Colourringed gulls and wildlife in Belgium

Nice surprise

2011-08-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

When I drove home this afternoon, as I was approaching Gent, I noticed a Greater black-backed gull landing on a street lantern and immediately noted a large c-ring. GBBG's are not very common in Gent, and I had never seen one with a c-ring here, so I stopped the car and quickly took some pictures. Luckily the code was readable, and it turned out to be blue J9MN, a bird ringed in 2007 in Norway. A very nice surprise, and my first Norwegian bird in Gent too. Earlier today I had seen two of our wing-tagged Marsh harriers, I will try to put some more pictures of these birds later on.

GBBG blue J9MN (M. Helberg), Langerbrugge (near Gent).

Oostende and Zeebrugge

2011-07-31T11:02:00.000-07:00

An afternoon visit to both breeding colonies of Oostende and Zeebrugge today, with a total of 43 rings! Many of these were juvenile birds, some of them not yet able to fly. Now I hope to see some of the young birds of today later on in autumn/winter! Sadly, also several dead birds, most of them because of traffic... Three of the dead juvenile birds were ringed, of which one with a colour-ring.

4th cal Herring gull blue CJ.AK (E Stienen), Oostende.

Adult Herring gull blue M.KAD (E Stienen), Oostende.

Juvenile LBBG blue TNA.P (E Stienen), Oostende.

Part of a colony in Oostende.

Juvenile Herring gull blue S.HAD (E Stienen), Zeebrugge.

Juvenile Herring gull blue SC.AP (E Stienen), Zeebrugge.

Juvenile Herring gull blue SBA.L (E Stienen), Zeebrugge.

Juvenile Herring gull blue S.AAX (E Stienen), Zeebrugge.

Juvenile LBBG metal Brussel L915714, killed by a car or truck..., Zeebrugge.

Adult Herring gull blue FMA.W (E Stienen), Zeebrugge.

Adult Herring gull blue CUA.D (E Stienen), Zeebrugge.

Vlissingen-Oost

2011-07-14T07:53:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I went to Vlissingen-Oost, where Roland-Jan Buijs has ringed many gulls in the previous years (and also some young birds this year), in order to see some of these birds. Not as succesfull as last year in May (when I read >80 rings), but I was happy with every ring I could read. In the nearby port I could read some Oystercatchers too, and a Belgian-ringed Herring (metal ring) was at Westkapelle.

Herring gulls in the colony of Vlissingen-Oost (Quarleshaven).

Herring gull yellow R5 (RJ Buijs), Vlissingen-Oost (Quarleshaven).

Herring gull yellow MJ (RJ Buijs), Vlissingen-Oost (Quarleshaven).

Pair of LBBG's, Vlissingen-Oost (Quarleshaven).

Oystercatcher LAM;LBON(L);RAG;RBGW(K), Ritthem (Sloehaven).

Oystercatcher LAM;LBLN(B);RAN;RBRW(Q), Ritthem (Sloehaven).

Herring gull Brussel H161237, Westkapelle.

Wing-tagged Marsh-harriers in Belgium

2011-07-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

This year, the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) has started a research project on Marsh harriers Circus aeroginosus in Belgium, and adjacent areas in the Netherlands. For this project, young birds are ringed and wing-tagged on the nest. Until now about 55 birds have been tagged, and the expections are that we will end at 65 - 70 birds for this first year. As I am participating in this project, some pictures can be found below. More info about the project can be found at
http://www.inbo.be/content/page.asp?pid=FAU_VO_BruineKiekendief

Each bird has one tag on each wing, with different tags on the left and right wing. The colours used are white, yellow, orange, purple, red, green and blue, and the symbols (which can be black or white) are X, -, I, /, 0, 8, a full dot and a triangle. Some tags have no symbol.

The first birds have already left their nests, and are flying around, so keep your eyes open for these birds! It will be very interesting to see if some will be recored in southern Europe this winter.

Young Marsh harrier with left wing-tag visible (white X on blue).

Young Marsh harrier with wing-tag (other bird than above) with right wing-tag visible (black / on orange).

Colony of Zeebrugge

2011-07-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

Last week I did 2 attempts to see Belgium's 3rd King eider, in which I unfortunately did not succeed. Since I was in the harbour of Zeebrugge, where our largest colony of large gulls is located I tried to read some rings and take some pictures. All birds seen were locally-ringed.

LBBG blue MMA.B (E. Stienen).

LBBG blue LZA.R (E. Stienen).

LBBG LHA.F (E. Stienen).

LBBG KY.AL (E. Stienen), this bird had a problem with its right leg.

LBBG blue DB.AL (E. Stienen).

LBBG with chicks.

Herring gull bue GDA.J (E. Stienen).

French and British LBBG in Gent!

2011-06-24T08:54:00.001-07:00

This afternoon, during a short break, I checked a few places in Gent to see if there were any c-ringed LBBG's present. To my surprise, I soon found a bird with a large red ring, which turned out to be one of Philippe Dubois' birds. This is my first French bird in Gent! After this, I also saw a metal-ringed bird, which I unfortunately could not read entirely. However, I could read "London" (and 4 letters too), so this was a British bird, also a first for me in Gent... Also 2 birds from Roland-Jan Buijs his project, including 1 new one.

LBBG red 254N (P. Dubois), my first French bird in Gent. These rings are not the easiest to read...

LBBG blue 1N (RJ Buijs), my first observation this year (I saw this bird 3 times last spring).

LBBG red VH (RJ Buijs), a new bird to me.

Back again!

2011-06-20T11:08:00.001-07:00

After several weeks without ring-reading I finally found some time again to look for some c-ringed gulls. I went to the harbour of Oostende, where I ran into Davy Bosman, who was checking some of the nests he is studying. I could join him and visit the roof-breeding colony, great to see these birds there (and also some of the first freshly-ringed chicks)! After this I tried to find some more rings, and managed to get 18 ringed birds in total, all from Belgium (12 c-rings and 6 metal rings), and quite a few of them new birds for me. The breeding LBBG's looked very nice, good to be back at the c-rings :-)

ad Herring gull blue AVAK (E. Stienen), this one apparently was in rather poor condition. It was ringed as a chick in 1999.

ad Herring gull blue MWA.Z (E. Stienen), near it's nesting site.

4th cal Herring gull blue CLA.V (E. Stienen).

ad LBBG blue HYA.F (E. Stienen).

ad LBBG blue GSA.B (E. Stienen).

ad LBBG blue DNA.N (E. Stienen).

