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Green Listing 2023 - Joint Thread (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter l_raty
- Start date
Xenospiza
Distracted
I spent a few hours yesterday searching for a very furtive Great Grey Shrike that has been reported from my local patch a couple of times. Despite optimal shrike weather in the afternoon, I failed of course. I did add Meadow Pipit...
Today I twitched six Pink-footed Geese that had been taunting me for over two weeks. On the way back I found Rook, a nice surprise away from the Rhine.
Today I twitched six Pink-footed Geese that had been taunting me for over two weeks. On the way back I found Rook, a nice surprise away from the Rhine.
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I think we met there today. I was the one on the bike (but I didn’t cycle the whole way from Düsseldorf) who missed them by a couple of minutes. I stayed and cycled around the area searching for them. Finally found them around 4 PM just south of the hide where I had already searched before.
Yesterday at short tour around Düsseldorf got me Rook, Black Woodpecker, Snipe and Linnet for my green list.
Xenospiza
Distracted
Yes, we did meet! I actually thought that might be the case when I was cycling back.
Good you found them: I had checked the area south of the hide as well...
I can't add anything to the global list, but I did manage to get my rather uninspiring Swindon green list up to 31, plus the local escaped Black Swan which I can't count. If we were counting subspecies, my White Wagtail was of course yarrellii rather than alba, which I guess might be the first of that subspecies?
Nice to put a face to the name. I didn‘t realize it until I saw your post, even though in hindsight I could have made the connection by the slight Dutch accent and that you were traveling by bike
l_raty
laurent raty
17 Jan: a beautiful luminous winter day, even if a bit cold. I wandered in northwards direction to the region of Temse, in search for a Ring-necked Duck that had been present there in Dec 2022, and seen again on 15 Jan 2023 during water bird counts. I did not find it, unfortunately -- the 'best' duck I managed to see was a Tufted Duck x Pochard hybrid. But this bird had stayed out of view for over three weeks before reappearing a mere 2 km away from the original site, and some of the ponds in the area are private -- so IMO it could as well still be around. I did add Siskin along the way. Cycled this day: 105 km.
18-20 Jan: Harelbeke for the first Belgian field record of Moustached Warbled, of which I only managed to get pitifully poor views. (Only in flight. Better than nothing, I guess, but still quite disappointing...) Cycled to Harelbeke on the first morning, spent the afternoon there, continued to the coast for the night. Cycled back to Harelbeke on the second day because I was not too happy with what I'd seen on the previous day, spent the whole day there, then back to the coast (with some snow). Then back again to Harelbeke on the third day, and in the afternoon finally back to Brussels. Also Smew and several Bitterns in Harelbeke. Cycled on 18 Jan: 170 km; on 19 Jan: 130 km; on 20 Jan: 170 km. (It took me a couple of days to recover...
)
29 Jan: a cloudy, rather dark and cold, but (mostly) dry day. I went NE to the region of Mol, for a Pygmy Cormorant. On a nearby pond, while searching for the cormorant, I also ran incidentally into someone watching a male Scaup (which had been found earlier this day, but I was unaware of it). Late in the afternoon, a colour-ringed Black-bellied Dipper was discovered not far form where the Cormorant spends its nights -- although I was already on my way back, the news prompted an immediate U-turn. (There are only 5 accepted record of this form in Belgium.) Cycled this day: 175 km; this year: 1410 km. 123 bird spp seen.
18-20 Jan: Harelbeke for the first Belgian field record of Moustached Warbled, of which I only managed to get pitifully poor views. (Only in flight. Better than nothing, I guess, but still quite disappointing...) Cycled to Harelbeke on the first morning, spent the afternoon there, continued to the coast for the night. Cycled back to Harelbeke on the second day because I was not too happy with what I'd seen on the previous day, spent the whole day there, then back to the coast (with some snow). Then back again to Harelbeke on the third day, and in the afternoon finally back to Brussels. Also Smew and several Bitterns in Harelbeke. Cycled on 18 Jan: 170 km; on 19 Jan: 130 km; on 20 Jan: 170 km. (It took me a couple of days to recover...
