Red-footed falcons (Falco vespertinus)

There's an invasion going on of Red-footed Falcons Falco vespertinus in the Netherlands. It started three weeks ago when the first rumours of Red-footed Falcons migrating north came from Spain and France. A few days later, the first falcons were reported on migration points in the Netherlands. Numbers and sightings increased and then the first reports of present falcons came in. Every year in spring we have a few sightings of Red-footed falcons, but normally they remain rare. This year however, the winds were good (we had a long period of eastern winds) and the falcons were probably driven by the winds to Western Europe. They were seen on numerous locations and it was the first time since the last invasion of 1992 that large groups were present.

Red-footed Falcons normally live in Eastern Europe and Asia. They breed there in small colonies, mostly within colonies of a different bird, the Rook Corvus frugilegus. Of which they use old deserted nests. In winter they migrate to Africa. In spring, when they return, they can get lost, that's when they show up in Western Europe. On rare occasions, this can result in a breeding record. There are some records of breeding Red-footed falcons from Germany, Sweden and Finland. In the Netherlands it however never occured, but who knows what this invasion will bring! They are mainly insect eaters and need areas with many large insects, like dragonflies.

Last Saturday me and some friends went to an area called the "Fochteloër Veen". There supposed to be a group of at least 30 Red-footed Falcons present according to the nature database Waarneming.nl. When we saw the pictures, we decided we should go there. The problem was, we couldn't. First opportunity was this weekend, so we were crossing our fingers and hoped the birds would stay. And they did! What marvellous birds! I always hoped to see them and never succeeded untill this year. The first ones I ever saw, was at the migration counting point at Breskens this year, but views were bad, nothing compared to what we saw at the Fochteloër Veen area. WOW!!! When we arrived at the spot in the morning, the birds were sitting in the top of dead Birch (Betula) trees. We counted at least 31 but it might also have been 34. I won't bore you with the details about this ambiguity concerning the count, what's important is that there were so many birds present!


It was possible to see all the plumage variations you can find in spring. First of all, in this species the sexes are not alike (they show sexual colour dimorphism) and there were males and females present. Then there were adults and 2nd calender year birds, so different age classes. But there were also large differences within the 2nd calender year group, which was really nice to see.

We were enjoying the falcons when my friends got a pageralert, through the Dutch Bird Alert system. A Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus was dicovered at the Lauwersmeer area. For three of us a Terek was a lifer and a bird which was high on our whishlist and thus we decided to go. It didn't work out; we didn't see the bird. The Lauwersmeer is however one of the best birding places in the Netherlands and although we didn't see the Terek we had a good time over there. Apart from the pleasant company the birds were also pleasant. Like numerous shorebirds at close distance (male ruffs in breeding plumage, temminck stints at 3m., etc etc.), 2 nice Whiskered Terns Chlidonias hybrida, 6 Black Tern Chlidonias niger, one Osprey, one Caspian tern Hydroprogne caspia and loads of other birds. On the way back we saw in Groningen two White-winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus (which completed the three marshterns you can see in Europe) and then we went back to the Fochteloër Veen to have a last look at the Red-footed falcons.

The falcons were even better than in the morning, catching insects (mainly dragonflies). Sometimes I saw them jumping into small trees or on the ground. It was colder than the days before and most dragonflies were inactive, so they had to grab them from the trees and bushes. They were flying right in front of us and weren't afraid at all, I even saw them hover! Splendid!!

Spring Migration in Breskens

Breskens is the best place in the Netherlands to view migrating birds in spring. On days when the winds are good (East/ South-east, 4 Beaufort scale) and the temperature is nice, birds pass in impressive numbers. The best time is the last two weeks of April en the first two weeks of May. This year the winds were extremely good and it rained rarities. Also commoner birds like swallows, swifts and meadow pipits were seen in high amounts and more than 100 species were observed while migrating every single day! That's why Frank and I decided to have another try at the Breskens migration point (it was our 4th time this year). Our main goal was to get a good view of red-footed falcons. Normally Red-footed falcons are quite rare in the Netherlands but occasionally they can show up in larger numbers. There seemed to be a small invasion going on and they were reported from many places in the Netherlands.

After a 2,5 hour drive, Frank and I arrived in Breskens. There were not as many birders as the days before (on good days there can be more than 150 people, today there were not many more than 50) and there were not many birds either. We got some really good species, but views were bad and numbers low. And although we got the Red-footed falcons we didn't go home completely satisfied. Maybe we got spoiled by al the good stuff we got the week before, or maybe we were a little jealous on our friends who decided to try their luck at other places (and were more succesfull), who knows....

Anyway, the best things I saw today were 2 (maybe three) Red-footed Falcons, 1 Red-rumped swallow, 2 Black Kites, 1 Osprey, 1 Montagu's Harrier, about 10 Hen Harriers, a few Hobbies and a few Merlins and 1 very nice Short-eared owl.

Candy of the day (translated directly from Dutch and probably not a proper English expression, but I like it anyway) was a Cattle egret in summer plumage in an area called "De Braakman". Frank got the sighting through his pager and since it was on the way back we decided to have a go at it. It's discoverers were still present and they pointed the bird to us. Otherwise it might have been quite difficult because the bird sometimes vanished into some pine trees which appeared to be a new Grey heron, Little egret and Spoonbill breeding colony! It collected sticks and small branches and apparently was building a nest. Wheter it was paired or not, we couldn't tell. We saw only one bird. Nevertheless a nice sighting. Also my first Cattle egret in breeding plumage in the Netherlands.

You can find the total results of the counts of today on the migration database Trektellen.nl , but don't forget to change the date to the 10th of May.