20240310 90+ winter tour

On the 10th of March we (John and Menno) started our day at the IJmuiden. The east and overcast conditions, with only a couple of degrees and a strong wind from the east it made it feel very cold. But must have felt warm for the 5 Snow Buntings we first saw on the beach.

Despite these winter like conditions there was spring migration with Dunlins, White Wagtails and Sky Larks. In the dunes Song Thrush, Dunlin and Chiffchaff where already singing.

There weren't many gulls on the beach but still we could find a first winter Yellow Legged Gull among the Herring- and Lesser Black Backed Gulls.

A walk up and down the 3 kilometer long pier brought us Purple Sandpiper, Common Scoter, Eider, Red-breasted Merganser and Rock Pipits. Back at the marina we found some Little Grebes. The warm coffee and biscuits helped it to recover and charged for a walk at the nearby lake.

A pair of Common Shelduck, some Eurasian Teals and a flock of Common Pochard sheltered from the wind and with the last a Ring-necked Duck, a vagrant from the US but for John as a US birder not much of interest :)

The day before a Red-breasted Geese had been reported at Reeuwijk so we decided to give it a try. On the way with the car window down we picked up some common birds whilst driving to the parking spot. When we stepped our of the car two Cetti's Warbler were fighting allowing us to take photos if this normally skulky species.

The area was packed with wildfowl. On the lake were 10.000 resting Eurasian Wigeons and the meadows on were full with about 6.000 Barnacle and 4.000 Greater White-fronted Geese. The Black-tailed Godwits and Northern Lapwings had claimed their breeding spots on the same fields. But no Red-breasted Goose, we did find a Ross' Goose but that didn't originate from the US but escaped from a private wildfowl collection.

A large wetland near Zoetermeer was very productive with Little Egret, Eurasian Spoonbill, Redshank, a variety of ducks and a Horned- and Eared Grebe that showed displaying behavior, something we had never seen or heard off before. The next stop again was very productive with a pair of Grey Partridge and showy Little Owls plus a small flock of Golden Plovers among the Northern Lapwings.

Last stop of the day was a park at the Hague were we connected with the day roosting Tawny Owl, Nuthatch, Greater Spotted and Green Woodpecker. The drive back to Amsterdam gave u our last new bird of the day, a Northern Goshawk flew over the highway whilst we made up the 90+ day list. Not bad for a day in March!