PeterHG's fifth attempt

[Galana]

Nice to see Pintails emerging from eclipse plumage. They have usually completed that before their Autumn arrival.

[xelas]

How lucky are you to get Pintails up-close and personal!

[Dave Williams]

Usual high quality shots here Peter, the video of the Cormorants is something else and a scene I have only seen in Africa and Sri Lanka, and then smaller birds and less numeric probably. They must do more damage to fish stocks than a super trawler...well, almost!

 

[PeterHG]

There is a migration counting location some 10 kilometres from here, where diligent birders spend hours counting passing migrants. Mostly in their twenties and thirties they have sharp eyes and excellent hearing. The few times I have spoken with them and even joined them for a short period (not this year, though...) I was amazed and impressed at how many species they were able to recognize just by their sound. They provide a valuable contribution to research and protection and happily invest many hours in spring and autumn. A few days ago I read that they had counted over 53000 redwings in one day, a record. As I had not seen them this year yet I took a little walk in the area myself. I counted 37 ;). Well, I was only there for half an hour and one migration day can be completely different from a previous one, so I was happy to at least see them and get a distant photo. 

 

314. Redwing. Leusden, October

 

 

[Galana]

The Redwings are coming!

 

Sounds like I heard that in old films.

Nice photos.

[ElenaH]

What for amazing quality photos! I enjoyed all 26 pages and liked almost all pistures. So, you will get a lot of notifications, sorry for that. Some of the birds I have never seen... Ohh.. sigh... Loved your Pied Kingfisher shots and Burchell's Coucal mating and and and.. And I wish to see African Paradise Flycatcher some time in my life ... making a wish-list ;-) Perhaps, @Peter Connancould be a Santa Claus? 

[Peter Connan]

@ElenaH, if you come to South Africa in summer, I will show you one...

[PeterHG]

4 hours ago, ElenaH said:

What for amazing quality photos! I enjoyed all 26 pages and liked almost all pistures. So, you will get a lot of notifications, sorry for that. Some of the birds I have never seen... Ohh.. sigh... Loved your Pied Kingfisher shots and Burchell's Coucal mating and and and.. And I wish to see African Paradise Flycatcher some time in my life ... making a wish-list ;-) Perhaps, @Peter Connancould be a Santa Claus? 

Thank you very much for your kind words @ElenaHand for taking the trouble to browse through so many pages of photographs ! I do hope you'll get to see the Paradise Flycatcher some day. I can see @Peter Connanhas already promised to deliver and I can assure you that a day spent with him will be worthwhile in any case. 

[ElenaH]

@Peter Connanyou mean African summer, right? 

@PeterHGI am afraid I need to go through the 26 pages  again and make a longer wish-list  

[Peter Connan]

@ElenaH correct. These birds are migratory and are only here where I live in our summer.

[PeterHG]

I went back to the woodland area I had previously seen the Redwings. No visible migration today, but I did see a few additions:

 

315. Eurasian Siskin. Leusden, October

 

[PeterHG]

316. Great Tit. Leusden, October

 

[PeterHG]

317. European Robin. Leusden, October. I'd seen plenty of them before, of course, but no photo yet.

 

 

Even when there a few birds to be seen, it's a beautiful area to take a walk, especially in this time of the year:

 

[Soukous]

1 hour ago, PeterHG said:

European Robin. Leusden, October. I'd seen plenty of them before, of course, but no photo yet.

 

Because they are around throughout the year and so easily seen (and heard) I sometimes forget that I need to take a photo of one. 

[Peter Connan]

Beautiful photo Peter!

[PeterHG]

Yet another morning walk in the previous woodland area produced this little addition:

 

318. Marsh Tit. Leusden October. Closely resembling the Willow Tit, of course, but I'm fairly confident about the ID. The fact that it was feeding on beech-nuts also points to the Marsh Tit, as this is its favourite food in autumn and winter.

 

 

I also witnessed a brief disagreement between a Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel. You can see how evenly they are matched in size.

 

[Galana]

Lovely action shot of the two Raptors.

[Soukous]

On 10/29/2020 at 1:25 PM, PeterHG said:

I also witnessed a brief disagreement between a Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel. You can see how evenly they are matched in size.

 

Neat shot. I had not realised how similar in size they were. Of course a quick look in my book would have told me that. 

[PeterHG]

I managed a few more additions and I'd better post them instead of waiting for better ones...

 

319. Common Snipe. Arkemheen, November.

 

 

[PeterHG]

The sun was out today and we made a short trip to Flevoland. Quite a few flocks of geese were flying over our heads, most of them too high for decent photos. I took a few shots anyway, just for ID sake, thought the sound told me they would be Greater White-fronted Geese. At home however, I noticed there were also a few others flying among them.

 

320 Tundra Bean Goose. Flevoland, November

 

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

There are quite a few bushes with berries along the road that goes through the reserve and last year this was a good place to look for fieldfares. It didn't take long for us to hear their familiar sound and I stopped to try and get some flight shots.

 

321. Fieldfare. Flevoland, November

 

 

 

They were not the only thrushes that were feasting on the berries:

 

Song thrush

 

Redwing

 

 

Blackbird

 

 

And the last duplicate was not a thrush.

Kestrel

[PeterHG]

There are quite a few bushes with berries along the road that goes through the reserve and last year this was a good place to look for fieldfares. It didn't take long for us to hear their familiar sound and I stopped to try and get some flight shots.

 

321. Fieldfare. Flevoland, November

 

 

 

They were not the only thrushes that were feasting on the berries:

 

Song thrush

 

Redwing

 

 

Blackbird

 

 

And the last duplicate was not a thrush.

Kestrel

[Peter Connan]

Beauties all!

[Galana]

Somebody else earning double likes.

Worth them too.

[PeterHG]

10 hours ago, Galana said:

Somebody else earning double likes.

Worth them too.

As you said: strange things are happening here.....;)