Still new arrivals

2011-03-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I was able to read 8 c-ringed LBBG's, which is a nice number for here. 3 birds were new ones for this year, but I had seen all of them in previous springs. The following birds were seen:

white J.J
white U.1 (first time this year)
white F.G
red PC (first time this year)
red E4
red LF
blue HF
blue 82 (first time this year, I didn't see this one last spring, so today was a nice surprise).

LBBG blue 82 (RJ Buijs - F Roels), only my second observation, previous one was March 29th 2009, exactly 2 years ago :-)

LBBG white U.1 (RJ Buijs), first observation this year, last spring I saw this bird 4 times between April 4th and May 2nd (this last observation was made in one of the breeding colonies in Vlissingen).

Lots of LBBG arriving

2011-03-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

Today I had only little time and made a short trip to some of the best patches in Gent. Many LBBG's present, and lots of new rings. In total I managed to read 8 of them (all from RJ Buijs), of which 3 were new ones:
white J.J
white U.U
white F.G
red E4
red EB
red HY
yellow 8Y
blue 22

Also nice was that Black-headed gull yellow EHNP (T Audenaert - G Spanoghe) was still present, I hadn't seen that one since the end of January.

I also visited the breeding colony of Black-headed gulls at Molsbroek, Lokeren, where I saw one c-ringed bird, yellow EEEY (locally ringed, 2 years ago).

Black-headed gull yellow EHNP (T Audenaert - G Spanoghe), Gent.

LBBG white U.U (RJ Buijs), my first observation of this bird.

LBBG red HY (RJ Buijs), present at exactly the same spot as last year.

LBBG yellow 8Y (RJ Buijs), also present here last year.

Red squirrel, Molsbroek Lokeren.

New arrivals

2011-03-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, on a trip through Gent, I was very pleased to find several newly-arrived LBBG's, of which a few are well known to me. The first c-ringed bird however was a Belgian-ringed Herring (blue M.LAF), a very nice sighting since this is only the 2nd time I see a bird from this project here, most of them seem to stay closer to the coast. Later on I found 7 c-ringed LBBG's, all from RJ Buijs: blue HF again, blue GF (new bird to me), red MT (6th sighting, and 3rd spring in a row), white K.P (new), red E4 (12th sighting, 3rd spring here), and the pair red LF (18th sighting, 3rd spring) and white M.8 (12th sighting, 3rd spring).
With warmer weather expected the following days, more birds will probably arrive.

2nd cy Herring gull blue M.LAF (E Stienen).

LBBG red MT (RJ Buijs), with unringed partner.

LBBG's red LF and white M.8 (RJ Buijs).

LBBG blue GF (RJ Buijs - F Roels).

3 more rings

2011-03-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

Another short tour around my patches in Gent, on which I could read 3 rings: Black-headed gull white VSH again, but finally close enough to get decent pictures; LBBG blue HF (the 12th time I see this one, and the 3rd spring I see it here, I last saw it on July 7th last year, it hasn't been seen since then); and finally Herring gull yellow W3 (my first sighting). Very enjoyable again, I hope to find time to look for more c-ringed birds in the next weeks.

Black-headed gull white VSH (TK Pedersen-, still present on its wintering location.

LBBG blue HF (RJ Buijs & F Roels), the 3rd spring I see this one here.

Herring gull yellow W3 (RJ Buijs), my 1st observation of this bird.

The return

2011-03-05T13:04:00.001-08:00

Back in Gent after a superb four-week holiday in Thailand (maybe I will post some pictures later). Today was the first day I was able to look for rings, and I was hoping to see the return of the first Lesser black-backed gulls. I soon saw some of them, and just a little bit later the first ring was already found, so they are definately back, truly a great sight! The first bird was white Y.H, my first observation of this bird (it wintered in Spain the past 2 winters). Also there were the Danish Black-headed gull white VSH, and a Belgian metal-ringed Herring gull which I saw there in November too.

Next stop was the Blaarmeersen, where I was very happy to see LBBG white H.K, a well-known bird to me. I saw it for the first time there in 2003 (it then wore a Spanish orange ring), and then again last October. Later this winter it was seen in Pinto, Spain (J Marchamalo), and now back in Belgium, on its way to its breeding grounds! I also saw white N.S there, and RJ Buijs just informed me these birds are partners! With this very succesfull day in mind, I will try to find many more c-ringed LBBG's this spring.

ad LBBG white Y.H (RJ Buijs), my first observation of this one.

ad LBBG white H.K (RJ Buijs), my 4th observation.

ad LBBG white N.S (RJ Buijs), my first observation, this is the partner of white H.K.

Black-headed gull white VSH

2011-01-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I could only find 1 c-ringed gull, one of the wintering Danish Black-headed gulls, white VSH (TK Pedersen). It was my 5th sighting of this bird, and the 3rd this winter. Last winter my last sighting was on January 30, let's see if it stays longer this year.

ad Black-headed gull white VSH (KT Pedersen).

To the coast

2011-01-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

A day at the coast today, to see some lingering rarities, and to find some c-ringed gulls. No luck with the Black-throated thrush, but the rest of the birds were more cooperative. I started with a Rough-legged buzzard Buteo lagopus near Oostende, followed by 3 Pale-bellied brent geese Branta bernicla hrota, a nice flock of 12 Greater scaup Aythya marila, a Horned grebe Podiceps auritus, a very nice adult Black brant Branta bernicla nigricans (only the 3rd Belgian record), another Rough-legged buzzard, and finally also one of the wintering White-tailed eagles Haliaeetus albicilla.

I could also read 10 c-rings today, of which 4 were new. Best birds were a Danish Black-headed gull, a new Norwegian Greater black-backed gull and a French Lesser black-backed gull. The other rings were 6 Belgian Herrings and the regular British Herring white A3MM.

adult Black brant, Uitkerkse Polders.

2nd cal Rough-legged buzzard, Oostende.

ad Black-headed gull white PNN (TK Pedersen), Oostende.

ad Herring gull blue MWA.Z (E Stienen), Oostende.

2nd cal Herring gull blue MU.AD (E Stienen), Oostende.

ad Herring gull blue KP.AM (E Stienen), Oostende.

ad Herring gull blue GF.AB (E Stienen), Oostende.

ad Herring gull white A3MM (R Thompson).

First rings in Gent

2011-01-02T11:37:00.000-08:00

On a short trip in Gent today I saw 2 of the local birds: Black-headed gull yellow EHNP (back after the harsh winter weather) (T Audenaert & G Spanoghe), and Dutch Herring yellow E/E171 (N van Swelm).

