Boooombycillas!

Last Tuesday a group of 8 Waxwings had been discoverd in the south-eastern part of Apeldoorn, approximately 5 mins from my home:) But since I was in Wageningen the past days I didn't have the possibility to visit them.

I decided that I would give them a visit today, since it is so closeby. There was only one thing: it was raining. What a sh*tty weather! It's always like that, when you have free time it's raining! Nevertheless, around 13.00 things cleared up a little and I went there. Arriving at the exact spot I saw them immediately. There were also some other birdwatchers looking at these beautiful Waxwings.

They were initially perched high up in the tree, but every now and then they came down to feed on Cotoneaster berries.

As a result of the terrible light and the rain, most photos I took weren't really sharp. Anyway, I managed to get a few reasonable shots. I also made a recording with my phone of the Waxxies. Very nice!

Waxwings (Bombycilla garrulus)

Maybe I will try and get some better photos tomorrow, when the light is better!

Siskins, always a pleasure!

It's march and this means: a chance of getting Siskins in the garden! During this time of year it seems that they're largerly attracted to peanuts instead of their usual food from the alders and birches.. My dad mentioned he'd seen a male Siskin in the garden on friday morning. Saturday morning I got out of bed early to check if there would be Siskins! And indeed, I saw no less than three birds foraging on my peanut feeder, very cool! I had only ever ringed two Siskins (March 2011, first ringing session ever in the garden) so I wanted to ring some more. I put up my net and fairly soon I caught three Siskins. Because I knew I had ringed three Siskins I could count how many other unringed birds visisted the garden. I came up to a total of six. At one single time there were about 10 present, but only in the high tree in the back garden, not near the feeders.

 Siskin (Carduelis spinus), adult male

 Siskin (Carduelis spinus), adult male; everything adult type, primaries, secondaries, tertails, greater coverts, alulas etc..

Siskin (Carduelis spinus). 2cy female, note the four unmoulted outer greater coverts, unmoulted tertails and secondaries etc. Tail was moulted. Not so pretty as the adult male..

Yesterday I bought some more peanut nets (I want them in the garden as long as possible haha). I hung two in the garden. Right now, while I'm typing this posts there are up to eight birds feeding on the peanuts, incredible!

I also took a little effort to try and photograph them. This is the result:

 Siskin (Carduelis spinus), 2cy female; note the unmoulted greater coverts & tertails

Siskin (Carduelis spinus), 2cy male; note the unmoulted greater coverts (inner two/three moulted)

American Wigeon!

For a couple of weeks now an American Wigeon has been present amongst European Wigeons near Maurik, in Gelderland. I've seen American Wigeon twice in NL, once a bird in Groningen in 2005 and another one in 2008 in Noord-Holland. We've also seen it in North-America. Therefore, we weren't really tempered to twitch this bird, but since it was still present (and since it's a good Gelderland species) we went there to have a look at this bird.

Yesterday it was only present for a short period of time because someone found it was neccesary to cross the fence and approach the Wigeons and flush them, eventhough you can see them at 25m distance from the road...

We were a bit hesitant if it still would be preshnt today but soon we found out! In some sort of by-pass of the river the Rijn the Wigeons were situated. The Wigeons were foraging in this by-pass on very close range. Together with Henri, me and my dad we arrived at the location around 11.45. On my phone I saw it had been seen at 10.40. As we were the only birdwatchers there we started searching for the bird. We found a group of some inactive Wigeons and soon my dad shouted: I think I got it! The bird was sleeping, some 25m away from the car. It was very inactive but every now and then it got its head out.

Several people with dogs passed by, but the Wigeons didn't care, no movement at all. We could even get out of the car and nothing happened. We've rarely had such encounters with waterfowl. Normally the birds fly off immediatly.

Then an hour later orso, the bird became active, and we were able to take some really great shots of the bird! The sun resulted in a bit harsh light for photographing, but you won't hear us complain about the results!

 American Wigeon (Anas americana), adult male

 Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope), adult male

Look for the bird!

They were quite close as you can see!

The 'floodgates' situated on the Rijn.

After we had great views on this bird we searched for Black-necked Grebe and Long-tailed Duck that had been seen yesterday, We failed to find them though. A little bit further we a fly-over Waterpipit, a hunting female type Hen Harrier and lots of geese.

