Best 20:
1) Brown shrike, Lanius cristatus
2) Dusky thrush, Turdus eunomus
3) Eurasian wryneck, Jynx torquilla
4) Black woodpecker, Dryocopus martius
5) Pallas' leaf warbler, Phylloscopus proregulus
6) Little swift, Apus affinis
7) Wallcreeper, Tichodroma muraria
8) European roller, Coracias garrulus
9) Isabelline shrike, Lanius isabellinus (/phoenicuroides)
10) Woodchat shrike, Lanius senator
11) Black grouse, Lyrurus tetrix
12) Dark-eyed junco, Junco hyemalis
13) White-throated sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis
14) Red-eyed vireo, Vireo olivaceus
15) Pallas' grasshopper warbler, Helopsaltes certhiola
16) Desert wheatear, Oenanthe deserti
17) Rosy starling, Pastor roseus
18) Leach's storm-petrel, Oceanodroma leucorhoa
19) Middle spotted woodpecker, Dendrocoptes medius
20) Ring ouzel, Turdus torquatus
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My list of most-wanted species... Well, there's obviously some insanely rare stuff I'd love putting on here that are unrealistic to expect ever making it to Belgium in the first place... I'll limit myself to annual vagrants (or more common stuff). The first 10 are the 10 easiest lifers I can still get here (none of them easy at all, all of these are rare migrants/residents, or annual vagrants), the last 5 are birds I've seen elsewhere but I'd love to get in Belgium as well.
1) Red-flanked bluetail, Tarsiger cyanus
2) Tengmalm's owl, Aegolius funereus
3) Balearic shearwater, Puffinus mauretanicus
4) Little auk, Alle alle
5) Long-tailed jaeger, Stercorarius longicaudus
6) Sabine's gull, Xema sabini
7) Pallid swift, Apus pallidus
8) Great snipe, Gallinago media
9) Red-footed falcon, Falco vespertinus
10) Ortolan bunting, Emberiza hortulana
11) European bee-eater, Merops apiaster
12) Grey-headed woodpecker, Picus canus
13) Atlantic puffin, Fratercula arctica
14) Short-toed snake-eagle, Circaetus gallicus
15) Griffon vulture, Gyps fulvus
Time for a two-year update! Since posting, I have seen Tengmalm's owl, Little auk, Long-tailed jaeger, Pallid swift, Red-footed falcon, European bee-eater, Atlantic puffin, Short-toed snake-eagle and Griffon vulture in Belgium, so 9/15 done and it's time to think of my next most likely ones! Obviously I prefer seeing rarer birds than these, so again this will be my 15 most likely new birds in Belgium, not my 15 birds I most want to see.
First, my only remaining annual breeding birds:
1) Montagu's harrier
2) Grey-headed woodpecker
A handful of fairly regular winterers that haven't often been easily twitchable the past 5 years:
3) Glaucous gull
4) Bohemian waxwing
Then a handful of non-twitchable rare passage migrants:
5) Sabine's gull (lifer)
6) Balearic shearwater
7) Ortolan bunting
All other birds are vagrants with less than 3 annual records, of which these 8 are probably the most regular among those I still need:
8) Alpine swift
9) Greater short-toed lark
10) Great snipe (lifer)
11) Roseate tern (lifer)
12) Sociable lapwing
13) Rock bunting
14) Collared flycatcher
15) Citrine wagtail (lifer)
...But there's still a range of other vagrants similar to this that I still need in Belgium, like Red-flanked bluetail, American wigeon, Arctic warbler, Pied wheatear, Lesser scaup, Dartford warbler, etc. I'll update in a few years, I guess! If I manage another 9/15 by then I'll be more than happy.
Then onto my top 20, which I'll add some birds to (and thus also remove some birds from). I'll force myself to pick my 10 favourite "annual" Belgian birds and my 10 favourite vagrants I've been lucky enough to see, to spice it up a bit.
Top 10 regular birds:
1) Eurasian wryneck, Jynx torquilla
Scarce breeder/migrant in Belgium. One of my favourite birds overall, very good looking and very unique. I try to see these at least once a year because they're just so incredible!
