PeterHG's eighth BY

[pedro maia]

The BIF master strikes again...

[Peter Connan]

Jip, wonderful stuff!

[PeterHG]

Thank you @pedro maiaand @Peter Connan!

On 10/14/2023 at 1:41 PM, pedro maia said:

The BIF master strikes again..

Just look at the next one....;). You're doing quite well yourself, by the way !

 

We then spent a few days in the Spanish Pyrenees. Mainly to enjoy the location (and the waether), but we did do some birding. Near our cottage we found the next tw:

 

267. European Pied Flycatcher, Spanish Pyrenees, September. It kept eluding me, flying from tree to tree, but I got a recognizable shot in the end.....

 

268. Black Redstart. Spanis Pyrenees, September

 

And of course it's vulture country. Some Griffons would soar over the cottage each morning.

269. Griffon Vulture. Spanish Pyrenees, September.

 

We decided to try and find a Bearded Vulture as this is one of the most iconic species of the region. We drove to a spot where we manage to see one a few years back: the Miradores de Revilla. From the parking spot you have to follow a mountain path for a few kilomtres in order to reach a viewpoint. And then it's a matter of patience. For the first half hour we did not see anything but a few Crag Martins. Well, one for the list, so..

270 Eurasian Crag Martin. Spanish Pyrenees, September. An extreme crop, but it's there.

 

On the other side of the valley griffons started to gather in great numbers, gaining height on the late-morning thermals and another thirty minutes later we finally magaed to get very distant, but definte views of our target species. What a magnificent sight.

271. Bearded Vulture. Spanish Pyrenees, September.

 

 

When descending from the viewpoint again along the sometimes trick footpath I stumbled and fell, with no great harm and an undamaged camera. I did realize however, that giving my advancing age, perhaps I should not venture on these kind of mountain paths again. But perhaps that's what I thought last time, too....;)

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

Back home I managed to add a few i had been neglecting so far...

 

272. Carrion Crow. Arkemheen, October. 

 

273. Great Egret. Arkemheen, October. In summer they are absent but after the breeding season their numbers rise again and now they are very common.

[PeterHG]

A few days ago we took a trip to the 'zuidpier' near IJmuiden, to try and find some coastal birds. The weather was quite nice with some sunshine and not too much wind and that always guarantees a nice walk and usually also some nice birds.

 

274. Ruddy Turnstone. IJmuiden, October. A certainty at this location.

 

Purple Sandpiper. Also a good spot for this species, though usually only in small numbers. Already counted.

 

275/ Sanderling. IJmuiden, October. Quite a few could be seen along the water's edge. Often at the beach but this time they were feeding on the many basalt blocks of the pier.

 

And of course I took some time to try and take a flight shot...

 

276. Rock Pipit. IJmuiden, October. Mostly present in small numbers and also for this species a reliable spot.

 

277. Shag. IJmuiden, October. A rarity along our coast, although a few can be seen here each year. I'd already seen them in Iceland, but always far off, so I didn't manage to take a decent photo.

 

We saw a total of 6 Razorbills on our walk. Mostly distant, but this one ventured quite close to the pier. Als seen in Iceland.

 

And then there were some mammals....

 

 

Grey Seal and Harbour Porpoise. I had seen the seal here before, but not the dolphin, although there are regular sightings of them in the area.

[michael-ibk]

Great Vulture photos Peter, and love seeing your coastal specials. Purple Sandpiper, Rock Pipit, Razorbill - all would be lifers for me.

[PeterHG]

Most of October and November have not been good times for adding to the BY score. After the last outing to the coast I got hit pretty heavily by Covid, which I had been able to avoid during all previous outbreaks. A week after I got my booster vaccination..... It took about  three weeks to recover and after that the weather mostly prevented any worthwhile trips. So I will not add many more to this year's score. In the past few days , however the sun came out occasionally, so we drove and walked through our favourite area nearby. And to my surprise we did manage an addition. The others are duplicates, but it felt good to be out again and grab some photos!

 

278. Red-crested Pochard. Arkemheen, November. They were quite distant, but still beautiful in the sunlight. Taken with the OM-1 and the 300 f/4 lens.

 

A few Cattle Egrets have taken up residence in the area and if there are no other cars around and you have a little patience they can be quite confiding.

 

The same goes for the Kestrels,. They can be quite shy but every now and then the photographer gets lucky...

 

[Galana]

Sorry to lean about your illness. Hope it is all good from now on.

[Peter Connan]

Same from me. Hope you don't have any of the long-term effects so many people have suffered from.

 

Beautiful shots of the Egret and the Kestrels!

[BRACQUENE]

Sorry to hear that and I hope you recover well Peter ! 

