Excellent Easter Ending

Yesterday I had a nice hike with my parents on the Veluwezoom. We went to the Posbank near Rheden. It's quite close to Apeldoorn but it's a place where I'd barely been before. It was nice to see a new area on the Veluwe for me. We made a hike of 14km.

 Posbank, herikhuizerveld

Koningslaan, a lane of beeches about 1,5-2km long, planted by Willem the 2nd a long time ago. Quite impressive.

Along the way we didn't have too many birds, but two Black Woodpeckers, singing Woodlarks and Yellowhammers were nice.

Last Sunday I also recorded a Jay imitating a Carrion Crow, something I hadn't heard before. These Jays keep surprising me, incredible birds!

Yesterday, I did some birdwatching with my dad along the IJssel. First we visited the Rammelwaard near Zutphen, where I had my first Chiffchaffs, foraging - not singing. Not too many birds, but the weather was great.

Then we went to the Yperenplas near Deventer. Along the way we had a nice Little Owl, also enjoying the sun.

Little Owl (Noctua athene)

Arriving at the Yperenplas we observed 10+ Smews, about 4 males and 7 females. Some came quite close to us, foraging in a small creek.

Smew (Mergellus albellus), 2 pairs

Great White Egrets were abundant, with this one landing in a meadow in front of us.

Great White Egret (Ardea alba)

Our primary reason to go to the Yperenplas was because of the reported Brant. In the first place, we were unabled to find it. The group of geese was present on the water instead on the land, which made the search more difficult. After some intensive searching, I suddenly came 3 Pink-footed Geese! A really good bird for our county! Then not much later I relocated the Brant, so in the end we had the Brant plus an excellent surprise!

Pink-footed Geese (Anser brachyrhynchus), image by Tammo Meijer

Brant (Branta bernicla), image by Tammo Meijer