2) Black woodpecker, Dryocopus martius
Uncommon in Belgium. Woodpeckers are the best birds, but the big ones are definitely some of the most magical to suddenly see clinging onto a distant tree.
3) Pallas' leaf warbler, Phylloscopus proregulus
Rare migrant in Belgium. One of the best representatives for the fairly new phenomenon that is rare Asian passerines migrating through Europe to unknown destinations in large numbers... And an absolutely stunning forest sprite. Magical!
4) Yellow-browed warbler, Phylloscopus inornatus
Scarce migrant in Belgium. The absolute best representative for aforementioned phenomenon, to the point where my friends and I often try making it a game to find as many as possible per day!
5) Boreal owl, Aegolius funereus
Rare resident in Belgium. The most magical nocturnal forest sound there is, Belgium is very lucky to still have some of these! The dream would be to get diurnal views...
6) Eurasian pygmy owl, Glaucidium passerinum
Rare resident in Belgium. The forest owl of which it is much easier to get diurnal views! Absolutely tiny little monsters, it's a bit cheeky of me to put it in this category but hey, they're regular breeders nowadays!
7) Spotted nutcracker, Nucifraga caryocatactes
Rare resident in Belgium. Talk about magical forest sounds! Love these things to death, would be great to get some better views of these eventually (though I've had plenty of those internationally).
8) Black grouse, Lyrurus tetrix
Rare resident in Belgium. I got the better views I was hoping for in my previous post, of what is probably the last remaining singing male of the authentic Belgian population.
9) Leach's storm-petrel, Oceanodroma leucorhoa
Scarce migrant in Belgium. Seawatching is a very fun aspect of birding, and unfortunately something very situational that I don't get to do often. Leach's' water-trappling is adorable!
10) Bluethroat, Luscinia svecica
By far the easiest of this list to see, but I just can't get over the amazing song and their ridiculous colours!
Top 10 vagrants:
1) Brown shrike, Lanius cristatus
Very rare vagrant (1st) in Belgium, beautiful adult male of the subspecies
lucionensis which only has a single European record. Absolutely one of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen here.
2) Dusky thrush, Turdus eunomus
Very rare vagrant (2nd) in Belgium, really good-looking adult female in one of the nicest nature reserves in the country. Asian thrushes are fantastic, and this is one of the best!
3) Ross's gull, Rhodostethia rosea
Very rare vagrant (1st and 2nd) in Belgium, and one of my favourite birds worldwide. Two birds being found on consecutive days, both being lost for 2 weeks, and then both being refound and twitchable on consecutive days! One of the craziest stories in Belgian birding.
4) Little swift, Apus affinis
Very rare vagrant (1st) in Belgium, and one I was never expecting to be able to see. A swift hanging around for over an hour, amazing! Very cute, as well, and bizarre to see in November.
5) Wallcreeper, Tichodroma muraria
Rare vagrant (14th) in Belgium. There's just absolutely nothing in the world remotely like this species, and seeing this extremely cool mountainous bird in the Ardennes is still just so crazy!
6) Alpine accentor, Prunella collaris
Rare vagrant (10th) in Belgium. The setting made this rank so high; in the middle of a castle, where we had to run through underground castle tunnels for views through tiny embrasures. Ridiculous scene for a mega!
7) Lammergeier, Gypaetus barbatus
Very rare vagrant (+-6th) in Belgium. Big raptors are crazy, but standing a few meters underneath one of the biggest raptors roosting is incredibly humbling. Cool backstory, cool reintroduction project, cool everything!
8) White-throated sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis
Very rare vagrant (2nd) in Belgium. Completely unexpected bird, showed up at a Siberian rubythroat I was just twitching! Did get the sparrow, not the rubythroat unfortunately...
9) Red-eyed vireo, Vireo olivaceus
Very rare vagrant (2nd) in Belgium. Probably one of my most hectic Belgian twitches, involving around 100 birders running around in a relatively big park until everyone saw it just before sunset.
10) Moustached warbler, Acrocephalus melanopogon
Very rare vagrant (2nd) in Belgium, and a relatively hard bird in Europe overall that I had put in a lot of effort for in France and Spain beforehand. Stood in an icy bird hide for about 14 hours, to see it for a handful (incredibly nice) seconds!