Adult Black-headed gull yellow EHNP (T Audenaert & G Spanoghe), first observation since half December, after which severe frost and snow started.

Adult Herring yellow E/E171 (N van Swelm), previous observation was on December 5th.

Final rings of 2010, and the first ones of 2011

2011-01-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

First of all a very happy New Year for everyone reading this! I hope 2011 will bring lots of c-ringed birds for everyone.

This weekend I made a 2-day visit to the area of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Since it was a trip with my girlfriend, I didn't do whole days of gull-watching, but during some beach-walks I managed to scan quite some birds, resulting in 48 rings. One of the last birds of 2010 was a nice 17-year old Common gull from Norway, white J111 (NH Lorentzen) near Cap Gris-Nez. Apart from this bird, I also saw 2 Belgian Herrings (E Stienen) and 1 Dutch Lesser black-backed (N van Swelm).

The first day of 2011 started with MedGulls at Le Portel and Wimereux, with also some locally-ringed Black-headed gulls, Belgian Herrings and Norwegian Greater black-backeds. A very nice end/start to 2010/2011, and hopefully the start of many more rings to read this year!

Common gull white J111 (NH Lorentzen), first ringed in 1993!

MedGull green R74N (C Duponcheel).

MedGull green R03K (C Duponcheel).
MedGull green 193 (C Duponcheel).

MedGull white 3E13 (R Flamand).

Male Pied wagtail Motacilla alba yarrellii, Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Some winter birds

2010-12-25T07:09:00.000-08:00

Due to snow and frost in many parts of Europe, many birds seem to be on the move. Today in Gent, I found 2 Common merganser Mergus merganser, the first time I see them so close to the city. Also 1 black-ringed Black-headed gull, but it flew away before I could read it...

A few weeks ago I could also take some pictures of a large flock of Twite Carduelis flaviristris in the Zwin near Knokke (59 birds, the largest group I have ever seen overhere), and I paid another visit to the Black-thorated thrush (which is still present).

1st cy Common merganser, Gent.

Part of the flock of Twite, Knokke.

1st cy male Black-throated thrush, Loppem.

GBBG from Denmark

2010-12-12T10:40:00.000-08:00

Another day in and near the harbour of Oostende, where surprisingly few gulls were present. I only saw 6 ringed birds, but they included some nice ones. 3 Herring gulls were all well known birds, but a c-ringed Greater black-backed gull with black ring JW209 turned out to be ringed in Denmark instead of Norway, a nice surprise! I could also read 2 metal-ringed Black-headed gulls, 1 from Belgium and 1 from the Netherlands. By entering this ring into the Dutch website (www.griel.nl) I already got the ringing details, it was ringed as a nestling last year at Starrevaart near Den Haag.

1st cy Greater black-backed gull black JW209 (NH Lorenzen), ringed in Denmark.

ad Herring gull blue MWA.Z (E Stienen).

ad Herring gull blue KP.AM (E Stienen).

3rd cy Herring gull blue C.FAR (E Stienen).

2nd cy Black-headed gull with Dutch metal ring.

Black-throated thrush!

2010-12-07T11:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is not about gulls or c-rings, but such a great bird that I wanted to post it anyway. Today news came out that a Black-throated thrush was present in a garden in Loppem (near Brugge) this morning, so I immediately went to look for it, and with success! Everyone who was there had good views of the bird, the first twitchable for Belgium! Since it was dark weather and already getting late, not the best pictures, but they give an idea :-)

Black-throated thrush, Loppem.

Black-throated thrush, Loppem.

Just 2 Dutch Herrings

2010-12-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

Short trip today (with all the snow and ice melted away overnight), which resulted in just 2 c-ringed Herring gulls, both Dutch birds: yellow N1 (RJ Buijs) and yellow E171/E (N van Swelm). Nice to see this one again, my only previous observations are from 10 and 11 May 2008, more than 2 years ago! Bad digiscoping-pictures because they were too far away...

ad Herring gull yellow N1 (RJ Buijs), regular winter bird here in Gent.

4th cy Herring gull yellow E171/E (N van Swelm), my first observation since May 2008.

Nice rings, no pictures...

2010-12-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

With all the snow today, I decided to make a trip to my local patches without my camera. Not a good idea, because lots of birds around. Since most of the water was frozen, I could scan lots of gulls, which resulted in some nice observations.

The first bird to be seen was Danish Black-headed gull white VSB (KT Pedersen), present now for its 3rd winter here. This is my first observation this winter, last time I saw it was on 21/11/2009.

Next was yellow EHNP (T Audenaert and G Spanoghe) at the Tolhuisbrug, a Belgian bird also seen last week. There I could also read two metal-ringed Black-headed gulls: one from Belgium and one from Slovakia! Also present was white VSH (KT Pedersen), the other Danish bird wintering here, and Herring gull orange 09 (RJ Buijs), only my second observation (previous one was on 11/07/2009).

Finally I also saw my first-ever c-ringed Common gull: green CL42, which turned out te be a bird from Finland. A picture made by G Spanoghe can be seen here: http://www.natuurpuntgent.be/VWG_sourcecode/waarnemingen.php

Also around were 2 flocks of Northern long-tailed tits (5 and 3 birds), always nice to see these! Let's hope the weather is a bit better tomorrow, so I can get out with my camera.

Freezing cold

2010-11-28T12:12:00.000-08:00

With the first snow, winter has now officially started. A perfect day to go to the coast I thought, but after about 2 hours (in which I managed to read 10 c-ringed Herring gulls, 8 Belgian and 2 Dutch birds) it was really getting too cold to stay there, so I decided to go and watch a flock of northern Long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus caudatus) that has been hanging around for some weeks in Nieuwpoort (a major invasion of this attractive subspecies is taking place this autumn). Also there where 2 more ringed Herring gulls. Later on, a search for the wintering White-tailed eagle only resulted in two flocks of Grey partridge close to the car.

2nd cy Herring gull blue MBA.R (E Stienen), Nieuwpoort.

2nd cy Herring gull metal ring Brussel H16446x. Note the difference in bill and iris colour on both birds.

Northern Long-tailed tit, Nieuwpoort.

Grey partridge, near Oostende.

More Black-headed gulls

2010-11-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

Another trip in Gent today (where winter is really starting now with temperatures near to freezing during the day), and I was very happy to read 6 rings, of which 3 were new ones. First, I saw the locals Black-headed gull yellow EHNE (T Audenaert and G Spanoghe)(my 3rd observation this autumn of this locally-ringed bird) and Herring gull yellow N1 (RJ Buijs)(the 3rd winter I see this bird here, 2nd observation this autumn).