)29 Jan: a cloudy, rather dark and cold, but (mostly) dry day. I went NE to the region of Mol, for a Pygmy Cormorant. On a nearby pond, while searching for the cormorant, I also ran incidentally into someone watching a male Scaup (which had been found earlier this day, but I was unaware of it). Late in the afternoon, a colour-ringed Black-bellied Dipper was discovered not far form where the Cormorant spends its nights -- although I was already on my way back, the news prompted an immediate U-turn. (There are only 5 accepted record of this form in Belgium.) Cycled this day: 175 km; this year: 1410 km. 123 bird spp seen.
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l_raty
laurent raty
Pink-footed Goose must be a really good species in your area ?
Richard Prior
Halfway up an Alp
Four more for the Europe and World total for me, resulting from my very local perambulations: Alpine Chough, Alpine Accentor (on the house!), Spotted Nutcracker and Golden Eagle.
Xenospiza
Distracted
They are annual in really small numbers, but they are usually not easy to twitch. It's amazing to have six that stay for weeks.
Only my second observation in Germany!
The Rhine attracts huge numbers of geese so we do get interesting stuff regularly. Not that I am good at checking goose flocks myself... I never managed to find a Red-breasted or Pink-footed Goose on my traditional bike trip back home.
l_raty
laurent raty
I have never seen one in Belgium away from the coastal strip. (Where it is common in winter.)
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Xenospiza
Distracted
I was in the Netherlands this weekend (by car, so immediately disqualified), but today I cycled my "traditional polder circuit" one-and-a-half times despite the strong wind.
Highlights on the first full round were Smew, Pintail, Bewick's & Whooper Swan (the latter two twitched, but I can't help they were on-route) and an all-time high count of 66 Shoveller on the ice rink of Terheijden (the largest natural ice rink in the Netherlands, which obviously usually is a lake in winter and a field in summer).
Then I had to do most of the hard work against the wind again because others had managed to find back the Lesser-fronted Goose that had been seen on this circuit the day before: when I got there, it even turned out to concern two birds. My slight excuse is that I had missed this bit of road by deviating to search for Rook (I found Goshawk, but the Rooks were somewhere else along the route).
Highlights on the first full round were Smew, Pintail, Bewick's & Whooper Swan (the latter two twitched, but I can't help they were on-route) and an all-time high count of 66 Shoveller on the ice rink of Terheijden (the largest natural ice rink in the Netherlands, which obviously usually is a lake in winter and a field in summer).
Then I had to do most of the hard work against the wind again because others had managed to find back the Lesser-fronted Goose that had been seen on this circuit the day before: when I got there, it even turned out to concern two birds. My slight excuse is that I had missed this bit of road by deviating to search for Rook (I found Goshawk, but the Rooks were somewhere else along the route).
Xenospiza
Distracted
Rook is patchy in the Netherlands and Germany because they are linked to (sandy) clay soils along rivers and on loess plateaus.
In those locations, they tend to be common. Being linked to agriculture is not the greatest idea if you are a bird in the Netherlands or western Germany...
Common Gull is very common in the Netherlands, but in Germany you will only find high numbers in the lower Rhineland, Lower Saxony and parts of the east.
If I'd live 25 km to the west I would probably have the same impression as you about these birds!
Achievement unlocked: I may have no chance of seeing anything that isn't already on the list, but on Saturday I finally saw something that wasn't added to the list on 1 January! Red Kite, added to the global list 7 Jan, added to mine 11 Feb. Only my third ever in urban Swindon although they're pretty common in the surrounding countryside.
Xenospiza
Distracted
I had a bad weekend for green credentials thanks to a Buff-bellied Pipit and my mother's 80th birthday (at least we went to a vegan restaurant within walking/cycling distance of my brothers' homes).
I managed a Barn Owl yesterday (they must be widespread here, but I obviously spend too little time around farms in the dark) and the first Song Thrush today.
I managed a Barn Owl yesterday (they must be widespread here, but I obviously spend too little time around farms in the dark) and the first Song Thrush today.
Xenospiza
Distracted
This may be of interest: Low-Carbon Birding - Dutch Birding
Richard Prior
Halfway up an Alp
Coincidence - my first Song Thrush this morning too!