We wanted to give the Velvet Scoter near Veenendaal a visit. From Rhenen we drove to Veenendaal. On our way there we stopped near Achterberg where we had two Whooper Swans and 22 Bewick's Swans. Near Veenendaal we soon relocated the Velvet Scoter. It was more distant than the previous time but we had a good look at it. It was succesfully fishing on crayfish. We saw it consuming multiple crayfish over the short period of time we spent there.

What an excellent day to end my one week holiday!

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:

Inland Velvet Scoters

The past week I went to see Velvet Scoters inland at two different locations. First ones were near Zutphen. I spend a few days at my grandparents in Ruurlo and on Tuesday we made a quick visit to these birds. They were present on recreactional lake just south of Zutphen. Good observations through the binoculars, though a bit distant. With my camera I managed to get some record shots.

Velvet Scoters (Melanitta fusca), both 1st winters. 

In Veenendaal, about 10km from Wageningen a first winter male Velvet Scoter has been present for a few weeks now. Yesterday I decided it was time to give it a visit since it was great weather. It is present in a creek just in the urbanised area, swimming in between the Coots and Mallards, a weird experience! There are lots of Red Swamp Crayfish in the creek, so enough reason for the bird to reside at such an odd location for a seabird. 

Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca), first winter male

On my way back I came across a group of 48 Bewick's Swans, a nice addition to the list.

Bewick's Swans (Cygnus bewickii). The group existed out of 33 adult and 15 immature birds.

Apples with snow, guaranteed succes

There's been snow for here the past 2/3 weeks and that means that lots of birds look for food in the cities. It's the ultimate time to have, amongst others, Fieldfares in your garden. Just put some apples out and you'll attract them soon. Every winter (when there's snow) we have a couple of Fieldfares in the garden, eating off the apples. There we some apples out in the garden but no Fieldfare showed up this week. This morning I put up the net but it was too windy and there were very few birds around. Then around 10 when I had to go to the city I was standing in the garden and suddenly three Fieldfares dropped, looking very hungry. They were really tame and were feeding only a few metres away from me. I had to go but when I would come back I would try to trap one! I put my cage out and put the apples in it. It took some time but eventually the Fieldfare found its way into the trap. Gotcha! My first Fieldfare I ring in the garden. The rest of the day I let them feed on the apples, since they're hungry! This one was a 2cy male, the other ones are an adult female and an adult male.

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris), 2cy male

Other than that I haven't been doing to much bird watching. Last Sunday I went to visit the IJssel with my dad. It was pretty nice. 16 Whooper Swans, 2 Bewick's Swan, a Green Sandpiper and some other stuff. Here are some pic's.

 Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus)

Whooper Swans (Cygnus cygnus), IJssel near Deventer and Albaplas near Klarenbeek

Bewick's Swans (Cygnus bewickii), from two weeks ago near Deventer.

 A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator), has been present for almost two weeks now on the IJssel near Deventer. A very good county record!

The two images above were both taken by my dad, Tammo meijer.

Ducks, ducks, ducks

At the Yperenplas near Wilp some rare ducks for our county have been found a few days ago by Maarten Kaales (totalbirding.blogspot.com). On the big lake there he found a male Ferruginous Duck, a hybrid Ferruginous Duck X Pochard and a female Scaup. A pretty nice assembly in one group of ducks. They were discoveresd on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday I went there with Bram and Tammo. It didn't take long for us to find all three species there. According to Arno ten Hoeve there were even two hybrids present. So perhaps it's a hybrid family: father Ferruginous, mother Pochard and their two kids have visited our county :)

The light was horrible, but despite that I managed to get some recordshots of the ducks.

 Ferrigunous Duck (Aythya nyroca), male

Hybrid Ferrigunous Duck X Pochard (Aythya nyroca X ferina), male

Scaup (Aythya marila), female

Here are some landscape pics:

 Thousands of geese, mainly White-Fronted and Barnacle Geese have been present along the IJssel.

A view on the IJssel with Deventer as its background, flooded land as a result of high water levels (which is common in winter).

Yesterday morning I had two Redpolls spec. foraging together with a Siskin in an alder behind my garden. Everyday several groups of Siskins fly by, maybe some movement!