Monthly Archives: August 2022

I tried taking the route, which has been my regular route recently, in reverse order this morning, so counter-clockwise on a map. Thus, I hit the spot where we saw the robin late yesterday morning bright and early today, and our reward is a brand-new bird, for a change. This time, it’s a Eurasian jayContinue reading “Birds & bunnies & butterflies, oh my!”

It was nice and cool overnight with clear skies and calm winds, so most of the big fields were covered by thick blankets of fog this morning, and I couldn’t even see the water where I spotted the flock of spoonbills last weekend, so I had to make do, instead, with what I could findContinue reading “Late summer scenes…”

I still have some pictures left over from the weekend, so I thought I’d put them into a post, and I’m happy to report that I think we’ve got another new bird hiding in the mix. As ebird so aptly states, it’s “rather retiring, like most [old world] warblers,” but this sure sounds like theContinue reading “Leftovers from the weekend…”

I saw plenty of big birds this morning; herons, egrets, storks, and even about a dozen spoonbills at the Ackerdijkse Plassen; but they were all either too far away or just didn’t want to pose today. Luckily, these little characters were willing and able to pick up the slack. This first one is another greatContinue reading “Little Critter Day”

It was an interesting morning in South Holland. The weather was as beautiful as last weekend, with clear skies and calm winds, but there was a noticeable difference in the wildlife. I suspect that most of this summer’s chicks have fledged by now and are starting to take care of themselves. Thus, droves of parentsContinue reading “Fun sized…”

As I stepped out the door from my apartment building after lunch yesterday to walk back to work, my heart skipped a beat when I spotted what I thought was a large butterfly fluttering by. I gave chase immediately, at least with my eyes, and I was thrilled to see it land on a brickContinue reading “A rare glimpse…”

Here are a few more sights from this past weekend, and these critters all tend to keep themselves better hidden than others I see. I stumbled upon another ring-necked pheasant hen tucked into the tall grass and holding perfectly still, unlike her boldly-colored counterpart who I often see strutting across open fields. Here’s another noisy-as-heckContinue reading “Shy ones…”

As promised, here’s a short story from Saturday that got bumped from my earlier reports, first by the fledging storks, and then by the fox. These are two very fresh coot chicks, maybe just a day or two old, judging by their size and their bright red hairdo, and probably a second brood for theContinue reading “Coots, young and old…”

It was another perfect morning in South Holland, and spurred by seeing all the storks yesterday, I headed first to my old stomping grounds on the east side of the Delftse Schie, where we watched the second stork nest for several weeks, in which I now read is called the Ackerdijkse Plassen, “one of theContinue reading “Not outfoxed for a change…”

We had a picture perfect-morning in South Holland today. The sun was out, the sky was blue, the winds were calm, and the air was cool. The temps started in the 50s at sunrise, and we’re not forecast to reach the 70s all day. I headed out to the new area Anne had told meContinue reading “The Dog Days of Summer are Here”