Then, a nice surprise when I found another Belgian-ringed Black-headed gull, yellow EHNP (T Audenaert and G Spanoghe). Later on, I could even read two metal-ringed Herrings, one Belgian and one Dutch bird!

Finally, I noticed another c-ringed Black-headed gull, this time with a white ring. First it flew away, but I could it again and (as I expected) it turned out to be the Danish bird white VSH (KT Pedersen), a bird which I saw there last winter too! Unfortunately no pictures of this one yet, it flew off not to be seen again. It will probably stay for the winter however, last winter I saw it twice, in December and January. It was ringed in March 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Black-headed gull yellow EHNP (T Audenaert and G Spanoghe), ringed this summer, released from rehabilitation centre at the same place as EHNE, so another local bird.

1st cy Herring gull Arnhem 6.166.48x, details awaited.

Lithuanian Black-headed gull

2010-11-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

Today on just a short excursion to my regular patches in Gent, I saw a lot of Black-headed gulls were present, so I was hoping for at least one ring. And after scanning 200+ birds, I finally found one, black P661, a bird which - according to cr-birding - should come from Lithuania! This is my first ring-reading from Lithuania, so I was very happy with this bird. Also, the locally-ringed bird yellow EHNE was present at the same place.

Also, one of the mystery gulls from yesterday at Le Portel (the Herring gull) has already been solved (thanks to C Duponcheel and RJ Buijs). It appears this is a bird ringed by Norman van Swelm in the Netherlands in 1997, and the original ring was orange RE7.

Black-headed gull black P661 (V Pareigis and F Majoor), ringed in Lithuania (details awaited).

Black-headed gull yellow EHNE (G Spanoghe and T Audenaert), ringed in Gent, my second sighting of this bird. A better picture of this bird can be found here: http://belgianrings.blogspot.com/2010/10/two-rings-in-gent.html

Le Portel

2010-11-20T14:55:00.000-08:00

Today I went to Le Portel to find some c-ringed gulls (never a problem there :-)) and to test my new camera. I'm quite happy with some of my pictures, although I will have to practice a lot more. Lots of gulls present, and at the end of the day I ended up with 125 different c-ringed birds, of which 97 were Mediterranean gulls. As usual mainly Belgian and French birds, but also a few from Germany, Poland and Hungary.

Other species were represented as follows:
Herring gull: some Belgian, French, Dutch and British (1) birds.
Greater black-backed gull: several Norwegian birds, but also one from the Helgoland-project.
Lesser black-backed gull: only 1 c-ringed bird, from Belgium
Black-headed gull: 3 locally-ringed birds, but also one from the Netherlands (Frank Majoor).

Also 2 mystery c-ringed birds, if someone has an idea, let me know!

Mediterranean gull white 34T6 (R Flamand).

Mediterranean gull green R07L (C Duponcheel).

Mediterranean gull green R03V (C Duponcheel).

Mediterranean gull.

Black-headed gull black R00S, a locally-ringed bird (C Duponcheel).

Herring gull green Y.ACL (K Camphuysen).

Herring gull yellow S0 (RJ Buijs).

Herring gull yellow 5W, a resident in the harbour of Boulogne-sur-Mer (RJ Buijs).

Herring gull KL A (JP Leys).

Mystery Herring gull, ring probably bleached...

Mystery Greater black-backed gull, two plastic flags (clip-ring type) on its tibia, no metal ring...

Caspian from Poland!

2010-11-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Another update from the past two weeks. Absolute highlight was a c-ringed Caspian gull from Poland (waiting for details). Other nice birds included several Greater black-backed gulls from Norway, and a Dutch metal-ringed bird. Finally, in Gent, I found another (unringed) Caspian gull, and saw LBBG white H.K (RJ Buijs) again (one of the few remaining LBBG's here, most of them seem to have moved south). Also, Herring yellow N1 (RJ Buijs) is back for the winter, on almost exactly the same date as last year.

Caspian gull yellow PDBS (Polish bird, details awaited). Crappy picture, but a great bird! My best ring of this autumn so far!

Caspian gull, Leeuwenhof Gent. On both birds, the long legs (mainly tibia), slender bill and the little dark eye can be seen. On the second one some of the neck-streaking is just visible. Easy birds if they come like this!

Herring yellow 81 (RJ Buijs), Niewupoort.

Herring yellow N1 (RJ Buijs), Gent. Back for the winter, now at least for the 3rd time!

Herring blue MZA.P (E Stienen), Nieuwpoort.

Herring blue MH.AC (E Stienen), Oostende.

Herring blue FWA.V (E Stienen), Nieuwpoort.

View on the beach of Blankenberge (without gulls).

Long-tailed duck, Oostende. I went to see this bird, only a few are seen in Belgium every year, I just love these birds.

Two rings in Gent

2010-10-23T11:30:00.001-07:00

Last week I searched for rings in Gent, and found 4 of them. 1 Belgian metal-ringed Black-headed gull, 1 Polish (unfortunately I couldn't read the ring entirely), 1 Belgian c-ringed Black-headed gull (locally ringed, but strangely this bird is still in Gent, while most other recoveries now come from abroad), but the nicest was LBBG white H.K (RJ Buijs). When I recieved the life-history, I saw that this bird had originally been ringed in Spain as orange N144, which I saw at exactly the same place in May 2003 (and this was only my second ring-reading ever!). Nice to see this one back, this bird is now 14 years old.

LBBG white H.K (RJ Buijs), originally ringed in Spain in 1998, and seen again at the same place as in 2003!

Black-headed gull yellow EHNE (G Spanoghe), ringed close to the recovery-site, but nonetheless a nice sighting.

Lots of rings

2010-10-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

The past two weeks have been very busy, with many c-ring read. Apart from many (mainly local) Herring gulls, good numbers of LBBG's are passing through at the moment, resulting in some nice rings. Below I give a short summary of the rings from the past weeks:

Herring:
Belgian: 66
Dutch: 16
French: 1
British: 1
Total: 84

LBBG:
Belgian: 12
Danish: 6
Dutch: 6
German: 2
British: 1
French: 1
Norwegian: 1
Spanish: 1 (wingtag)
Total: 30

GBBG:
Norwegian: 5
Total: 5

Some days 100's of LBBG's were present, so still many birds have to get to their wintering grounds, all Spanish ring-readers can expect lots of birds to arrive within the following days/weeks!

