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 me about, where I saw the egret last weekend, and I was not disappointed. I haven’t seen much in the way of shore birds there, so it was an extra surprise to spot a bunch of our first Eurasian curlews (Numenius arquata) out in the fields with the cows, sheep, geese, oyster catchers, and lapwings. How’s that for a beak, eh?

Another fun sight was the first stork nest I found and showed you back at the beginning of June. Well, they’ve been busy while we were away, and today there were three large birds on it when I first rolled up.

Then one flew off, a parent in search of more victuals, I presumed, leaving these two, which I figured were the nearly-grown chicks.

And then a second bird took off and made a couple of passes before landing right in front of me.

I can’t tell for sure, but the black remaining on its beak leads be to believe it is not quite full grown, perhaps still sorting out the flying stuff, and it sure looked pleased with that landing.

And that left just one still in the nest, with even more black still on its beak, and perhaps a late bloomer.

Lastly, storks aren’t the only ones looking almost all grown up. Here’s a bank of young swans from last weekend, when the clouds were leaking a bit.

And here’s one of their parents looking at me as if to ask, “you’re not really gonna mess with a bank of swans, are you?” “No, ma’am or sir! No way”

I took my pictures and carefully backed away to photograph another day.

I was traveling yesterday, and so I couldn’t get out into the countryside until this morning, when it was cloudy, cool, and sprinkly. Such weather kept the butterflies bedded down, but didn’t seem to bother these birds at all, thankfully. I headed to a new spot that Anne had scouted for me last week, and the initial indicators are promising. Thanks, Honey!

We’ve seen this first bird before, in Estabrook Park a couple of times, but this is the first time I’ve seen a great egret in Europe. Technically, they are different subspecies, with Ardea alba egretta residing in the Americas, and Ardea alba alba over here in Eurasia. As the Pedia of Wik so stylishly puts it, however, they “differ but little.“

This next bird had me all excited because I didn’t recognize it at all, and I thought maybe I was seeing my first rail or crake, but the reality might be even more interesting. This little cutie, with three tiny jet-black chicks at its feet, is actually a juvenile moorhen, from the same family as rails, crakes, and gallinules, but probably from the first brood this summer and now helping to care for its siblings from a later brood.

Below is an adult moorhen, with a bright red and yellow beak, who was in the vicinity, and whom we have seen before, a couple of times. Anyway, I was amazed to learn that “helping-at-the-nest has been studied in a number of avian species,” including our “moorhens (Gallinula chloropus),” but the evidence gathered so far suggests that doing so “does not enhance the reproductive success of breeders.”

Then why do they do it, one might reasonably ask? Well, maybe they do it because they can’t use their phone or go to the mall, and they’re bored out of their little skulls so why not help out around the nest? Weirder things have happened, right?

Finally, I spotted a pair of terns who appeared to be in the midst of their own family drama. They were perched, which I hardly ever see, but on separate posts, and at least one had a lot to say. Then one swooped down to snag a fish out of the water but didn’t eat it right away nor feed it to the other one. Instead, it flew back and forth a couple of times and returned to the same perch, almost as if to say, “see how easy that was? Now go catch one for yourself!” It sure is a fun time to be watching birds.

Lastly, in other news, Anne has returned safely to Milwaukee and is going camping with her family at Kohler-Andrea State Park for the week. Maybe she’ll get to see the white pelicans again.

Anne and I had a nice leisurely bike ride down to Brielle, just south of the Maas River, and back. So, now I’m trying to identify some of the other creatures I photographed Saturday morning.

First up is the darling long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus). Its beak barely extends beyond its feathers, and it’s tiny “(only 13–15 cm (5–6 in) in length, including its 7–9 cm (3–3.5 in) tail)”,

Here’s one with more black on its face.

This next one led me on quite the wild-goose chase. I initially thought it was a white admiral (Limenitis camilla), and if you follow the link, I think you’ll see why.

There were a few about, which seems to be how it goes here, and here’s a close-up of another one who appears to be slightly worse for the wear.

The underside (ventral) is all wrong however, and once I saw that, I also saw that the wing shape isn’t quite right either.

And that, boys and girls, is because these aren’t white admirals at all, of course. Instead, they are “map” butterflies (Araschnia levana), and that appears to be their complete and only name. The Pedia of Wik helpfully explains some of my difficulty in identifying them with “the map is unusual in that its two annual broods look very different. The summer brood are black with white markings, looking like a miniature version of the white admiral and lacking most of the orange of the pictured spring brood.”

Here’s a close-up of that gorgeous “map”.

Finally, this little yellow-bellied stinker had been teasing me for a while, and I ended up taking a couple dozen pictures in hopes that just one would turn out. Well, here it is.

