Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)

In Dutch language we have a language construction that makes it possible to make a size distinction in a noun. For example there is "huis" (house) and "huisje" (small house). In English you use most of the time an adjective, but in Dutch this isn't always neccesary, you can often use the "-je" or "-tje" extension (there are exceptions in English, mostly in childlanguage with words like doggy and kitty, but it's also commonly used in English dialects). This construction (it's called a diminutive) was also used in many Dutch bird names. Apart from giving a size impression, it also makes a word sound nicer or friendlier. All different kinds of names were used to refer to one and the same birdspecies, this was confusing. In an attempt to standardize the Dutch birdnames the sector Environment of the "Centraal bureau voor Statistiek (CBS)" published a list of official Dutch names:
"Van Duuren L., Van IJzendoorn E.J., & Osieck E.R., 1994. Nederlandse naamlijst van Holarctische vogels. Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek. Voorburg/ Heerlen."

The list was based on te usage of the names. The ones that were used most often were the ones that got an official place on the list. They kept the diminutive for a lot of birds. This lead to a lot of criticism, since it wasn't clear why you should use "-je" with one bird and not with the other. The critics claimed that "-je"and "-tje" extensions were merely based on affection for a bird rather than on actual size differences. They wanted to have the same rules for all the bird names and argued that the "-je"and "-tje" names should not be used. A few of these critics were translators of influential birdguides like the Johnsson and the Svensson and therefore their ideas and names were quickly adopted by a lot of people and institutions. However a few of their alterations just didn't sound right (or might never have been used before) and therefore they changed a few names back to the old situation. One of the names that was changed back was "Paapje" or Whinchat in English.

I think we should use the diminutives more often. What's wrong with affection? Some birds just happen to cause more excitement with me than others and often it are the ones that have the diminutives. Be honest, wouldn't you like to see a smew (Nonnetje) over a Red-breasted Merganser (Middelste Zaagbek)? Or a Jack Snipe (Bokje) over a Common Snipe (Watersnip)? And isn't a Wren (winterkoninkje) just a lovely creature? So is the Whinchat. For some reason I prefer seeing them over their closest relatives the Northern Wheatear and the European Stonechat, although they are lovely as well. "Paapje", it just sounds right!

Today I saw a singing male Whinchat somewhere in the province of Zuid-Holland. That's a rare place to see singing males. Once they were quite common breeders in the dunes but nowadays they hardly breed in this part of the Netherlands. Numbers went down dramatically in the Netherlands. Probably this was also not a breeding bird, but a migrating male. Whinchats can be hard to monitor. Some birds can still be migrating when other Whinchats are already breeding. Sometimes they sing when they rest during migration. Therefore one sighting of a singing male isn't enough for a breeding record. In the Netherlands it is nowadays a very scarce breeding bird, mainly in the eastern parts of our country. I was very pleased with this sighting since it was my first sighting of a singing male ever.

More about the diminutives in birdnames can be found here (only in Dutch):

http://home.wxs.nl/~hwdenie/vogelnamen.pdf

An Osprey!

An overflying Osprey! Thanks again to the gulls (Herring and Lesser black-backed) in my town! As I wrote before, gulls can be very helpfull in finding birds of prey. They make a lot of fuss when danger flies above their heads. Most of the time, they'll find the raptors sooner than you. So keeping an eye on them, would be a good idea. Today, all of a sudden there were alarming gulls everywhere. I realised there was something going on and when I looked out of my window I saw the cause: a soaring Osprey. Nice! Already the second I found this way this year.


