Long-legged buzzard

It has bene a while since my last post, but there was a problem with adding pictures to this blog. It seems to be solved now, so I will put some updates very soon. First short post is of a very nice bird, Belgium's first Long-legged buzzard. It was present for 3 days at the beginning of July. Although it was a drive of more than 2.5 to get there, it certainly was worth the trip, what a beautiful bird! The Red kites and Black storks circling overhead were a nice bonus.
Next post will be about gulls :-)

Long-legged buzzard near Amel, July 7th 2013.

Another oldie

This week I recieved the ringing data of the British Oystercatcher I saw in Nieuwpoort this spring. It had been ringed in September 1996 in Suffolk as a bird of at least 2 years old. This means it is now at least 19 years old! I saw it mating with a Belgian-ringed bird, so surely it breeds somewhere near Nieuwpoort.

British-ringed Oystercatcher, now at least 19 years old.

Lapwing update

I just recieved the ringing details of the metal-ringed Lapwing I observed this April. It turned out to be ringed as a chick at exactly the same place, in April 1996! So this bird is now 17 years old, not too bad! I hope to see this bird again there next year.

Metal-ringed Lapwing, now 17 years old!

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).