Back in Aveiro...

Where spring is already in the air... Many White Storks Ciconia ciconia (like these ones today near Pardilhó) are now reconstructing their nest, as many had been blown away by a recent storm that lasted multiple days and took out many trees in the area as well. 

Winter in the tropics; Amsterdam, January 19 & 20

Last weekend I spent a lot of time in a cold and snowy park in Amsterdam North, in order to find out how many Ring-necked Parakeets currently roost in the northern part of the city. Sunday’s count was part of a national count, the second for this winter, but I figured it would be smart to find out what to expect and conduct an extra count the night before the official count, as I always prefer to do.

On Saturday I counted 823 birds in a relatively compact group, divided over five trees. The following day, when I was joined by Ruud Vlek, the moment of the bird’s arrival to the roost site (at dusk) coincided with a snow storm. Thankfully, it was not as cold as the previous day and, when not facing the direction of the wind, we still managed to conduct a proper count. Unfortunately, a large number of parakeets decided not to fight the storm and these slept elsewhere, probably closer to their foraging areas (although that same night a keen observer noted elsewhere that at least one parakeet decided to roost in a nest hole). Ruud and I counted only 270 birds, divided up into relatively small groups that occupied trees, at a much greater distance from each other.

So, although Sunday’s count will not have resulted in a complete picture of the number of parakeets present in the area, we did learn something about the bird’s behavior during the harshest days of the year.  

A few winters ago the roost site was being used by a few thousand parakeets, coming from all wind directions, in particular from the south and east. In order to reach the roost site these birds had to cross a large lake (‘the IJ’) behind the Central Station. This went without a problem for a few years, but the appearance of Peregrine Falcons on the former Shell tower/Overhoeks (overlooking the IJ and in between this lake and the roost site) probably has deterred these birds from roosting in Amsterdam North. By now a number of Peregrine prey remains have been collected from the tower, including an interesting number of parakeets. At least one falcon was present on the 19^th.

A photo from January 2012; The IJ and on the right the rock that's in the way of many parakeets. The parakeets' roost site is located to the right of the tower.

Snow White & the Raptor Working Group Zwolle, The Netherlands

In the morning and early afternoon of this relatively cold day I assisted Jan van Dijk in a mid-winter round of capturing and color-ringing buzzards and kestrels (RAS-project). We were quite successful, capturing a total of five Common Buzzards Buteo buteo (incl. two recaptures) and three Common Kestrels Falco tinnunculus (including one recapture).

Most of the Common Buzzards I see in Portugal are brown and I can’t recall seeing much variation in plumage color. Today, just north of the city Zwolle, we caught a pretty representative selection of the color phases that can be found in the area.

Weighing a Common Buzzard.

Common Buzzard ring scheme. Nestlings are ringed with a green color-ring.

Current Kestrel scheme

Old Kestrel scheme (recapture)