And now some pictures:

Herring yellow 5B (RJ Buijs).

Herring yellow 16 (RJ Buijs).

Herring blue PSA.Y (E Stienen).

Herring blue MZA.Z (E Stienen).

Herring blue MH.AC (E Stienen).

Herring blue M.FAC (E Stienen).

Herring blue HCA.B (E Stienen).

Herring blue FX.AC (E Stienen).

Herring black/white PN A (JP Leys).

LBBG red 903N (PJ Dubois).

LBBG green Y.AKU (K Camphuysen).

LBBG blue G4 (RJ Buijs).

LBBG black E0 (RJ Buijs).

LBBG white TS8 (N van Swelm).

LBBG yellow V977 (KT Pedersen).

LBBG yellow V1PM (KT Pedersen).

LBBG blue V.E3F (KT Pedersen).

LBBG blue V.830 (KT Pedersen).

LBBG white wingtag H (Spain).

LBBG yellow H.595 (S Martens).

LBBG yellow H.249 (S Martens).

LBBG (intermedius) blue JN38 (N Lorentzen).

Norwegian intermedius

2010-09-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

Just a short update, to mention my observation of a Norwegian Lesser Black-backed gull at the Zwin-nature reserve near Knokke. The bird was ringed black JH77, and although it was ringed in 2006, this is the first observation.

After the observation of J1LT at Le Portel last month, this is my second Norwegian bird this autumn, and my 6th in total (two of which I saw in Morocco, so only my 4th in Western Europe!).

LBBG black JH77 (N Lorentzen), ringed in 2006, and now observed for the first time.

Le Portel

2010-08-31T08:58:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I went to Le Portel in order to look for gulls and to read rings. 100's of birds present, which resulted in no less than 161 ring-readings, of the following species:
Mediterranean gull: 134 (the bird from Serbia was still present, also some new Polish, Hungarian and German birds, the majority were from France and Belgium)
Herring gull: 14 (mainly French birds, but also 2 British birds and 1 Belgian one)
Greater black-backed gull: 9 (all from Norway)
Lesser black-backed gull: 3 (one Dutch, British and Norwegian bird)
Black-headed gull: 1 (French bird)

The black-backed gulls were mainly resting on the beach (I was surprised to see so few c-rings), and they were very wary. Herrings fed with the MedGulls between the rocks and were more easy to approach. All in all a very nice day!

Some pictures:

MedGull green 5M9.

MedGull green 125.

MedGull white 3E13.

MedGull red HLF1, one of the Hungarian birds.

MedGull red PJU7, one of the Polish birds.

Young MedGulls at Le Portel.

Herring white A6CA (British bird from R Thompson).

Herring blue P.LAJ, the only Belgian bird present (E Stienen).

LBBG black J1LT (Norwegian bird from N Lorentzen).

Santurzi - Spain

2010-08-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

I just returned home from a great trip aboard the Pride of Bilbao. Few birds (although we saw 3 Great shearwaters), but nice views of whales and dolphins. Before taking the ferry, a short stop at the Farlington marshes near Portsmouth resulted in 4 c-ringed Icelandic Black-tailed godwits (probably all locally-ringed birds).

During the short stop in the harbour of Santurzi, I was very happy to find (totally unexpected, I even let my telescope in im cabin) 3 c-ringed Yellow-legged gulls, all from the project of Jon Hidalgo and Gorka Ocio (who was also present on board of the ship). Since I didn't have my telescope with me, so I could just take some pictures through my binoculars.

Yellow-legged gull orange 6.BFU (J Hidalgo & G Ocio)

Yellow-legged gull orange 7.BHC (J Hidalgo & G Ocio)

Yellow-legged gull orange 7BG.T (J Hidalgo & G Ocio)

Autumn migration: many rings

2010-08-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

The past week I have been working a lot in the nature reserve "Het Zwin", on the Belgian-Dutch border. Many gulls can be present, giving me the opportunity to check them for rings. I have found already a few Dutch birds, and today some Belgian birds were present too. Apart from these, I could also read 2 different c-ringed Spoonbills, one from Germany and one from the Netherlands.

Yesterday, I visited Oostende to look for gulls. Best birds were 2 Yellow-legged gulls. However, since a part of the beach was closed off to the tourists, many gulls were coming in at low tide, giving me the chance to read more than 30 different rings in just one hour! Mainly Belgian Herrings (including many young birds, which have been ringed in the past few weeks), but also two British birds, one French one, and a few Dutch ones. Earlier on, in the habour, I saw many familiar birds, and also a few ringed LBBG's. Very nice, and totally unexpected, so I returned home very happy.

I was also informed by Juan Ruiz that LBBG red 248N, which I saw in April this year, had returned to Madrid already!

View of the beach at Oostende yesterday.

Resident British Herring white A3MM (R Thompson), already present for some years near the fish market.

Herring white A6DA (R Thompson), new bird, great to find another British bird here!

Herring blue BWAR (E Stienen), this must be one of the gulls with the most ring-readings in Belgium :-)

Herring blue KP.AM (E Stienen), another resident near the fish market.

Herring blue L.JAT (E Stienen), one of the many Herrings present.

Herring blue M.JAV (E Stienen)

Herring blue MWA.Z (E Stienen)

Herring yellow OK (RJ Buijs), also present on the beach.

Herring blue PKA.Y (E Stienen), one of the young birds present.

LBBG blue AHAW (E Stienen), in the harbour near it's breeding place.

Orange EK47 (N van Swelm), present for many years and breeding here.

Another new ring in Gent

2010-07-25T11:58:00.000-07:00

After last week's ring madness at Le Portel, I decided to check my local spots in Gent today to see if any gulls/rings were around. About 70 LBBG's in total, of which 5 were ringed. One new one, a 3rd cal bird (off course from RJ Buijs's project): black GR. There was also one c-ringed Herring gull, yellow N1, a bird that I have seen 3 times in the past two years (always in winter), but the last observation dated already from October last year, so it was nice to see this one being back here, and maybe it will stay again for winter?

After this I went to the nature reserve of the Bourgoyen, where there were still good numbers of Black-headed gulls, and also the Belgian-ringed LBBG LSA.A was still present. Other nice birds here included two Spoonbills and one Little egret.

LBBG red E4 (RJ Buijs), one of the regular ones.

LBBG red EG (RJ Buijs), my second observation of this bird (the previous time I saw it was in May).

LBBG red LF (RJ Buijs), another very regular bird.

LBBG white M.8 (RJ Buijs), the partner of red LF.

