PeterHG's BY in whatever form it will take.

[BRACQUENE]

Great collection of Thailand birds Peter and congratulations with your second century!

[PeterHG]

Thank you, Peter!

[Peter Connan]

More beautiful birds and photography!

[PeterHG]

Thank you, @Peter Connan!

[PeterHG]

Back to our own country. Sunny days were scarce, but when we did have the opportunity to go out for a bit the sounds of spring were there. 

 

230 / NL 20. Eurasian Skylark. Arkemheen, March. One of the earliest singers and a joy to hear in the beginning of March.

 

We even ventured upon a day trip to the province of Zeeland. 

231 / NL 21. Red-breasted Merganser. Zeeland, March. Along the 'Brouwersdam' these ducks are quite common in the winter months. Mostly they stay pretty far away, but sometimes a beautiful male comes a little closer.

 

232 / NL 22. Herring Gull. Zeeland, march. Very common.

 

233 / NL 23. Meadow Pipit. Zeeland, March.

 

NL 24. Little Grebe. Already counted in Thailand, but this one was in winter plumage and had dark eyes.

 

234 / NL 25. Common Pheasant. Zeeland, March

 

235 / NL 26. Brent Goose. Zeeland, March. A good spot to see this coastal goose. 

 

236 / NL 27. Green Woodpecker. Zeeland, March. A distant fly-by in a rather unlikely spot. But a good sighting, of course.

 

237 / NL 28. Mediterranean Gull. Zeeland, March. Slowly gaining ground here and the province of Zeeland is the best place to see them.

 

 

[Soukous]

Aah sunshine. I remember sunshine

[xelas]

20 minutes ago, Soukous said:

Aah sunshine. I remember sunshine

There is plenty of sunshine under the Swartberg mountains!

[PeterHG]

238 / NL 29. Canada Goose. Arkemheen, March

 

239 / NL 30. Peregrine. Arkemheen, March. They breed on the highest church tower in the town of Amersfoort and use the wetland area to hunt.

 

240 / NL 31. Willow Tit. Flevoland, March. Sightings seem to scarcer each year. It is on our red list.

 

241 / NL 32. Mallard. Flevoland, March. Definitely not on the red list.

 

242 / NL 33. White Wagtail. Flevoland, March.

 

 

243 / NL 34. Black-tailed Godwit. Arkemheen, March. large flocks were gathered in the wetland area. Most of them would leave to migrate further north and some stay and breed. Fierce disputes about females were going on all the time.

 

 

 

 

244 / NL 35. Lesser Black-backed Gull. Arkemheen, March.

 

245 / NL 36. Eurasian Coot. Arkemheen, March. Quite busy in March, too.

 

 

[Kitsafari]

A lot of babies on the way!

[michael-ibk]

Great birds in flight especially!

[PeterHG]

In the beginning of March my brother invited me to accompany him to Estonia for a few days. He had to visit a children's hospital there and attend a symposium. I decided to spend half a day with a guide in the vicinity of the capital Tallinn. We dipped on the woodpecker targets and it was quiet bird-wise anyway, but we got a few nice species and I learned quite a lot about life in Estonia and the ever-present fear of their big neighbour, Russia. 

 

He succeeded in finding one of my targets and, though distant, I was really happy to have seen it. Probably @michael-ibk will use this opportinity to make fun of me this time.....

 

246 / ES 1 Spotted Nutcracker. Estonia, March

 

247 / ES 2. Rough-legged Buzzard. Estonia, March

 

248 / ES 3. Hooded Crow. Estonia, March. The default crow in Estonia. The guide didn't really believe me at firest when I told him I wanted to get a picture of this bird. If only all of his customes were so easy to please....;)

 

249 / ES 4. Grey-headed Woodpecker. Estonia, March. I drovet to the west-Estonia with my brother on one of the mornings to do some birding and see the country. That is when we got this woodpecker. Only seen once before, in Thailand a few weeks earlier.

 

250 / ES 05. Eurasian Siskin. Estonia, March

 

251 / ES 6. Common Crane. Estonia, March. Seen a few times on our trip. Always a great bird to find.

 

252 / ES 7. Mistle Thrush. Estonia, March. Not a very good photo, but I did not see a single one last year.

 

253 / ES 8. Great Grey Shrike. An uncommon winter visitor to our country. Probably much more common here, although I only saw two.

 

I saw quite a few other birds on this short trip, mostly ducks and waders, but also Bullfinch and even White-tailed Eagle, but mostly distant and no photos worth showing. Estonia is undoubtedly a good birding destination, though the ideal time would be late April, early May. It is roughly the size of our own country but with only 1.3 million inhabitants, so plenty of open spaces, forests, swamps etc. I'll keep it in mind.

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

Back in the Netherlands the weather was awful most of the time, but I did make use of the few spring-like moments.

 

254 / NL 37. Dunnock, Arkemheen, March. Always one of the earliest singers.

 

255 / NL 38. Common Linnet. Arkemheen, April. Very common the area and even more so now the brambles are groing everywhere.

 

 

256 / NL 39. Common Cuckoo. Arkemheen, April. They have also returned and especially in the morning their calls cannot be missed. Actually seeing one is often another matter.

