Old and new friends in Gent

Last weekend, I visited my old ring-reading patches in Gent, and I was very happy to see some birds that I have seen many times before. LBBG's were omnipresent, and in the end I was able to read 11 rings, a nice total! All of them were Dutch-ringed birds, apart from 1 with a French ring, a bird I had also seen there in June 2011.

The same day, I visited the breeding colony of Black-headed gulls of Lokeren, where I was able to read 1 ring, the now well-known hybrid female Black-headed gull x Meditteranean gull (yelow EEVY). It was too distant to take pictures, but a nice ring to read :-)

LBBG yellow 6F (RJ Buijs), my first sighting.

LBBG red 254N (P. Dubois), only 2 observations of this bird exict, both by me in Gent. Who finds this bird in winter in Spain, or in summer breeding in the Netherlands?

LBBG white D.7 (RJ Buijs), I saw this bird before in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 2009.

 

LBBG blue HF (RJ Buijs), one of the rings I read many times before.

LBBG white M.8 (RJ Buijs), again a known bird to me.

LBBG red MT( RJ Buijs), alsoa familiar bird.

LBBG white N.J (RJ Buijs), a new bird to me.

LBBG red X1 (RJ Buijs), also a new one.

LBBG red YB (RJ Buijs), the last new one.

A day at the coast.

Yesterday I was able to check a large part of the Belgian beaches for c-ringed gulls, resulting in 23 ring-readings: 21 Herrings, but also my first 2 Lesser black-backed gulls of the year. Highlights were 2 British-ringed birds (both from the North Thames Ringing Group). Frustrating was an unread red ring, most likely a French or British Herring.

Herring gull yellow 7R (R.J. Buijs), my 2 previous obervations of this bird date from 2009.

Herring gull Brussels H900501, also my third observation.

Herring gull blue F.PAD (E. Stienen), also last seen in 2009. Now at least 15 years old!

Herring gull blue LH.AL (E. Stienen), still present in the breeding colony in Zeebrugge.

Herring gull blue MHA.D (E. Stienen), my first observation.

Herring gull blue M.HAJ (E. Stienen), also present in the Zeebrugge-colony.

Herring gull blue M.MAK (E. Stienen), also the first time I see this one.

Herring gull orange RV0T. (North Thames Ringing Group), details awaited.

Herring gull blue S.BAJ (E. Stienen), also a new one.

Herring gull blue SHA.C (E. Stienen), again a new one.

Herring gull blue SZA.L (E. Stienen), present at the colony of Oostende.

Herring gull blue YS.AX (E. Stienen), still hanging around in Nieuwpoort.

Herring gull blue YVA.G (E. Stienen), my first sighting.

Herring gull blue CR.AC (E. Stienen), again a new bird to me.

LBBG blue DN.AU (E. Stienen), my first LBBG of the year.

White-tailed eagle!

Earlier this week, I went to see the White-tailed eagle which had been reported for the past few days. It was sitting in a tree at quite a distance, but off course always a very nice bird to see. And even nicer is hat it is ringed, and the c-ring was read a few days before. It appears to be a Dutch bird, born in Lauwersmeer last summer.
At the coast, Nieuwpoort had just 2 ringed birds, 2 Belgian Herrings already seen there this year. And to end this post, today I saw my first flock of migrating Black-tailed godwits of the year (75 birds), and to my surprise 1 of the birds was c-ringed, my first ring-reading of the limosa-subspecies (I have seen some islandica-birds before in the UK). Let's hope spring migration brings some more nice ring-readings!


Distant White-tailed eagle, De Blankaart (West-Vlaanderen).


Herring gull Brussel H131047, my second observation of this bird.


2nd cy Herring gull blue YS.AX (E. Stienen), my third observation, all at Nieuwpoort IJzermonding.

YS.AX again

Today, just 1 c-ringed bird in Nieuwpoort: Herring gull blue YS.AX, the same bird I saw 2 weeks ago.


2nd cal Herring gull blue YS.AX (E. Stienen), my 2nd observation of this bird.

Two Herrings

Today I could read the rings of 2 Belgian Herring gulls in Nieuwpoort, one c-ring and one metal ring, both new to me. The first was a 2nd cal bird with c-ring YS.AX (E Stienen), the other an adult bird with metal ring Brussels H-131047.

2nd cal Herring gull blue YS.AX (E Stienen).

Ad Herring gull Brussels H-131047.

Dutch Black-headed gull

Today, during a short lunch break, I was very happy to find a Dutch-ringed Black-headed gull on the beach of Middelkerke (West-Vlaanderen), with white ring E8SC. I also managed to read 4 metal rings of Turnstones in Oostende, probably all locally ringed. There were also 2 Belgian Herring gulls, but the codes could not be read entirely.

Black-headed gull white E8SC (F Majoor), this bird was colour-ringed in summer 2010, and already had a Belgian metal ring. It was seen in the autumn of that year on the same beach as where I saw it, but had not been seen since!

Herring gulls and Oystercatcher

Today, a short stop in Nieuwpoort resulted in 4 ring-readings: 3 Belgian Herring gulls (1 new) and 1 Dutch Oystercatcher (the bird I also saw there in October).

Herring gull blue Y.UAD (E Stienen), my second observation of this bird, which was ringed in August last year as 1st year bird.

Herring gull blue M.TAB (E Stienen, this picture is from 2010 - today it was too far off to be photographed), my 6th observation of this gull, it was ringed as a chick in 2009.

Oystercatcher LAM;LBRW(T);RAN;RBWN(C) (Netherlands), also my second observation. This bird was ringed in 2010.