3rd cal LBBG black GR (RJ Buijs), new bird!

Herring yellow N1 (RJ Buijs), nice to see a ringed Herring here.

LBBG blue LSA.A (E Stienen), still present.

Little egret at the Bourgoyen, we don't see them that often near Gent.

A visit to Le Portel

2010-07-23T02:03:00.000-07:00

This week, on our national holiday, I made a visit to Le Portel to read rings of MedGulls. I only went there in winter before, so I didn't knew what to expect (but since MedGulls are flying south at this time of year I was hoping for many rings). At first it looked a bit disappointing, but when the tide was low and the mussels where accessible, it was madness :-) 100's of gulls where present, and easy to approach. In the end, I read 149 rings, of the following species: 6 Herrings (5 French birds, one from the UK), 4 Greater black-backed gulls (3 from Norway, 1 from France), 3 Black-headed gulls (all locally-ringed birds), and 136 MedGulls (mainly Belgian and French birds, but also 8 from Poland, 7 from Hungary, and my first ever Serbian ring!). All in all a very nice day (my highest number of rings read in one day so far), and I will probably go back there later this summer :-)

I mainly concentrated on ring-reading, so did'nt take many pictures. A few of them can be found below.

A small flock of gulls resting on the beach of Le Portel.

Gull madness!

MedGull white 34J5.

MedGull green R11N, a French bird.

MedGull red PJU7, a Polish one.

MedGull red HFN2, one of the Hungarian birds.

MedGulls in flight.

White A6GV, a British Herring.

Herring VU A, one of the French birds.

Nice one

2010-07-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

Today I visited the same places as yesterday, as well as some other sites. 3 rings could be read, one of them was a 2nd cal LBBG, ringed in the colony of Zeebrugge last year! Very nice to see such a bird, my first immature LBBG in Gent from this project. The other ones were blue ones from RJ Buijs, again including 1 new ring (the other one was blue HF, a regular bird in Gent this spring).

Frustrating was the presence of a pair of Mediterranean gulls, one of them wearing a white ring, but they stood just too far away to read the ring. Two more MedGulls were seen flying south, they seem to be leaving their breeding grounds now.

LBBG blue 0J (RJ Buijs), new bird to me, and only the second observation of this bird, the previous one being in October 2008 in Cádiz, Spain.

A very bad picture of LBBG blue LSA.A (E Stienen), my first immature LBBG of this project in Gent!

Finally some rings

2010-07-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

Today I was able to visit my regular places in Gent, and although I initially did not find a single ringed bird, in the end I saw 4 Dutch ones, including 1 new one. Also present were some Black-headed gulls, but no rings so far...

LBBG white M.8 (RJ Buijs), a regular bird this year.

LBBG red E4 (RJ Buijs), another regular bird.

LBBG red LR (RJ Buijs), my first observation of this bird.

Herring orange O9 (RJ Buijs), nice to see a colour-ringed Herring gull again, my second observation of this bird, the previous time was in July last year.

Too hot!

2010-07-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

With temperatures reaching 34° C today, and high temperatures for the last week, I didn't went to look for rings. Instead, I went to look for butterflies and dragonflies, and will post some pictures later this weekend. Two weeks ago only one ring was present in Gent (LBBG blue GV.AL, one of the very few Belgian rings seen in Gent). However, Geert Spanoghe saw a couple of Dutch-ringed birds last week, so I'll try to get there one of these days :-)

Other good news was Geert's discovery of a small colony of Herrings and LBBG's, in the harbour of Gent! Maybe next week some birds will be ringed, so keep your eyes open for these birds! And finally, this year's first colour-ringed juvenile Black-headed gull was also seen in Gent, and since more than 200 birds have been ringed in Belgium in the past few wekks (mainly juveniles), more are expected (I saw one bird last year, when only a small number of birds was ringed)! These birds have yellow rings with a black 4-letter code (same rings as those from the Molsbroek-project).

Pictures from Siberia - the north

2010-06-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

From Krasnoyarsk, we flew to the small village of Bor (2000 inhabitants), 1000 km to the north. Next was a boat trip of 120 km, after which we finally made it to Mirnoe (or Mirnoye) (located at 62°17'N, 89°00'E), situated on the shores of the Yenisei River. Here, the main habitats are taiga and floodplain forest, and off course the river itself is very important for many species.

On the 7h boat trip we saw several White-tailed eagles, Great grey owl, Terek sandpiper, Red-throated divers, ... and also one Brown bear.

We stayed at Mirnoe for 5 days, and every day brought us different birds. The fields around the abandoned village were very good for songbirds, while the small ponds holded i.e. Pin-tailed snipes and Pacific golden-plover.

In the taiga forest itself it was hard work to find good birds, and in the afternoon the forest seemed empty. However, with observations of Yellow-browed, Rustic and Little buntings, Arctic, Greenish, Pallas' leaf and Yellow-browed warblers, Taiga, Asian brown, Dark-sided and Mugimaki flycatchers, singing Red-flanked bluetails, Black-throated and Eye-browed thrushes everywhere ... (and many more birds), we definately could not complain :-)

River island in the Yenisei River.

An iceberg floating in the river.

Iceberg on the shores of the Yenisei.

Mirnoe, our home for five days...

Mirnoe in the morning.

The Siberian taiga.

Fresh prints of a Brown bear (with my Swiss army knife for comparison, they are huge!).

Siberian ground-squirrel, very common everywhere.

We also visited a scientist (Dr. Oleg Bourski) who already rings birds for more than 30 years near Mirnoe. I took some pictures of some nice and interesting birds there:

Yellow-browed warbler, the call of these birds was heard everywhere.

Siberian chiffchaff, nice to see these birds in the hand.

Dusky warbler (he colour-rings all birds that are breeding in his study-area, so there is a colour-ring aspect in this blog-post ;-)).

Lesser whitethroat, another very common bird.

Female taiga flycatcher, unfortunately no male flew into the mistnets while we where there. Many where seen and heard though.

Common rosefinch, this species too was very common.

Little bunting, the most common bunting in the taiga.

Male Pallas's reed bunting, several birds were seen.

Female Pallas's reed bunting.

And now it's back to birding (and looking for insects like butterflies and dragonflies) in Belgium, I hope to find some time in the next couple of days to look for rings in Gent.

