This post is not what it should have been. Up until at least February I had the expectation that my post here in late August would be filled with avifauna virtually unknown to me: fairy-wrens and currawongs and honeyeaters. Since the end of 2018 I had been planning to travel to Australia this year to study Zebra Finches in the wild. But alas, it was not meant to be. All things considered I am still in a very good position given the current epidemic, but it was, to say the least, a major let-down.
I also had plans to go the island of Texel this year. After several years of visiting Texel in late summer or autumn, I had dreamed about seeing this island in its full glory in spring. I spend far too many hours daydreaming about listening to singing nightingales, watching the various species of tern nesting, or simply enjoying the mating displays of the godwits. But it was also not to be. Luckely, that trip was a bit easier to compensate. So I went (again) on a 6-day birding road-trip to the north of the Netherlands with a good friend, and Texel was a major part of it. Like always, the flocks of waterfowl and waders were overwhelming, and despite songbirds being unusually hard to find, we had many great moments.
We listened to the morning calls of cranes at the edge of the peat bogs; observed eagles soar over endless reedbeds; watched enormous flocks of terns collect on the sandbanks; and spied rails foraging around at dusk. But especially memorable where the large flocks of eiders congregating on the Waddenzee to moult. Among them was a very special individual, one with a bright orange knob. A male King Eider. After having ruled the very top position of my wish list for years, I finally saw one. Yet, because it was in full eclipse plumage it was not what I had hoped to see. Instead of the gorgeous black duck with a blue head, green cheeks and peach-coloured neck, I saw what was basically a slightly darker regular eider with an orange knob. I have seen one, so I shouldn’t - no, I can't! - complain, but it doesn’t feel entirely right. Much like the rest of the trip, I suppose.
Birds
208. Black-winged Stilt, Himantopus himantopus
209. Gull-billed Tern, Gelochelidon nilotica
210. Sandwich Tern, Thalasseus sandvicensis
211. King Eider, Somateria spectabilis
212. Bar-tailed Godwit. Limosa lapponica
213. Red Knot, Calidris canutus
214. Curlew Sandpiper, Calidris ferruginea
215. Greater Flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus
216. Red Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra
217. Northern Gannet, Morus bassanus
218. Spotted Redshank, Tringa erythropus
219. European Turtle Dove, Streptopelia turtur
220. Caspian Tern, Hydroprogne caspia
221. Temminck’s Sandpiper, Calidris temminckii
222. Water Rail, Rallus aquaticus
223. Common Crane, Grus grus
224. Red-necked Phalarope, Phalaropus lobatus
The inverts will follow later, I still have a few to ID.