 

257 / NL 40. Long-tailed-tit. Arkemheen, April. Nothing like the beauty @michael-ibkposted, but happy to at least caught one this year.

 

258 / NL 41. Reed Bunting. Arkemheen, April. Fortunately they are always very visible, so it's just a matter of waiting for the right moment. Well, plus a little bit of sunshine, which was the most difficult part.

 

259 / NL 42.  Cetti's Warbler. Arkemheen, April. Talking about visible.... This is always one of the hardest to get a shot of, even when it is calling loudle just a few metres away. At first he took no pity on me, but when I told him about the pressures of the BY thread he relented and allowed a short, but very satisfying posing session.To do him justice I'll have to post a a few.

 

 

 

 

I think this covers the Cetti's Warbler for the next four years....;)

 

 

 

[TonyQ]

Excellent additions, and well done with the Cetti's!

[Galana]

18 hours ago, PeterHG said:

the Cetti's Warbler for the next four years....;)

Hope it is not that long but worth the wait..

[BRACQUENE]

The best Cetti's pictures I have seen for a long time ! 

[JimS]

Superb collection. Especially like the wagtail zeroing in on the unlucky spider. And the Cetti's - wow! Makes me think of another trip to RSPB Otmoor - I felt fortunate last time I was there I actually caught a glimpse of one after a long wait listening to it's shouting, but it was teasing me as it disappeared as soon as I lifted the camera.

[Zim Girl]

Brilliant pictures and sighting of the Cetti's.

[PeterHG]

Thank you @TonyQ @Galana @BRACQUENE @JimS @Zim Girl! I felt really lucky to have had such good views of the Cetti's.  I must mention that I took a walk in the same area this morning and at exactly the same spot I got brief, but beautiful views of the warbler again. Apparently this particular individual is less secretive than the rest of his family tend to be.

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

More from the same area:

 

260 / NL 43. Sedge Warbler. Arkemheen, April. Very common and very vocal. Because of their frequent song flights you can't really miss them.

 

 

261 / NL 44. Common Whitethroat. Arkemheen, April. Als does song flights, but not as frequent as the sedge warbler and it is also less common.

 

262 / NL 45. Common Chiffchaff. Arkemheen, April. Its song can be heard everywhere in the area, both in the trees and in the brambles. Strangely enough I have not heard a single Willow Warbler so far, which is very unusual.

 

263 / NL 46. Eurasian Blackcap. Flevoland, April. One eveing last week we took a walk across the water from our usual wetland area in the province of Flevoland. It was cold and fairly windy, but we got our target, which was not this one, although it was a nice bonus.

 

Soon after we could hear our target bird. It is one of the few places within easy reach where it can be found. As with the Cetti's the trick is to acually set eyes on one. But with some patience we got what we wanted. It was rather dark at that time, but we were delighted to have seen it.

264 / NL 47. Common Nightingale. Flevoland, April.

 

Back to the Arkemheen area for some easier birds that I had neglected so far.

265 / NL 48. Greylag Goose. Arkemheen, April

 

266 /NL 49. Egyptian Goose. Arkemheen, April

 

267 / NL 50. Little Owl. Arkemheen, April. About once in every 7 or 8 times I visit the area, I see the owl in its usual spot. Life in the gutter seems to suit him.

 

[xelas]

What a great selection of birds! Michael and I have worked very hard over the weekend, got some but failed miserably with the Little Owl .

[michael-ibk]

Indeed, great stuff Peter, especially the songbirds in flight. Not to mention those awesome Cetti shots. And Nightingale is always super tough too. Oh, and you got a Nutcracker, how incredibly exciting!

 

Who was your guide in Estonia? I definitely enjoyed birding there some years ago.

 

17 minutes ago, xelas said:

Michael and I have worked very hard over the weekend, got some but failed miserably with the Little Owl .

 

Be precise please. YOU failed. 😜

[xelas]

1 hour ago, michael-ibk said:

Be precise please. YOU failed. 😜

That is what I wrote !

[PeterHG]

Thanks Alex and Michael. I hope you’ll get the little owl sorted out

2 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Who was your guide in Estonia?

My guide was Marko Poolamets from Capture Estonia. I can certainly recommend him. 

[Galana]

Great photos.

The pair of Greylags in flight looks almost Three dimensional and flying off the page..

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Galana!

 

A few last ones and then I have caught up with the sightings, I think.

 

268 / NL 51. Savi's Warbler. Arkemheen, April. Not really common, but every year there are a few reliable spots to find one. It took some time to get a more or less clear shot, but this is how one likes to see it anyway, half hidden in the reeds. 

 

269 / NL 52. Garden Warbler. Also a not too common, but regular inhabitant of the area.

 

270 / NL 53. House Martin. Arkemheen, April. A few weeks after the barn Swallows they have also returned to their breeding spot.

 

A lot of commotion in our little garden yesterday. A female sparrowhawk had swooped down, trying to catch one of the many house sparrows, but failed to do so. She rested for a short while on the fence at the back of our garden, before taking off again. I rushed upstairs to grab my camera and was just in time to grab one shot through the windows.

271 / NL 54. Eurasian Sparrowhawk. Amersfoort, April.