• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Hello from the Netherlands (1 Viewer)

ganzewinkel41

ganzewinkel41

Member
I'm a new member from the Netherlands. My name is Christ-jan and I have been interested in birds since a few years now. I'm not all that experienced in determination of birds, most of the time I have to use some kind of reference-book :news: . Recently I visited Saint Louis, Missouri. Of course I hadn't thought of bringing a book on US birds. Some birds I had little trouble with, eg the red tailed hawk, the northern cardinal and some more fairly common birds in the midwest. However, I saw a species in Jefferson Memorial Park which I was not able to recognize. It seemed like a kind of blackbird, but it did have bright yellow shoulders. I only found reference on the Internet, but it seemed unlikely to me that this could be a yellow-shouldered or yellow-winged blackbird. Does anybody have a suggestion? In time I will post two pictures of birds I spotted in saint louis (I was not able to capture my mystery bird..), one of them being a beautiful example of buteo jamaicensis.

Greetzzz.zz...zzz from the Netherlands !!
 
Hi there, sorry no idea on the US bird but bound to be someone who knows.

I had a great trip to the Netherlands a couple of weeks ago, met several very friendly birders (and non birders as well), look forward to hearing about some of your local sightings.
 
Hi,

I'm a new member too. I live in Belgium, but I lived in St Louis for 3 years and I did quite some birdwatching over there. I would guess your mystery bird was a red-winged blackbird. They are quite common in most of the US. Eventhough the fieldguides show the red shoulder patches, in reality they may look yellowish, depending on the light and the time of year.

If you're ever back in St Louis, I found the best birdwatching places to be the Bush memorial park ( some 40 km west of St Louis - highway 64 just across the Missouri river), and also the Riverlands area ( go north on route 67 - between Missouri & Mississippi river). A trip in wintertime along the Mississippi in Alton is great for wintering Bald Eagles.

Looking forward to see your pictures !
 
Hello Christ-Jan and on behalf of the entire staff of Bird Forum, a very warm welcome.

I cannot tell you how often I still refer to my numerous guides for a definitive i.d. so you are not alone. Some species of the Blackbird lack the red shoulder so this is possibly what you came upon. Perhaps someone else will have more input.
 
dddegr said:
Hi,

I'm a new member too. I live in Belgium, but I lived in St Louis for 3 years and I did quite some birdwatching over there. I would guess your mystery bird was a red-winged blackbird. They are quite common in most of the US. Eventhough the fieldguides show the red shoulder patches, in reality they may look yellowish, depending on the light and the time of year.

If you're ever back in St Louis, I found the best birdwatching places to be the Bush memorial park ( some 40 km west of St Louis - highway 64 just across the Missouri river), and also the Riverlands area ( go north on route 67 - between Missouri & Mississippi river). A trip in wintertime along the Mississippi in Alton is great for wintering Bald Eagles.

Looking forward to see your pictures !
Click to expand...

Hallo !

I guess you might wel be right on this one, however the shoulders really were bright yellow. I don't think I ever will return to Saint Louis, I found the city to be quite a disappointment. I went there to attend a conference and prepared myself by reading about the 'hotspots' of the city. Although my leasure time was sparse, I was able to visit Jefferson Memorial Park, Forrest Park and (of course, the Broadway Oyster Bar (which was pretty neat). Normally my birding will be in the Netherlands and on vacation adresses. If you are ever to visit the southwest of France, the region near Ile d'Oleron is very rich of birdlife.


Gegroet.

Christ-jan
 
Carlos GY said:
Hi there, sorry no idea on the US bird but bound to be someone who knows.

I had a great trip to the Netherlands a couple of weeks ago, met several very friendly birders (and non birders as well), look forward to hearing about some of your local sightings.
Click to expand...


Hello Carlos,

In The Netherlands some rather interesting birding sites can be found indeed. I personally visit the Beuven very frequently, as well as the Groote Peel (both located in the province of Oost Brabant) and occasionally Lauwersmeer (Friesland). If you are to visit our small but beautifull country again and are planning on birding there, the exact location of these birding sites can be found on www.natuurmonumenten.nl. Another interesting site might be dutchbirding.nl and the site by two other dutch members of this forum (can be found in this 'Say Hello' forum too.


Greeettzzz.zzzz Christ-jan
 
Hi Christ-jan, thanks for those, i've not seen http://www.natuurmonumenten.nl before so i'll have a look later .... i did use this one for a lot of pre-trip info ... http://home-1.tiscali.nl/~wolk// .... i guess it's the one you're referring to.

Hoping to get back over in July or August, which will probably be more for the cycling than birding (though i'll probably have my binoc's and scope with me). The biggest problem i have is wanting to visit so many places over there.
 
Carlos GY said:
What would you expect (hope ?) to see on a fairly good day at the Beuven or Groote Peel ?
Click to expand...

Beuven:
Apart from the numerous common dutch birds at many days the following can be seen. I use the scientific names as I'm not familiar with the english nomenclature (sorry!).
Buteu Buteo
Regulus regulus
Mergus Merganser
Casmerodius Albus
Loxia Curvirostra
Parus cristatus
Aegithalus caudatus
Pandion haliaethus (if you're extremely lucky)
Ciconia nigra (if you're extremely lucky again)

Groote Peel
The Groote Peel is starving with seaguls. In the bushes surrounding the water the following birds are easy to be seen:
Dendocopos Minor
Saxicola rubetra
Muscicapa striata
Phylloscopus sibilatrix
Phylloscopus trochilus
Fringilla Montifringilla

If you think of visiting either of these parks and can't find reference on how to get there please let me know so I can provide you with the directions.

Christ-jan
 
Thanks again Christ-jan, i'm trying to learn some of the scientific names so that is fine. Some very good birds there.

Have i got this right .... both areas are in the south, not far from Eindhoven ? (I'm using the ANWB Fietsatlas Nederland but it's the first time i've looked that far south)
 
Carlos GY said:
Thanks again Christ-jan, i'm trying to learn some of the scientific names so that is fine. Some very good birds there.

Have i got this right .... both areas are in the south, not far from Eindhoven ? (I'm using the ANWB Fietsatlas Nederland but it's the first time i've looked that far south)
Click to expand...

Yes, both birding sites are in the south and even not that far apart. The Beuven is located near the little village of Lierop. If you use the ANWB fietsatlas you can search for the 'Strabrechtse Heide'. The Beuven is located there. The Groote Peel can be accessed via the even smaller village 'Ospel' in the north of the province 'Limburg', where roadsigns lead you to a cabin of Natuurmonumenten, an organisation which buys large areas of countryside for the purpose of preserving nature and wildlife. There information can be found on the history of the Groote Peel. Very nice for children too !
 
Warning! This thread is more than 20 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

A
hello and new.
Replies
6
Views
296
Lisa W
Lisa W
N
Hi from New Zealand!
Replies
5
Views
212
KC Foggin
KC Foggin
G
Hello from the Netherlands
Replies
7
Views
452
KC Foggin
KC Foggin
R
Hello from Amsterdam
Replies
6
Views
478
Fritz73
Fritz73
N
Newbie from the Netherlands
Replies
9
Views
552
Fritz73
Fritz73

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top