I had even written it up for you as a “mystery bird”, but as I tried to explain that it looked like a yellow chiffchaff, I came across the willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus), whom the folks at ebird describe as “looks very much like a chiffchaff, [but] is often brighter, more yellowish (especially in autumn) with stronger pale eyebrow, pinkish legs,” and with a completely different song. That’s our new bird to a “t”!

I got about 5 minutes, so this has to be quick. I headed to a new spot this morning that Anne told me about, and it really paid off. Here’s a pheasant with a pair of his chicks. The hen and a couple other chicks where there too, but this was the nicest grouping.

Here’s a whole family of Egyptian geese just taking it easy on a tiny pond.

Here’s a chaffinch enjoying a quiet moment in some morning sun.

Finally, here’s a wren taking a dust bath as best it can in a country mostly below sea level.

I have several other pictures, including a new butterfly, but that’s gonna take some time to identify, and Anne’s waiting for me to wrap this up so we can get on the road to Brielle, where she’s planned a little weekend getaway for us.

Here’s another beach bird from Sunday, a Eurasian linnet (Linaria cannabina). It’s a “small finch of open country, from wild moorland to rough grassland and weedy patches in urban areas.” There were a handful of these little cuties flitting around in the trees atop the dunes, and this one perched against that beautiful blue sky just long enough for me to get this shot.

Here’s the longest damselfly I’ve ever seen, a willow emerald (Chalcolestes viridis), by the look of its pale wing spots. I read that the ancient Latins called these markings pterostigmata, and they are not just for decoration.

In fact, “the purpose of the pterostigma, being a heavier section of the wing in comparison to nearby sections, is to assist in gliding. Without the pterostigmata, self-exciting vibrations known as flutter would set in on the wing after a certain critical speed, making gliding impossible. Tests show that with the pterostigmata, the critical gliding speed is increased 10–25% on one species of dragonfly.”

Who knew, right? And “yay”, Science. I bet those were fun tests to do. Not painstaking at all.

Here’s a ring-necked pheasant from the field below were the buzzard hangs out and behind the fence on which the barn swallows perched on Saturday.

Back at the dunes by the beach on Sunday, here’s another butterfly, which looks like another meadow brown, but I believe all that orange, especially on the inside (dorsal) of the wings, means that it is actually a gatekeeper butterfly (Pyronia tithonus).

Finally, here’s one more great tit from last weekend.

In other news, we really are having a heatwave here now. It was in the high 80s yesterday afternoon, and is supposed to get even hotter this afternoon. Many of you may already be thinking “high 80s, really?” But remember that I hardly ever see a fan here, let alone air conditioning. Anne kept my apartment bearably cool yesterday by closing the windows in time, but I’m not sure that will work for day two. Wish us luck!

Well, Anne and I did ride up to the coast this morning, to Oostduinpark in Scheveningen, and the dunes are huge, perhaps the highest points I’ve seen in the Netherlands so far. It was a beautiful morning with clear skies and calm winds, the bike ride up from Delft was pretty nice, and there are even a few ponds in the dunes, so there was plenty of nature to see.

Right off the bat, we spotted some completely new ducks for me, and they look like canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria), but those aren’t here in Europe, so a better guess is common pochard (Aythya ferina). Here’s a male, who was pretty far out on the water and had the sun behind him, so just a perfect setting for a portrait.

And here’s a female in similar light.

After the ducks, I was thrilled to spot another speckled wood butterfly, which I first saw just yesterday, but only the ventral (outside) of its wings. Our hero today was willing to show us the pretty dorsal (inside) of its wings.

In the woods beside the trail, we could hear a wren chirping incessantly, and when we looked closer, we saw at least 4 individuals, perhaps two recent fledglings foraging with one parent, while the other parent warned them about us and/or told us to get lost.

Here’s a youngster, who seemed not quite sure what to do.

And here’s the chatter box, who seemed to have strong opinions about what we should do. We never stepped off of the path, let alone into the woods, and after I finally got some pictures, we gladly complied.

The dragonflies were plentiful by the coast, too, and this one appears to be an immature male common darter (Sympetrum striolatum)

Finally, as Anne and I were having a little refreshment at a concession stand before our ride home, this crow stopped by to bid us adieu, and this might be the best portrait a crow has ever allowed me to take.

I am happy to report that I have even more pictures, and when I eventually identify the critters in them, I’ll post them here for you.

The big news is that Anne arrived in Delft for a visit on Tuesday, yay, and she likes going for bike rides in the countryside, so we rode out together this morning until it was time for me to stop for pictures while she kept going.

I didn’t see anything film-worthy until I got to the stork nest, but the youngins were puttin’ on quite a show for you this morning. I’ve never seen both chicks so clearly standing at the same time, let alone one spread its wings. Those sure look like flyin’ feathers to me, so it shouldn’t be long now before they fledge, eh? Woo Hoo!