[michael-ibk]

Very sorry to hear you got the damn virus and badly at that. Hope you are back to full fighting force again. Beautiful photos - as always Peter. 

[Kitsafari]

hope all the covid symptoms ended with no long-term effects. But for sure there was no impact on the quality of the excellent photos! Rest well.   

[PeterHG]

Thanks for all the good wishes @Galana @Peter Connan @BRACQUENE @michael-ibk @Kitsafari. Things are much better now, so I'm confident there will be no long-term effects.

 

No real birding outings, but that is mainly due to the grey weather. We did have quite an influx of redpoll, so when there were some sightin gs nearby I went to have a look. There were about 60 of them, mostly high up in the trees, but I did get some usable shots and it's been quite a few years since I last saw one.

279. Mealy Redpoll. Nijkerk, december

 

I'd better start with the annual barrel thing. some were taken in the surpreme confidence that I would get better shots later in the year and others I'd just forgotten about. Indeed there are quite a few common birds that I have totally neglected and it's unlikely that I'll be able to photograph them in the remaining weeks. Which automatically leads me to thinking about how to continue the thread next year. But that's a decision for later.

 

280. Eurasian Nuthatch.Flevoland, January. It used to be quite common in our local park, but strangely enough, I hardly saw any this year.

 

281. Grey Plover. Zeeland, January. Our usual november trips to Zeeland were all cancelled due to my illnesss or the weather.

 

282. Little Grebe. Flevoland, April

 

283. Spotted Redshank. Zeeland, January.

 

284. Hen Harrier. Zeeland, January. My contender for the EBC award, but to be fair, I've seen stronger entries in this category already...;)

Edited December 13, 2023 by PeterHG
links not working

[Galana]

Good to hear your are improving in your health. Worry about 2024 birding later.

Like the barrel scraping. Sadly a few of them, Nuthatch, Plover, S Redshank and Hen Harrier are not visible so in that state your EBC for the Harrier must win!

Nice Dabchick.

[PeterHG]

32 minutes ago, Galana said:

Sadly a few of them, Nuthatch, Plover, S Redshank and Hen Harrier are not visible so in that state your EBC for the Harrier must win!

Thanks for the update on the links, Fred! Hopefully they are now working properly and my hen harrier is visible in all its exquisite detail... 

[michael-ibk]

Glad to hear you are feeling better Peter!

 

5 hours ago, PeterHG said:

Which automatically leads me to thinking about how to continue the thread next year.

 

"How" is ok as long you are not thinking "if". Wouldn´t be the same here without you.

 

Oh, your Hen Harrier is a piece of beauty compared to my Mousebirds, and let´s not even try to bring Kit's Huawei into this.

[Galana]

2 hours ago, PeterHG said:

Hopefully they are now working properly and my hen harrier is visible in all its exquisite detail... 

Absolutely. A noble effort.

[PeterHG]

For #285 I always aim for something special. There had been several sightings of waxwings in the country and one location was not far from here. On our way to a family visit I made a short detour and quickly managed to find the two birds that had been reported there. Of course there were quite a few other photographers too. Most of them behaved brilliantly, but as always a few of them eagerly followed the birds around when the flew from tree to tree and from one side of the little canal to the other. Waxwings are not shy, but those photographers always managed to take one step too close and chase them away after all. I stayed on one side of the canal with most of the others and patiently waited for the birds to return, which they did eventually. The trees where the waxwings were feeding on the berries were all in the shade, but some of the bushes close by were catching the sunlight, which made the colours stand out even better. It's been quite a few years since I last saw waxwings, so I was very happy. That's why you will have to waste precious time by looking at a whole set of photos....;)

 

285. Bohemian Waxwing. Houten, December.

 

 

This is how approachable they were....

 

In the sunlight

[Soukous]

Beautiful birds, beautifully photographed.

[Galana]

No time is wasted when looking at Waxwings.

Very nice.

[xelas]

Brilliant photos! A bird I have only seen on-line.

[Peter Connan]

6 hours ago, Soukous said:

Beautiful birds, beautifully photographed.

Well said Martin!

[michael-ibk]

Wonderful Peter, great photos. I´m hoping for them this year too. We are having a bit of an influx in Eastern Austria already, just waiting for them to come my way too.

[JimS]

Lovely shots indeed!

 

Would be lovely to see some, I've heard of no sightings yet in our area so far though. I have a small rowan tree in my garden, and good sight of my neighbour's larger rowan, so if someone could point them in our direction we'll take good care of them (they just have to come soon before the starlings have eaten all the berries)

Edited December 18, 2023 by JimS

[BRACQUENE]

Glad you recovered well from the virus Peter and some great additions since I left for Rwanda despite the weather !