Schiermonnikoog (August 20 - 23)

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy (and all play and no work made Jack a mere toy..?), so I was off to Schiermonnikoog, a small island located in the Dutch Waddensea, for an educational as well as recreational bird ringing experience at the "Groene Glop", our bed & breakfast & ringing station (with Joop vA (and family) and Jorien vS).




At times it was crowded at the coffee table. Captures can be found on http://www.trektellen.nl







Bycatch: a Great Green Bush-Cricket Tettigonia viridissima







View towards the east, with Rottumerplaat on the horizon (where I once spent a summer looking towards the west...).




Northern wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe

Year of the Sturnus vulgaris

One of the first two colour-ringed Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris today at the bird ringing station Hessenpoort, in Zwolle, The Netherlands. Ringed by Jan van Dijk.

In The Netherlands, Commong Starlings are rapidly declining. The reason for their decline is poorly understood. Sovon (Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology) and the Dutch branch of Bird Life, announced 2014 to be the “Year of the Starling”. These rings can be donated to ringers/starlings by the public: https://www.vogelbeschermingshop.nl/uitgelicht-natuurcadeau?product_id=827 They’re 8 Euro’s each, but should last a starling’s life time.

The Harculo power - and ringing station

On March 31st I visited the bird ringing station Harculo, located in the gardens of a power plant, just south of Zwolle (The Netherlands). This ringing station started in October 2012 and is being operated by some of my friends and colleagues on a regular basis. The following birds were netted, measured, ringed and released (with the number of recaptures in parentheses) during a pleasant but early easter morning:

Great Tit Parus major 3(2)

Blue Tit Parus caeruleus 2(2)

Common Blackbird Turdus merula 3(1)

Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus 4(0)

Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs 3(0)

Eurasian Wren Troglodytes troglodytes 1(0)

Greenfinch Carduelis chloris 2(0)

White Wagtail Motacilla alba 1(0)

We were working under the careful eyes of this Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus, which inhabits the power plant. Its mate currently incubates eggs in a nest box mounted in the top of a 60 meter high wall of the site.

An adult Greater Black-backed Gull Larus marinus at the cooling water inlet.