10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2024

However – and I am not saying this out of misplaced national pride – there is one bird in the Netherlands that proves Jefferson wrong and Buffon right: the White-tailed Eagle (or Sea Eagle ). It’s the only Dutch eagle. Our eagle makes Baldy look imparfait, even a bit manqué. So it was this day.

Beavers 139

Beavers Netherlands Eagles Geese 139

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2022

A bit larger than the Netherlands but with less land than Latvia and Ireland, in terms of territory, we rank 126. We might have limited space but we make up for it with a massive amount of biodiversity including well over 900 bird species on the official Costa Rica bird list. Perhaps they only sing at certain times of the year?

Costa Rica 204

Costa Rica Latvia Albatross Netherlands 204

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2019

The Christmas Bird Count was the answer. The IWC census starts from mid-January following the logic that it is the period when the birds have reached their wintering grounds and are rather static, so the chance of double-counting the same flock is minimal. But it is so frustrating to pass the birds by without IDing them!

Geese 139

Geese Serbia Birds Estonia 139

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 17, 2013

Most perching birds have already left us sometime from late August and September; soaring birds do migrate over Serbia, but there is no known bottleneck site to observe them (it is believed that they follow the main river valleys to the east and south); while waterbirds will start arriving in a month or so. We met at 10.00

Serbia 219

Serbia Europe Netherlands Eagles 219

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

I’ve been fortunate to encounter many owls in my birding life, sometimes because I’m looking for them, sometimes happily by happenstance. It’s also about human-owl interaction on an individual level and a wider sociocultural level, and ultimately how we can use all this for habitat and bird conservation.

Owls 200

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 200

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2017

I also got to spend a few hours in the Netherlands. Birding in Germany was okay during the first half of the year but essentially came to an end in June due to several issues, most significantly a move to a different appartment within Heidelberg. So here they are, my top 10 bird species of 2016, in no particular order except for No.

2016 101

2016 Germany Italy Netherlands 101