Ospreys can be found almost everywhere on our globe, except Antarctica. They belong to the most widely distributed birds in the world. However they don't breed in the Netherlands! And no-one knows exactly why. The picture of the breeding Osprey is a picture I took in Florida in the USA. There are 4 subspecies in the world. In Europe we have Pandion haliaetus haliaetus and in Florida you have a different subspecies Pandion haliaetus carolinensis, but I couldn't find many differences with our own Osprey. In Florida they were breeding everywhere, so why not in Holland? Conditions in the Netherlands seem perfect, with our lakes, marshes, fish rich area's, but they are not here. We had some birds staying in Summer and a few breeding attempts in recent years but they were not succesful. I think reasons might be historic: Ospreys were hunted severely for ages and their eggs were collected (mainly in Great Brittain). Another serious reason for their historic decline was the use of some chemicals, like DDT. Ospreys are at the top of the food piramide and at the top the concentrations of persistent chemicals are higher. The top predators store most of the stuff their preys already stored and therefore accumulate much more than other animals. DDT caused serious problems with many kinds of birds. One of the main problems was the thinning of the eggshells and the toxicity to embryos. Some birdspecies were on the brink of extinction. Then by 1972 DDT was banned for agricultural use (however in some countries it is still being used). After DDT was banned, populations of birds of prey slowly recovered (but up to now concentrations can still be traced in the eggs of birds). The population of Ospreys also recovered from the DDT catastrophe and other pollutants and nowadays they are also much better legally protected, so hunting pressure went down enormously. That's why numbers are increasing, but expansion of their breeding distribution apparently goes slowly. Because there are no breeding pairs close to the Netherlands, it probably takes some time before they will establish here. At least that's what I think.

So for now, we have to do with migrating birds. And who knows, maybe in a couple of years we will also have a few of these magnificent birds breeding over here.

A Lifer! (American Golden Plover)

A lifer is a bird species you see for the first time in your life (actually, it doesn't have to be a bird, it could also be a mammal, a fish, a plant, or any other biological taxon). Some people will call it a tick on the lifelist.

That's easy, right? ...No, it isn't! Most birdwatchers make things a bit more complicated. For instance a bird can only be counted as a lifer if it is a wild one. So sorry folks, zoo-animals don't count, nor do escapes. But what about introduced species that manage themselves for many years (like the Pheasant in Western Europe), or reintroduced species (like the Raven in the Netherlands)? What would you do with them?

Things can become even crazier, there are rarity committees who examen your rare sightings. In the Netherlands you have the CDNA (Commissie Dwaalgasten Nederlandse Avifauna). In their minds (and in the minds of many other birders) you can only officially "tick" a rare species if the committee has accepted the sighting. The whole idea behind it, is off course to better document rarities and to exclude obvious mistakes, but for many birders it looks more like a game of getting a new tick on their list. Discussions wheter the committee should accept or reject a bird can be very long and very funny. Famous discussions (only in Dutch) were about a Green heron (more than 600 reactions and over 35000 views!) and about a Canvasback (More than 500 reactions and over 30000 views!).

And then above all you've got the fundamentalists who are even stricter than the committees: I've got some friends who don't count a bird when they've only heard it. So no Baillon's Crake Porzana pusilla for them...even though they are absolutely sure that's what they've heard.

I am a bit in between all this. For me the list itself is not that important. But I do like to remember what I've seen and when I've seen it. I only count birds on my own list if I'm definately sure about the identification. And if I'm sure about a sound I will count it.

This Sunday resulted in a lifer. It was an American Golden Plover Pluvialis dominica. In the past, before they were split, American Golden Plovers were considered conspecific with Pacific Golden Plovers Pluvialis fulva. They were two races of the Lesser Golden Plover, nowadays they are both considered full species. You can read more about them in this (probably outdated, but nevertheless interesting) article:

Dunn, J.L., Morlan, J. and Wilds, C.P. 1987. Field identification of forms of Lesser Golden-Plover. Proc. 4th Intern. Identification Meeting Eilat 1st-8th November 1986.

We (the same guys with whom I visited the Red-footed falcons yesterday) almost missed the bird. When we arrived the bird had just flown away. We drove around and scanned the surroundings but couldn't find it. In the end we decided to return to the place where it was last sighted... and there it was! It was a beautiful male in summerplumage and for me, Ben and Luuk a lifer!