Closer to the ground, well water actually, I spotted my first damselflies here, and they were not wasting any time. These appear to be a pair of azure damselflies (Coenagrion puella). The male has a “head and thorax patterned with blue and black” while the female is “pattern similar to that of the male, but with glittering, glossy green replacing the blue coloring.” I have seen mating damselflies in Estabrook before, but not like this.

Further afield, this little cutie stopped by for a moment, and looks to be maybe a young sedge warbler, but I can’t say for sure. I was at a disadvantage because it kept the sun at its back and took off when I tried to move. Oh well.

On my way back home, I came across another new butterfly for us, this nicely understated speckled wood (Pararge aegeria). It was quite shy and liked to line up with the bright sun so that I had a dickens of a time capturing an image of its pretty wings.

Finally, as I neared the south side of Delft, there was a quartet of white-bellied barn swallows taking a break from their morning hunt on a fence beside the bike path. It took me two tries to learn their level of comfort with me, but when I crawled toward them on my hands and knees, they were willing to grant me this portrait.

And I’m gonna put a comma right here and save some pictures for tomorrow, just in case. Anne and I are thinking of taking the train up to the coast in the morning, which could be fruitful, but I can’t guarantee anything.

PS. Anne made it back safely to my apartment before I did, which is good because she had the key, and so she could let me in.

I visited the wooded cemetery on campus again this morning, but I didn’t get much for pictures. I heard one of the falcons again, and spotted it on the same tower as yesterday, but that was a block away so not really worth the film. I could also hear a chiffchaff and a wren, but they didn’t want to come out to play.

In fact, the only pictures I took today were of great tits, and this is the one that was in focus. They forage a bit like their cousins, the chickadees, hanging every-which-way as they inspect the branches for food.

Luckily for us, I did see a couple of other birds yesterday out in the countryside. In the same water where we saw the bar-tailed godwits, the common redshanks, and the green sandpipers, this time there was a group of Ruffs (Calidris pugnax). It seems “ruff” is their entire name, and the Pedia of Wik doesn’t list a single alias.

They appear similar to the redshanks, so much so that a google search of “redshank vs ruff” lists several articles trying to show and explain the differences. One take-away is that ruffs, especially males, are highly variable, and that’s what I saw, too.

Here’s an “immature” with a “scaly back”.

And here’s a female or non-breeding male “with blotchy markings on the neck and belly.“

I didn’t see any breeding males, sadly, because they are supposed to have “fancy neck ruffs that can be black, white, buffy, reddish-brown, or any combination thereof.”

Lastly, I saw a couple of these, which I thought might be a new bird for us, but it turns out to be a young European starling, just like the ones we see in Estabrook, but before the dark adult feathers come in with little light spots on the ends.

And those are the pictures fit to print.

It was a little grey this morning, but the clouds were not leaking, so I headed out to see what I could see. I had hardly gotten a couple of blocks from my apartment when I heard a familiar call, but I figured it was a gull. When I heard it again, I couldn’t be sure it was a gull, so I stopped to look around. I didn’t see anyone in the air, but a quick glance at the nearest high-point revealed a pair of peregrine falcons, just like the ones we have on the south face of the Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (EMS) building on the UWM campus. Here’s the one that wasn’t shy.

Once I got out into the countryside, I spotted our buzzard again, in its usual spot.

Just beyond the buzzard there were several small birds foraging along the edge of the bike path, and one was kind enough to let me have this close up. Based on its color and its behavior, I thought maybe it might be a grey wagtail, but they are surprisingly yellow. Instead, this little one turns out to be a juvenile white wagtail. The adult white wagtails I’ve seen also like to forage on pavement.

I reached the stork nest at last and found the two youngster starting to show a little orange in their beaks.

And one adult keeping an eye on things from the comfort of a nearby chimney.

Finally, my old buddy Brian wrote in to suggest that mystery bird number 1 is a reed bunting, and at first I thought “no way!” I’ve already posted pictures of a reed bunting, and I checked the immature/female pictures online, and they were far too drab for our mystery bird. But then I scrolled a bit further, and sure enough, there’s our cutie. The first few pictures were just taken with a drab camera, I guess. Here’s one image again, to refresh your memory.

Brian continued and suggested that the second mystery bird is a European greenfinch, and sure enough, the female does indeed have the green over her eye and a bit of yellow on her wing and tail. Same as above.

Ta da! I have the best readers! Thanks, Brian.

I’ve still got some pictures left from the weekend, so here we go.

I believe this little cutie is a chiffchaff granting me a more-intimate portrait than last time.

This, however, is mystery bird number one. It looks like a sparrow, or a bunting, but I can’t find a good match, even though it was kind enough to offer me such nice back and front views.

Same goes for this mystery bird number two. I thought for sure it was a young or female chaffinch or goldfinch, but I can’t get a match on this one either.

At least there’s no mistaking this peacock butterfly. Phew!

If you have any more luck than I have with identifying mystery birds one or two, please don’t hesitate to chime in.