Pictures from Siberia - the south

2010-06-12T09:21:00.001-07:00

As promised, I'll upload some pics of my trip to Siberia. With a group of 17 people, we flew to Krasnoyarsk (56°00' N, 92°57'E) via Moscou. From there we drove 400 km to the south to discover the steppe of South Siberia. Best birds here were Demoiselle crane, Imperial and Steppe eagles, all four European harriers, Long-toed sandpiper, Pallas's gull, Meadow bunting, Booted warbler, ...

Since I don't (yet) have a good camera to take bird-pictures, most of the pictures are landscapes. However, some good photographers took lots of bird-pictures, some of which can be seen at: http://www.natuur-forum.be/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8712

In the steppe, we mainly visited lakes, since these are the places where many birds can be seen, especially during migration:

It was still very cold during the nights and mornings, and some lakes were still partly frozen.

A salt lake, here we saw White-winged scoters of the Asian race stejnegeri, and also the first Knots for the province of Chakassia :-)

Scenic view on the steppe of South Siberia.

After birding in the south, we again drove north to Krasnoyarsk, where we visited Stolby National Park:

View over Stolby.

Finally, a picture of swamp forest near Krasnoyarsk, in this habitat we saw Siberian rubythroat, Siberian blue robin, Black-faced bunting, ...

Next was the northern taiga, I'll post this part in another blog-message.

Back from the taiga

2010-06-09T11:58:00.001-07:00

I just retured from a birding trip to Central-Siberia last weekend, so I could not update my blog for the past weeks. Had a great trip with many good birds (and also Brown bear :-)), I'll try to post some pictures later this week. Most of them will be landscapes etc., because digiscoping in the taiga doesn't really work :-)

Gull-wise it was very interesting, with Little gull, Black-headed gull, Common gull (heinei), Pallas's gull, and off course a whole bunch of heuglini/vega intergrades, and also mongolicus, barabensis and cachinnans :-)

Distant rings...

2010-05-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

The past week I saw a few nice colour-ringed birds, but unfortunately most of them were too far away to take pictures. Among them were a French Black-tailed godwit, a Dutch Spoonbill and a Belgian Mute swan.

Today however, I found a cormorant with a white ring in the nature reserve "Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen", and it turned out to be a bird which I saw there back in 2007! The bird was ringed as a pullus in the Netherlands in 2006, and I didn't see it since that observation in July 2007. I hope it has been seen somewhere in the meantime, and I'm waiting for the life-history now :-)

Fewer LBBG's around now, but despite this I still managed to find two new ones, and some of the regular birds were seen as well.

LBBG blue P6 (F Roels), I saw this bird three times in March last year, and now it has returned to Gent.

LBBG white G.2 (RJ Buijs), a bird which has appeared on this blog before, it still hangs around in Gent, and can be found on the same streetlight most of the time.

LBBG red EG (RJ Buijs), one of the new birds, seen today.

Cormorant white Z | E (S van Rijn), ringed in the Netherlands in 2006, seen in Gent in 2007, and now back here (waiting for the life-history).

And another day in Gent...

2010-05-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

Many gulls at my patches today (110 LBBG checked: 7 colour-rings including 1 new one; also 1 Belgian metal-ringed bird read). A nice surprise was the return of blue BBAH, a bird from the colony of Zeebrugge (but breeding in Vlissingen the previous years). The other birds were - not surprising - all from RJ Buijs's project, with still 1 new one (white M.6). Of the other birds, white G.2 was present again, and the final observation of the 3 other birds was April 25th, so it was nice to see them again after two weeks absence.

The Tolhuisbrug today, many gulls around!

LBBG blue BBAH (E Stienen), my second observation of this bird, the first one was almost one month ago at exactly the same place.

LBBG blue 1N (RJ Buijs, ringed by F Roels).

LBBG white K.S (RJ Buijs).

LBBG white M.6 (RJ Buijs), the new bird of the day :-)

Gent again

2010-05-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

Today I finally found some time to check some of my usual places in Gent. About 60 LBBG's could be checked, and 5 of them were colour-ringed (all of them from RJ buijs). One of them was a new one to me, so there are still new birds arrriving! Hopefully this weekend some more birds!

LBBG white G.2, a regular sight these days in Gent.

LBBG white M.8, another regular one this spring.

LBBG white P.J, my second observation of this bird (first one was on April 25th)

LBBG blue HF, seen on several occasions in spring 2009 as well as 2010.

LBBG blue K5, the only new one today.

A visit to Vlissingen

2010-05-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I visited the breeding colonies of Vlissingen, the place where RJ Buijs has his project. He kindly gave me directions to the best ring-reading sites, and with this in hand (and despite the wind and rain), I managed to read 59 of his rings (29 LBBG's and 30 Herrings), 1 LBBG and 1 Herring of Eric Stienen, and 1 Herring ringed by the North Thames Gull Group).

Since the weather was really bad, not many gull-pictures worked out well, but I also made some pictures of how the places look like, maybe nice for ring-readers who often see these rings, to have an idea of where these birds come from :-)

Highlights were the Herring gull ringed by the Nort Thames Gull Group, and off course some birds which I saw before (mainly) in Gent, including white U.1: I saw this bird the day before in Gent :-)

A few pictures of the colony of Vlissingen-Oost Quarleshaven.

Part of the colony of Vlissingen-Oost Van Cittershaven.

And now some gull pictures:
Herring yellow R8 (RJ Buijs), ringed as an ault in the same colony.

A crappy picture of Herring orange NR6T (NTGG), ringed earlier this year in the UK.

LBBG blue 9P (RJ Buijs).

LBBG red D1 (RJ Buijs).

LBBG white G.5 (RJ Buijs), seen in Spain last winter.

Frustrating...

2010-05-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

Today in Gent, about 40 LBBG's checked, and among them two Dutch birds (white U.1, seen here before on April 9th and 11th, and red VP, a new one for me). After this, I went to the nature reserve "Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen" to look for some waders. A few gulls were present, and there were two birds wearing a blue tarsus-ring. Unfortunately, they were just too far away to be read, quite frustrating (especially because I don't see these rings often in Gent)! But that's just part of the game I guess... One of these birds didn't look like a pure LBBG, the mantle seemed lighter than it should be, so it could have been one of the few hybrids ringed in Zeebrugge, but I'll never know (unless I get another chance on it).

Red VP (RJ Buijs), the only new one today.

White U.1 (RJ Buijs), a picture of earlier this spring. Seen again today, previous observation on April 11th.

New birds in Gent

2010-04-25T07:24:00.001-07:00

Today, I checked the usual places in Gent again. Many birds present (I could check about 110 LBBG's and 30 Herrings, and read 12 colour-rings (3 new ones). Best bird was a 4th cal Herring gull, which I saw once before in November 2007 (as a 1st cal bird), in Oostende. Great to see this one in Gent now!

