PeterHG's seventh Big Year

[Kitsafari]

congrats on the lifer pelicans! all great photos as always. 

[TonyQ]

A very productive trip to Lesvos with so many beautiful birds 

[Zim Girl]

Lovely pictures, well done with the Pelicans!

[Dave Williams]

Didn't realise you could see Dalmation Pelicans there, that's a great find and sighting.

I could, I have discovered, re-book my Lesvos trip a week later ( why didn't they offer that instead of a no explanation refund letter?) but it's getting a bit late for migration. I think I'll hold fire and decide later in the year or even last minute next year depending on the weather!

[PeterHG]

Time to add a few I've managed to collect since my return form Lesvos. Long overdue, but shoulder problems make me limit my time at the computer.

 

189 /NL 99. Common Whitethroat. Arkemheen, May

 

 

The same area also holds its lesser cousin. Adding it here clearly shows the differences between the two.

 

190 /NL 100. Lesser Whitethroat. Arkemheen, May

 

[PeterHG]

191 /NL 101. Common Cuckoo. Arkemheen, May.

 

 

192 /NL 102. Eurasian Jay. Amersfoort, May. Very common, but somehow I always struggle to get a good shot. They tend to be quite shy.

 

 

 

193 /NL 103. Icterine Warbler. Arkemheen, May. I don't see it very often, but this one appeared to have a fixed singing location, so it was a matter of patience....

 

 

[xelas]

Cuckoo and jay in flight ... perfect score!

[Dave Williams]

Lovely stuff Peter. 200 edging up too!

[TonyQ]

Lovely shots of the Whitethroats in paticular. Helpful to see the two in the same post

[PeterHG]

Thank you, @xelas@Dave Williams @TonyQ!

 

I took a half-day trip to a wetland area near the river Lek, which can be quite prodictive in spring. Also it is one of the few places where seeing Black Terns as almost a certainty. 

194 /NL 104. Black Tern. Zouweboezem, May

 

 

It is also one of the very few places where another of the Marsh Terns breeds albeit with only one pair. Already seen on Lesvos

 

White-winged Tern.

 

I saw 57 species in the area that morning, which is an excellent number. Not many additions, though. But this one was.

 

195 /NL 105. Common Chaffinch. Zouweboezem, May

 

[PeterHG]

In June we spent a week in the north of the country, cycling around and visiting one or two reserves that were in the vicinity. Among our favourites were these grebes. Pretty rare where I live but surprisingly common over there, though very localized.

 

196 /nl 106. Black-necked Grebe. Groningen, June

 

 

 

This also the area where one can find the third marsh tern. Not as rare as the white-winged tern, but still still very uncommon. Already seen and counted on Lesvos.

 

Whiskered Tern.

 

And we were happy to find one of the less common reed warblers.

197 /Nl 107. Marsh Warbler. Groningen, June

 

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by PeterHG

[PeterHG]

We also visited a bog area in the north, as yet unknown to us. It is one of the few locations in the country where cranes breed and we were lucky enough to see one, thouh rather distant. The first time I've seen one in the Netherlands.

 198 /NL 108. Common Crane. Groningen, June

 

 

It's an area we'll keep in mind for next year. We also got a glimpse of the Red-backed Shrike. Another bird that is very uncommon. Already counted

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by PeterHG

[PeterHG]

Late June we drove to the Oostvaardersplassen, a wetland area some 45 kilometres from where I live. We had a lovely walk there with some good birds.

 

199 /NL 109. Marsh Harrier. Oostvaardersplassen, June.

 

 

From one of the hides we were lucky enough to see a kingfisher catch a sizeable fish. though the dive happened at a distance, it then took the fish to a branch that was much closer. I did manage to catch the kingfisher flying towards us and to my amazement the AF had locked on.

 

 

 

A Cetti's Warbler showed nicely, which does not happen very often..... Already seen and counted before,

 

 

Near the visitor's centre a pair of redstarts had occupiied a nestbox and with a little patience one of the adults would show up to feed its young. Of course we did not hang around too long, but, although the nestbox was near the path where everybody visiting the reserve passed by, it did not seem to bothetr them much.

 

200 /NL 110. Common Redstart. Oostvaardersplassen, June.

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by PeterHG
Spelling

[TonyQ]

Well done on reaching 200 with some really nice birds and photos 

[Tdgraves]

Congrats on the double century 

[pedro maia]

Congrats on the second century Peter, and on the amazing pictures!

[xelas]

Congratulations on your 2nd century! The AF of your camera is truly something OOTW ... as is the operator !

[Galana]

Good to see your double century being reached and with some excellent pictures as a bonus.

[Zim Girl]

Congratulations on reaching 200.  Beautiful pictures in that last set.

[Kitsafari]

beautiful images, beautiful white-winged tern in breeding plumage, and beautiful redstart. Congrats on the 200th!

[Peter Connan]

Holy smoke Peter! Some truly amazing shots here!

[PeterHG]

Thanks, @TonyQ @Tdgraves @pedro maia @xelas @Galana @Zim Girl @Kitsafari @Peter Connan!

 

Let's deal with some more I thought I already had and some I'll probably won't get a better one of.

 

201 /NL 111. Common Tern, Arkemheen, June. I am still hoping to find a Sandwich Tern. I have a distant one from Portugal and perhaps that's the one I will have to use eventually. The Avian flu has decimated a few of the colonies I usually visited. Very sad.

 

 

202 /NL 112. Short-toed Treecreeper/ Amersfoort, July. I have the feeling I've seen fewer of them than in previous years and this is the only photo I've got

 

 

203 /NL 113. Greenfinch. Flevoland. July

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by PeterHG

[michael-ibk]

Congratulations on #200 Peter, well done. More excellent photos, particularly like the Cuckoo, Grebe and Kingfisher - beautiful. Sorry to hear about your shoulder, get well soon.

[PeterHG]

Thank you, @michael-ibk.

 

204 /NL 214. Great Spotted Woodpecker. Flevoland, July. The most common of our woodpeckers.

 

 

205 /NL 115. Yellowhammer. Groningen, June. We do not get it where we live, so it was nice to see it in our northernmost province. A heavy crop, though, as it was quite distant

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

206 /NL 116. Common Swift. Arkemheen, July. In preparation for our South Africa trip in October a friend kindly offered me to borrow his Panasonic 100-400 zoom lens. My fixed 300mm (FF equivalent 600mm) is a fantastic lens, but when I stll hadmt Canon equipment I used to take a zoom lens on our Africa trips. A zoom makes a lot of sense when you are also photographing other wildlife. The Panasonic performed quite well on my Olympus body. The next two were taken with that lens.

 

 

207 /NL 117. Grey Heron. Arkemheen, July.

 

Last year also Olympus released a 100-400 zoom, so after my day with the Panasoninc I ordered that one to see if it offered the same quality. It did and, due to the fact that it is an Olympus lens I could even attach a teleconverter to it. I think it's a keeper and it's the one I'll take with me in October. Not as fast as the 300mm (F/4) as this is F/5-6.3, but light is usually not the problem and the versatilty is a big plus.

This one is with the Olympus:

 

208 /NL 118. Sand Martin, Arkemheen July.