Vlissingen

Last week I visited the gull colonies of Vlissingen. Here Roland-Jan Buijs rings Herring and LBBG for some years now, so lots of c-ringed bird are present. In May 2010, I read more than 60 rings there on 1 day! This time it was a bit more quiet, but I managed to read about 20 rings, most of them of LBBG. It was very nice to see some birds I had seen before, and off course lots of new ones. This year, many adult birds have been caught on the nest already, and I managed to read some of these birds too. I am definately trying to go back there later this spring.
Several c-ringed Oystercatchers were present too in the vicinty of the gull colonies.

Herring gull yellow 5T (R.-J. Buijs), ringed as a chick there in 2007.

LBBG blue 29 (R.-J. Buijs).

Herring gull blue D.A (R.-J. Buijs), one of the birds that had been caught only 2 weeks before this observation.

LBBG black FL (R.-J. Buijs), ringed there as a chick in 2008.

LBBG white J.5 (R.-J. Buijs).

Herring gull yellow NX (R.-J. Buijs). 

All these Oystercatchers were locally ringed. The last 2 birds were new ones to me.

2 in Gent

A short stop in Gent today resulted in 2 c-ringed LBBG's, one bird that I saw a few times before, and one new one. Both birds ringed in Belgium, with rings from Roland-Jan Buijs.

LBBG blue 73 (RJ Buijs), a new one to me.

LBBG blue PN (RJ Buijs).

Sanderling and gulls

Yesterday I saw my first ever c-ringed Sanderling, but unfortunately it was just not close enough for the whole combination to be read. Because it had a white flag, it was ringed in Mauritania, so that's nice anyway!

Also 2 local Jackdaws with metal rings, several Belgian Herring gulls present in Nieuwpoort, and 1 Dutch with a metal ring. In Oostende, a French LBBG (those rings are really difficult to read!) was the highlight.

 

2 locally ringed Jackdaws in Nieuwpoort.

 

Dutch Herring gull Arnhem 6.467.515, now present in Nieuwpoort.

 

Belgian Herring gull blue YP.AR (E. Stienen), a new one for me.

French LBBG red 553N (P. Dubois), not the easiest rings to read from a distance...

 

Herring gull blue CS.AZ (E. Stienen), present in a small colony in Oostende.

LBBG blue D.FAY (previously blue AAAZ, E. Stienen), already 15 years old, and present in the same colony as the Herring above.

Herring gull blue M.UAK (E. Stienen), in Oostende.

Brussels

Last week I visited 2 parks in Brussels to try to read some Carrion crow-rings. I saw only 2, but to my surprise also 3 Egyptian geese, and also read a metal ring on a Canada goose. A c-ringed Mute swan stayed asleep, so this one got away.

Carrion crow yellow XX (D. Vangeluwe).

Carrion crow yellow HL (D. Vangeluwe).

Egyptian goose yellow RT (D. Vangeluwe).

British Oystercatcher

Today I was able to read my very first British-ringed Oystercatcher (metal ring), in Nieuwpoort. Few Herring gulls were around (only 1 colour ring and 2 metal ones, all known Belgian birds), but I was very happy to read a French Lesser black-backed gull, and 2 Greater black-backeds (Norwegian and Danish). These were all too distant to take decent pictures, so I only have one of the Oystercatcher.

Oystercatcher London FA50784 (the female). The male bird was a Belgian one, but unfortunately I was not able to read the code.

Marsh harriers return

This week, I saw my first wing-tagged Marsh harrier of the year. The past 2 years, more than 200 juveniles have been wing-tagged in Belgium and the south of the Netherlands, and several birds were seen the past few weeks. I checked every harrier I saw, and finally, last Tuesday I could read the code of a female bird. It was tagged last summer close to where I saw it. Since most sightings of tagged birds are from birds ringed in 2011, seeing a 2nd cal year was very nice. I hope to see many more of these birds in the following weeks!

Afterwards, I was able to read 7 ringed Herring gulls, of which 2 were Dutch: 1 from R.J. Buijs (a known bird to me), and 1 metal-ringed bird. Also 1 of the regular metal-ringed Jackdaws was present.

2nd cal female Marsh harrier (A. Anselin), tagged last year and now back in Belgium!

Herring gull Arnhem 6.426.549. It should be heading to it's breeding colony soon.

Herring gull Brussel H???723, I hope to read the full code on one of my next visits...

Herring gull yellow XB (R.J. Buijs), the last time I saw this one was in August last year, so good to see it's still alive and doing well.

Heing gull blue YM.AB (E. Stienen),

Herring gull blue YX.AB (E. Stienen), a new one!

Jackdaw Brussel E337306, a regular bid in Nieuwpoort.

Guernsey Herring Gull in Belgium!

Today I checked the resting gulls in Nieuwpoort again, and immediately saw an immature Herring gull wearing a white ring. Luckily it stayed where it was, and I was able to read the code, and take some pictures as well. I recognized the code as probably belonging to Paul Veron's ringing scheme, and this was confirmed by him later this evening. It even turned out to be the first of his colour-ringed Herring gulls seen in Belgium! He ringed this bird in December in his garden, so it's not known where this bird originates from, let's hope it will be seen many times more.
Other rings were all Belgian ones, with 3 known birds seen. I also managed to read the code of one Ruddy turnstone, probably locally ringed.

2nd cal Herring gull white 0HA4 (P. Veron), my first Guernsey-ringed bird!

Ruddy turnstone Brussel 99Z23897.

ad Herring gull blue MT.AS (E. Stienen).

4th cal Herring gull blue PFA.F (E. Stienen).

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