Herring gull yellow 55, first seen at the coast in 2007, now in Gent! This is only the first colour-ringed Herring I see in Gent this spring.

Blue C2 (project of RJ Buijs, but the blue ones are ringed in Zele, Belgium by F. Roels), last year I saw this bird at the same place on April 28th.

White K.S (RJ Buijs), first seen in July last year, my second observation of this bird. It was seen in Portugal last winter.

Blue WK, another returning individual (first seen in March last year), which I already saw last week in the nature reserve "Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen" near Gent, now seen closer to the city. This bird was seen in Spain (Colmenar Viejo) in November.

Spring migration on the coast

2010-04-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was looking very promising for migration on the Belgian coast (winds from the southeast), so I headed there, and a nice day it turned out! More than 70 people enjoyed a great day, with the following highlights: 2nd cal Pallid harrier, 4 Caspian terns, Gull-billed tern, Osprey, Montagu’s harrier, Black kite, Merlins, 40+ Ring ouzels, Purple heron, … plus a nice supporting cast of thousands of swallows, even more Meadow pipits, and also, hundreds of LBBG’s. By midday migration slowed down, and I went to the beach to find some gulls, and – despite the many tourists – I was able to find some colour-rings. Highlights were two French-ringed LBBG’s (picture of one of them below), unfortunately one of the rings was too dirty to be read completely. Other rings were all Herrings from the nearby breeding colony, including a 13 year old bird.
After the beach I went to Oostende, and managed to read four more rings (all Herrings, two Belgian colour-rings and two metal rings).

People watching spring migration on top of the dunes.

A small flock of resting gulls on the beach of Zeebrugge.

Red 248N (P.J. Dubois), a French-ringed bird (I'm waiting for details on this bird), my first bird from this project!

The fish market of Oostende, especially in winter a good place to find ringed gulls, but there are always some birds around.

Blue FBA.D (E. Stienen), this five-year old bird can be found very often near the fish market of Oostende, I first saw it there in 2007.

Introducing Gent

2010-04-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

The past days I visited my patches in Gent twice, resulting in only a few rings (and no new ones). As an introduction, below are some pictures of how the places look like (they are not as nice as watching gulls on a beautiful beach, but it’s the closest place near my home).

A few LBBG's are often present on the house to the left, and also on the street lights along this channel.

Two unringed LBBG's sitting along the "Nieuwevaart".

One of the best localities in Gent to read rings, the LBBG's are often resting here, sometimes 30-40 birds are present and can be seen very well.

The best channel to watch for ringed gulls, they often sit on the street lights, or on the roofs of the houses.

Let's hope some birds are present tomorrow :-)

Some pictures from this winter...

2010-04-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

Since I just started this blog, it seems like a good idea to post some pictures from the past few weeks, before spring catches up (and I will be concentrating on posting mainly new pictures). I'll try to get some pictures of the places where I watch the birds too, to give you an idea of how ring-reading in Belgium looks like :-)

I visited the nature reserve of Nieuwpoort a few times recently, and saw mainly Belgian ringed Herrings, but also one British-ringed bird (unfortunately it was too far to take a decent picture), a French one (I saw two other French birds at Oostende, another hotspot for colour-ringed gulls), and a few Dutch birds (all from RJ Buijs, plus one metal-ringed bird).

2nd cal Herring gull blue MT.AS (Nieuwpoort), ringed as a chick in Oostende, Belgium (E. Stienen). This bird has been hanging around there all winter.

Another picture of the same bird.

4th cal Herring gull blue CD.AR(Nieuwpoort), ringed as a chick in Oostende, where I saw this bird for the first time in 2007. Since 2008 it has always been seen in Nieuwpoort.

2nd cal Herring gull 1R A (Nieuwpoort), ringed as a chick in northern France (JP Leys). Always nice to see a French one!

Adult Herring gulls blue KP.AM and GF.AB (Oostende), both ringed in Zeebrugge (E. Stienen), and in winter always present in Oostende.

To end this post, Black-headed gull white VSH (Gent), ringed in Denmark (T K Pedersen). This winter, I saw two Danish-ringed birds in my hometown, the other one for its second winter in Gent!

Spring in Gent: the return of the LBBG's

2010-04-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

Like every year, Lesser black-backed gulls arrive back in Belgium after winter. In Gent, mainly birds from the colonies in Zeeland (Vlissingen) can be seen (at least, the ringed birds come from there). In spring 2009, I started to visit some places to record the arrival of these birds, and this resulted in 26 different c-ringed birds observed between the end of March and the end of May (some Herrings from these colonies were seen too). Only one of these birds was ringed in Zeebrugge, they seem to follow a more coastal migration route north.

This year I started a little bit earlier, and so far I have seen 35 different birds. Some of these are birds seen last year too, but quite a few of them are new ones for me. The Belgian bird returned too, and another one was seen too (see picture below), plus a metal-ringed Belgian LBBG.

Yellow 88, ringed as a chick in Vlissingen in 2006 (RJ Buijs), and observed in Gent on April 4th. This bird was observed twice before, both times in Spain.

Red HY, ringed as an adult in Vlissingen in 2007 (RJ Buijs), and seen already several times this spring in Gent. Has already been observed in Portugel.

Blue PN, ringed as an adult in Zele (Belgium) (F. Roels) in 2006, seen last year in July in Gent, and now again this spring

Red ER, ringed as an adult in Vlissingen (2007?), and seen last weekend in Gent.

Blue BBAH, the best c-ringed bird so far this spring in Gent, a 12 year old bird, ringed in 1999 as a chick in Zeebrugge, Belgium (project of E. Stienen)

No gull, but a picture I took during fieldwork in the dunes in early April, while Robins, Blackbirds, Chiffchaffs etc. were singing, so definately a spring picture!

Getting started...

2010-04-18T12:31:00.000-07:00

After following some blogs on gulls (mainly the Spanish ones and Paul Veron's), I decided to make one too. The focus will be on colour-ringed gulls in Belgium, but since I am an active birder, and also like watching insects, mammals, plants, ..., anything can turn up here :-) Let's se where this leads me...

The main areas where I read rings are the Belgian coast (mainly Belgian-ringed Herrings), and Gent (mainly Dutch-ringed Lesser black-backeds). However, I sometimes visit other gull-watching places (like i.e. Le Portel). I'll post some birds from the last weeks soon, keep watching this space!