. 

With lots of wind a lot of good wader spots are flooded. Today was no exception and I saw a nice group of 35 Grey Plovers, 1 Dunlin, 1 Sanderling, some Oystercatchers, Wigeon and Brent Geese and best of all 16 Purple Sandpipers (#85). This smart little sandpiper is a scarce winter visitor on our island and this spot is one of only two where it can reliably be found. This number is quite high for our standards.

Purple Sandpiper - Buitenveldje, NIOZ

Further birding failed to produce any other addition to the list. In the afternoon I took Manon and the dog (Neeltje) for another walk. One of my fellow birders, Arno Piek had seen Jay and Woodcock in his garden. A quick peek didn't reveal any of these species. We walked on and then I remembered seeing Ruff further on up the road. Scanning the field where I saw the bird prooved that Lapwings and Trunstones were still present. And BINGO, a pale wader was amongst them. We walked over to the field and although the flock remained distant the Ruff (#86) was still there. 

Finishing our find by taking the Van der Sterrweg, we passed the garden of gull researcher Kees Camphuijsen, a very birdy spot where he's had Red-flanked Bluetail and Little Bunting in recent years. It did produce my first Great Spotted Woodpecker of the year (#87) though. I received a text message from Tim Schipper, one of Texel's fine young birders (with my son Koen and Thomas Avila Lutke-Schipholt). He had found a group of 300 Brent Geese with both Pale-bellied Brent Goose and a Black Brant. Those two species are winter visitors on Texel in small numbers but remain mostly on the northern half of our island; a long walk... I didn't have time just now to go for them, but maybe tomorrow?

On January 6 the wind had gone and Texel was bathing in glorious sunshine (making it way too hot in my opinion...). Manon en I decided to make the best of it and take a good walk. First stop (third time this year) was "Mokbaai" and "de Petten" where I hoped to find Black-tailed Godwit. Since I didn't bring my scope and the birds are quite a distance away, I wasn't sure I'd be able to pick one out. Luckily there was some movement in a part of the large group of waders and in the flapping of wings I could make out at least one Blackwit amongst the Curlews and Barwits (#88). Better still, I heard a shrill pipit call in the wet meadow adjacent to "de Petten". The bird was easily found as it was feeding solo and it proved to be a genuine Water Pipit (#89). This is a rare winter visitor with only a few wintering each year, so I was very happy to see it.

Mokbaai - a great spot for waders

We took the shortcut to the mighty forest of "campsite Loodsmansduin" where I hoped to score at least some forest species. In recent years it has produced Black-throated Thrush, Pine Bunting and Olive-backed Pipit during fall. In summer it has breeding Long-eared Owl and Woodlark. In winter it's usually quiet but my hopes were high as usual. 

The mighty forest of Loodsmansduin

In the dunes to our left while sitting on the bench I heard my first Reed Bunting of the year for #90. The campsite has some cabins but otherwise it was nice and quiet (opposed to very busy summer months). Soon I picked up some delicate calls of a Regulus. There were some Goldcrests (#91) and I spent some time checking for the much scarcer Firecrest. A short distance further I found another group of Goldcrestst, Blue and Great Tits, some Robins and a Chiffchaff (#92). Chiffchaff is found more and more regularly as a winter visitor, sometimes even in small flocks but mainly in the forests around De Koog (a much longer hike away).

We decided to check some fields on the westside of the campsite where the Pine Bunting was wintering in 2016-2017. Sometimes Yellowhammers spend the winter here, but this year we haven't been lucky. A lone Reed Bunting was our only Emberiza here. We walked back along the northern edge of the campsite still hoping for Jay or Eurasian Treecreeper. The forest species obviously didn't make it all the way to this campsite. But when a small group of Fieldfare landed on a nice field I picked up a Mistle Thrush among them (#93). This mighty thrush is a scarce breeding bird and migrant and seems to disappear in winter with only very few being seen in December and January. Another bonus bird for the day. After leaving "Loodsmansduin" behind us I checked the shrub along a bicycle lane for Stonechat since I found two wintering birds in this area on Christmas day. They prooved very settled as both birds were still present.

Mistle Thrush - Loodsmansduin

Stonechat - de Kuil

The day was very successful with 7 additions to the yearlist. The only sad part was that the group with three species of Brent Geese had vanished overnight. I'll have to check this area over the next few weeks and hope they will reappear or I'll have to walk some 15km north to the area where they normally stay.

on January 7 I paid a visit to my mother  in "Zelhem", far from my local patch. I didn't do any birding on Texel and saw no new yearbirds.