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!!

rooftop breeding gulls

Eradicate them! Kill their young! Get rid of them, this is not natural! I can't sleep! They are dangerous! All different kinds of reactions I've heard on the Large gulls breeding in our town. These comments look a bit overdone, but the gulls do cause problems. Even I have cursed a Herring Gull, that smudged my new suite. I can still lively remember the embarrassing moment. I could throw away the pantalon...

No, these gulls weren't always there. As a matter of fact they arrived only recently. Most gulls probably originated from a nearby gull colony. This colony was situated in Meijendel, a dune area north of The Hague. The colony got some fame through the experiments and observations made by Nobelprize winner and biologist Niko Tinbergen. His book "The Herring Gull's World" from 1953 is mainly based on observations made in this colony. The colony thrived untill the end of the eighties. By that time, 1986 to be precise, something changed in the dunes: we experienced the return of the fox (it's not really clear wheter the foxes were illegally introduced or wheter they arrived naturally, but they were there). It had a major impact on many animals in the open dune area. The gulls experienced a lot of predation and disturbance and then they moved. They fled to other large colonies, but some of them adopted a new breeding strategy, they started breeding on flat roofs. It looks strange, but maybe the gulls saw the buildings as some sort of cliffs.

It was a perfect situation for the gulls. Predation numbers were low in the city and food was close. The population grew and so did the problems. Apart from the fact that Dutch people always have to complain about something, there is, I think, at least one really serious problem and that's sleep deprivation. The gulls make a lot of noice, even by night and keep people awake. The local government tried everything to diminish the problems but untill now they weren't succesfull.

In our city you can find Lesser black-backed gulls and Herring gulls breeding. Some Common Gulls might also be breeding but I haven't seen them here. Common terns are also known to breed on rooftops and there's a breeding colony not far away.

Why would I write about dull gulls? Because the gulls aren't that dull. I enjoy watching them when I'm working and this year I was them very thankfull. Their alarmcalls resulted in a sighting of an Osprey and a sighting of a Black Kite, both scarce in the Netherlands during migration. So even if you don't like gulls, keep an eye on them!

Ravens

The Raven Corvus corax plays an important role in our West-European Mythology and in our fables and storytelling. The two Ravens Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory) for instance were the messengers of the North Germanic God Odin. They roamed the world by daylight and reported the God by night. There are also numerous stories and fables about ravens. One very well known is The raven and the fox by Jean de la Fontaine. In this fable the raven is portraited as a dumb bird of which we should know that it's song is not so nice. But in reality Ravens are very intelligent birds. They belong to the most intelligent birds in the world. Besides their intelligence they can be very vocal, and make all sorts of sounds.


Although Ravens are smart and adapted to eat all kinds of food, they were driven to extinction in the Netherlands. They had a bad name and were thought to bring bad luck. Therefore Ravens were shot, poisoned and their eggs were destroyed. By 1940 we lost them as breeding birds. A couple of unseccesful re-introduction programmes were started, and only in the 60's one of the programmes was succesful. Ravens were starting to breed again in the Veluwe (a major forest and moorland in the center of our country). But in the beginning things went slow. By now, they seem to be able to maintain their population and they start to expand their distribution.

This is a map with breeding territories in the Netherlands in 1998 - 2000. The map was created by SOVON: http://www.sovon.nl/ a non-governmental organization concerned with bird counts and research in the Netherlands.

Ravens are fantastic birds. In Holland they breed in quiet places and can be illusive. I was very fortunate to see a breeding pair with their young this weekend. The young birds had just fledged and were flying around with their parents. They were calling each other and sometimes they landed in the trees above me. Unfortunately I didn't bring my scope. So I had to "digibin" some pictures. Pictures are of a flying parent and a resting young.

The forest in which the Ravens were breeding was also good for some other nice species. I saw Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus, Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca, Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata. But best of all was a European Honey Buzzard Pernis apivorus peforming a butterfly flight right above my head!

I always liked the television series "the Storyteller" by Jim Henson. One of the stories is called the three ravens. It's a nice old folklore story and it would have been a nice addition to this message. I found it on Youtube, but it has been removed, so I can't give you a link.

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.