This House Finch was captured by our Wingscapes Birdcam today. I haven’t seen this one with my own eyes yet so I can’t add it to my life list. Argh.
We used to live in Leiden and every year the great gull nuisance controversy made the news (eg here, here, here, here and here)
This year the city has distributed 150,000 yellow trash bags to businesses in the center of Leiden to foil the sharp beaks of the gulls.
In previous years Leiden has tried using falconers to frighten the birds out of the city and several different egg-snatching or -coating schemes, with little result.
The Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem, the Netherlands brought its group of 48 African (Jackass) Penguins indoors on Monday due to the cold.
The birds are native to South Africa where they don’t experience cold temperatures as were felt in Holland this week. Temperatures reached -15°C (5° F).
A few rare birds in the UK and Sweden made the news this week. A Snowy Owl attracted twitchers in Cornwall, Britain; a Glaucous-winged Gull is causing crowds near Stockton, Britain; and birders are descending on Stockholm, Sweden to spot a Yellow-browed Bunting.
I really like reading about these great twitches that make the mainstream news. I always get a kick out of the pictures of dozens of birders standing around looking through their bins – fun! Here’s a picture we took of just a few birders photographing a Little Auk on Zuidpier in IJmuiden .
We used to enjoy finding new birds to twitch by using the Dutch site www.waarneming.nl. I’m still trying to get the hang of how twitching best works here. The listserv system and sites like eBird and Birdstack seem kind of clunky so far.
Did you know today is National Bird Day? In fact, today is the 6th annual National Bird Day, and this year’s theme is “Think Outside the Cage”. The theme is meant to call on activists “around the U.S. to take action on behalf of captive birds by drawing attention to the exploitation of other countries’ native birds by the U.S. pet industry.” There is a CafePress shop and an online auction starting today to support the cause. Check out the official website, www.nationalbirdday.com, for more information.
Arthur posted his top five birding spots of the Netherlands on our personal blog. They are:
1. Lepelaarplassen, Flevoland
2. De Muy & De Petten on Texel, Noord Holland
3. Starrevaart in Leidschendam, Zuid Holland
4. Zuidpier in IJmuiden, Zuid Holland
5. De Putten, Noord Holland
Those would probably be my top five as well, although I’d put Starrevaart at #1 because we went there so often and it was so close to our home (a pleasant 45 minute bike ride). This is a view over the water at Starrevaart.
Read his post for more info and photos!
An American Crow on the feeder today was lucky number 13. Looks like he’s giving us his better side. See the previous Birdcam birds here.
See the other submissions to this week’s Bird Photography Weekly.
I tried video for the first time with my Wingscapes Birdcam today. Since we’ve got the cam on the optional arm hanging upside down by the feeder, I had to flip the videos. I also zoomed in on one quadrant of the video so the quality is a bit worse than you’d normally see on the Birdcam.
I’m pretty pleased with the results. In the video are: Northern Cardinal; Dark-eyed Junco (slate-colored); American Tree Sparrow; Black-capped Chickadee; European Starling; Red-bellied Woodpecker.
We got a few more species on the Birdcam today, bringing the yard total to 12.
Previously we had
1. Blue Jay
2. Red-bellied Woodpecker
3. Downy Woodpecker
4. Dark-eyed Junco
5. House Sparrow
6. Black-capped Chickadee
Today we can add
7. Northern Cardinal
8. Hairy Woodpecker
9. European Starling
10. White-breasted Nuthatch
11. Mourning Dove
12. American Tree Sparrow
Today we visited Jarvis Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Lincoln Park. I read on the local listserv that a Great Horned Owl has been sighted there the last few days so we went to look for it. Unfortunately we came up empty. Came home and read another note on the listserv that the GHO was still there and easy to spot. Grr.
We did see at least three furbirds of unknown variety, holed up in trees (literally). Here’s one of them.
Jarvis is an 8 acre area close to the lakefront that is protected by an 8 foot perimeter fence.
Visitors may not enter but there is a path around the sanctuary and an observation platform on the east side.
Around the sanctuary we did see a couple of Hooded Mergansers in the lake, like this lovely lady.
We also spotted a few pigeons huddling against the cold. It was about 25F. There was a bit of a breeze but the sun was shining.
Jarvis is a stop on the 20-mile-long Chicago Lakefront Birding Trail.
