Mibo's on the Veluwe

Middle-spotted Woodpeckers have been increasing rapidly in our country. At first, you had to go all the way to Limburg to see some Middle-spotted Woodpeckers, but nowadays that's not necessary anymore. They're occupying small parts of the Veluwe as well now.

Below a map with all the sightings of Middle-spotted Woodpeckers in our province Gelderland.

Distribution of Middle-Spotted Woodpeckers in Gelderland. Note the large(r) concentrations in the Achterhoek (especially Winterswijk), near Arnhem and Nijmegen.

My dad had seen one Middle-Spotted Woodpecker near Hoog Soeren last Monday, so today our goal was to get to see it(or them) again. At the location we first had one male Middle-spotted Woodpecker calling and singing. At one point a Jay started imitating the singing Middle-spotted Woodpecker! Below the recording:

Too bad of the background noise (''sound bubbles''), probably has to do with the app I use on my phone.

Anyway, after this first bird we heard some more Middle-spotted Woodpeckers calling, showing territorial behaviour. And for the next 15-20 minutes we experienced some great activity! Three Middle-spotted Woodpeckers were flying after each other, calling, singing, etc. A real treat! 

Middle-spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus medius), male

Then as we did another round we found a 4th Middle-spotted Woodpecker, foraging quite low to the ground. 

Middle-spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus medius)

Next to the Middle-spotted Woodies we had Great-Spotted, Lesser-spotted, Black and Green Woodpecker. So 5 species of Woodpecker in one day!

Eccentric moult in Greenfinch, a Middle Spotted Woodpecker and more!

Friday, the 8th, I was back home in Apeldoorn and ringing session in the garden. It was quiet, with only 7 birds caught, some Blue and Great Tits and a Greenfinch and Chaffinch. The Greenfinch though, was interesting, as it had done some eccentric moult - as is known to happen with Greenfinches occasionally. It was a 2cy male, the pictures below will illustrate it:

 Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris), 2cy male

 Right wing: P5-P9 moulted (inner to outer)+ what looks like the tertails and one (incidental) secondary

 Left wing: P5,6 and P9 moulted + tertails

Tail: all new adult type tailfeathers

Yesterday, Saturday the 9th, my dad and I headed out to do some birding in the county. First we saw the Velvet Scoters at Zutphen again. This time they were quite close to the shoreline and showed very well. Enabling us to take some better photos than I did last time. 

Again! Velvet Scoters (Melanitta fusca), 1st winter males

On our way back home we stopped at Huis Voorstonden near Brummen where there's a territory of Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. It took 20 mins before we located it. It didn't show really well, high up in the trees, but it was actively calling so I made a recording: