I haven’t been able to take pictures for a couple of weeks, sorry, but I have been able to pay attention to the birds around on my walk to and from work, and I’ve been hearing this guy, a European green woodpecker like the one we saw in Ljubljana, in nearly the same tree for about a week. Well, this morning, it chose to make its characteristic call from a slightly different tree, and I was finally able to spot it, way up high. Woo hoo, this is only the second time I’ve been able to see one, and the first time in South Holland.

A bit further south and a lot closer to the ground, I found a pair of long-tailed tits, also about where I’ve seen them before, but this time it was pretty clear that they are a pair. Here’s one, peeking out from a wall of climbing ivy.

And here’s the other one, with a much wider black eyebrow and maybe a bit more brown on its back, on a nearby tree branch. I got to watch the two flit back and forth between the ivy, that tree, and another tree behind me, and I’ve got dozens of blurry pictures to prove it.

Then, since I don’t have to go to work today, in fact I can’t because they keep the building locked all weekend, I continued south into the countryside where I was treated to the glorious sight of this ring-necked pheasant.

A little bit beyond the pheasant, I came to the stork nest, and both expecting parents were home this morning.

Finally, we’ve got a new bird this morning. There were three of them, and their jet-black back really made them stand out, but this is the one who stayed nice and still for the slow exposure that the gray skies required. Say hello to our first lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus). For my convenience, there were even a few helpful herring gulls around sporting their “pale gray backs and wings”.

Which reminds me, when I was down in Slovenia, another gull posed nicely for me, so I took the picture, of course, but I figured it was just another herring gull, so I never bothered to show you. I did, however, upload the picture to accompany my birding report on ebird, and a keen observer kindly emailed me to report that that was no herring gull. Instead, it is our first, and only so far, yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis). Cool, eh?

And that’s it for today, I’m afraid. There were a slew of birds out there, 51 species that I saw this morning, but the thick clouds just kept leaking, despite even letting the sun peek through once in a while, and I couldn’t get you any more pictures. Maybe next time.

Here are a few pictures from the last three days that haven’t yet “fit the story”, for “reasons”.

First up is an ever-adorable European robin at the edge of the playing fields at the south end of campus Saturday morning. I rarely catch them on the ground like this.

Next is a shot of the falcon clockface yesterday morning with two falcons on it, for a change, one on the hour hand and one in the six o’clock slot.

Here’s one of a couple ring-necked pheasant cocks strutting their stuff out in the countryside on Sunday morning.

And a grey heron on break in the cemetery at the north end of campus Saturday morning.

Finally, the family of Egyptian geese with four goslings in front of my building on campus, which I first spotted last Wednesday, was still doing just fine yesterday morning and voraciously mowing the lawn.

Here’s a close up of just two of the little wiggle worms.

Besides all the newly-arrived migrating birds, freshly-hatched goslings, and nesting grebes, here are some additional signs that spring is on its way in South Holland.

There was at least a half dozen jackdaws on this gnarled tree trunk Saturday morning noisily trying to stake out one of a few cavities that might be suitable for nesting.

Here’s one jackdaw enthusiastically gathering nesting material.

And here’s that same jackdaw right after it has deposited that nesting material behind an ornamental grate in the side of the TU Delft Architecture building. There were about a dozen of these grates in that brick wall, and I could see birds or nesting signs in each one. I don’t know what humans intended the grates for, but the birds sure are putting them to good use.

Meanwhile, at the top of the tower above that same Architecture building, the peregrine falcons sound like they are getting busy with the same task. I imagine that they may find the generous supply of jackdaws immediately below quite handy in the coming weeks.

Finally, there is a willow tree in front of the building on campus where I work that leans out over the same body of water on which I showed you the goslings swimming, and it must have a cavity or two that rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula krameri) find enticing, because there has been at least a pair, and often several pairs, flitting from branch to branch and chattering loudly to each other for the past week. Fortunately for us, they are so engrossed in this activity that they let us get a good look at their namesake rose-colored neck ring for the first time.

I did make it out into the countryside this morning, and I was richly rewarded for my efforts, despite the grey skies.

I was stunned to spot a pair of bar-headed geese (Anser indicus), who are not from around here, at all. Instead, I read that they breed “in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India.” It appears that they have been “introduced” to Europe by “enthusiasts.” In other news, they are “one of the world’s highest-flying birds,” and have been tracked flying over the Himalayas as high as 6,540 meters (21,460 ft). Yikes!

There were also dozens of greater white-fronted geese,

Hundreds of graylag geese,

And hundreds of Canada geese. Here’s a pair showing more size variety than I believe I’ve ever seen before. It gave me hope that I might be looking at a cackling goose (Branta hutchinsii), but I doubt it.

There was also a single pair of northern pintails (Anas acuta), of which I’ve seen females in Estabrook a couple of times, but not a male before;

A dozen or so diminutive green-winged teals, of which here’s a pair who aren’t even as long as a single Canada goose when arranged end-to-end;

And a few dozen common shelducks, just like the ones we saw in Slovenia, but not nearly so far away.

Finally, the white storks are back, and this one has already claimed a nest.

It is not even the middle of February yet, but there are already big changes afoot in South Holland. Flowers are beginning to blossom all over campus, including snowdrops, crocuses, and daffodils; and birds that we haven’t seen for months are starting to appear. Sure, the skies are dark and grey today, but some pictures you’ve just gotta take with the light you have and not wait for the light you wish you had.

I spotted my first oyster catcher of the year yesterday during my walk to work, but I didn’t have my camera with me, so I let it be, and you can imagine my relief when I returned with my camera this morning, and I found two of them on campus busily digging breakfast out of the ground. I guess earth worms are just as nutritious as oysters, but then, I read that “despite its name, oysters do not form a large part of its diet,” anyway.

I’ve been seeing gadwalls since Thursday, mostly drakes, and this morning I was lucky enough to find this handsome pair cruising together.

I saw tufted ducks on Thursday but not Friday, and I was afraid I’d missed my chance, so I was especially glad to find them again this morning. Here’s a drake.

And here’s a hen.

Not all the returnees are water birds, and here’s a long-tailed tit to help me prove that point.

Finally, here is a second hatch of Egyptian goose goslings, three of them this time.

When I first came across them, at the south end of the same body of water on which the ones I showed you Wednesday were camped, I thought they were the same birds but now one short. If the sun were shining this morning, these would literally have been in the shadow of the tower with the clock on which falcons hang out, and there was even a falcon in the six o’clock slot at the time.

Thus, I thought I was putting two and two together when I figured a falcon was responsible for there being only three goslings instead of four, but I am happy to report that the batch of four from Wednesday was safely napping at the north end, where they’ve probably been all along, and this batch of three at the south end was brand new. Phew! Let the falcons eat pigeons, and leave the goslings alone, right? Anyway, here’s a close up of two of the three little puffballs.

So that’s who’s shown up this week, just on campus, and maybe tomorrow I’ll venture further afield to see who else might be around.

Anne and I had a wonderful time in Slovenia, and yesterday she flew back to Shorewood while I flew back to Delft. I had hardly any jetlag to speak of, largely due to staying in the same time zone for the entire trip, so I got out the door bright and early at sunrise this morning, 8:11 am, and I was greeted by a beautiful, sunny day. I counted 17 species of bird on my walk to work, including a falcon back in the six-o’clock slot.

Work was fine, and it was great to see everyone again, but on my walk home for lunch I was stunned to encounter two Egyptian geese, probably the same two I’ve been seeing on campus all “winter”, with four brand-new goslings! Holy early-bird, Batman!

Here’s the entire sextet.

Here’s a close-up of just mama and her rug rats.

Finally, here are two cutie pies starting to go down for their afternoon nap.

Now I know what some of you are thinking. First, this is a non-native species in Europe with “self-sustaining populations … mostly derived from escaped ornamental birds.” Second, it is February, frickin’ 8th, and that’s just too darn soon.

On the other hand, and please hear me out, they are GOSLINGS!

Anne and I took the bus from Ljubljana down to Piran, which is a beautiful old town on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea (Slovenia’s west coast), and this morning we visited the Sečovlje Saltpans Natural Park. The city bus doesn’t go all the way to the saltpans, so we had a nice little hike over a hill and through some orchards, where we met the friendliest European robin I’ve seen so far.

When we finally reached the saltpans, they did not disappoint. We noticed several small birds right away, but they were shy as heck, and I had a devil of a time getting even this image. It turns out to have been worth it for me, however, because that is a meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis), a close cousin of the American pipit we just saw on the Rio Grande in Texas, and yet another bird that I have never seen before.

Another little bird that I managed to capture is this white wagtail, just like the ones we’ve seen in the South Holland countryside.

Farther “afield”, there were many, I counted 94, striking black-and-white ducks, which turned out to be common shelducks, also like the ones we’ve seen in South Holland.

Closer to shore, here’s a common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), whom I have glimpsed in South Holland but have failed to photograph until now.

Also foraging along the water’s edge with the sandpiper was this female black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) with just a hint of red near the top of her tail. I read that “the word “start” in this bird’s name comes from an Old English word for “tail,”” and, by fun coincidence, the Dutch word for tail is still “staart”.

Finally, there were plenty of mallards, mute swans, great egrets, and gulls about, but I was thrilled to finally spot and photograph a little egret (Egretta garzetta), with a black bill and black legs and bright yellow feet.

Slovenia has been quite a gem, and if you ever get the chance to visit, I hope you don’t pass it up.

Anne got herself a paper accepted at a conference here in Slovenia, so I flew down from Delft to see the sights with her. Ljubljana, the capitol, is very nice, and there is a huge park on the edge of town, called Tivoli City Park, which I visited this morning.

Right off the bat, there were quite a few crows, but not like any crows I can recall seeing before. These are hooded crows (Corvus cornix), with traditionally jet black heads, wings, and tails, but with ashy grey bodies.

There were also a bunch of Eurasian nuthatches (Sitta europaea), which look and act like the ones in Estabrook, but their song is different, and they have a prominent black eye stripe and “orangish” bellies.

There were also plenty of great and blue tits around, as we’ve seen is South Holland, but also some marsh tits (Poecile palustris), which I haven’t seen before, and which look a lot like the chickadees in Estabrook.

One of the coolest looking birds I saw was this lone Eurasian green woodpecker (Picus viridis) patiently waiting for someone in the top of this tree.

There are also red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) who have distinctive ear tufts that the American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) in Estabrook clearly lack.

Finally, there was even at least one jet-black squirrel, which I read is merely a melanistic variation.

That’s it for now, and if I see more, I’ll keep you posted

Well, the forecast was correct, and the skies this morning were as grey as clouds that form a thick blanket that blocks out most of the sun. Luckily for us, I have plenty of bird pictures left over from yesterday when the sun was out and the sky was blue.

Let’s start with a great spotted woodpecker, which I didn’t even know came into town, up against some of that beautiful blue. I eventually saw two of them acting as though they were excited to see each other, but I couldn’t tell from the ground if they were excited in a good way or a bad way. I’m sure they’ll sort it out, however, without my help.

An even bigger surprise for me was spotting a Eurasian jay. I saw one or two every so often out in the countryside, but they were shy as heck, and I had a devil of a time getting a picture of one, for you. The ones I saw in town yesterday were nearly tame by comparison.

Plus, there at least three of them, maybe four.

And they were chattering up a storm, which was fun to hear.

You may recall that I got a nice portrait of a female blackbird last weekend, and I lucked out when this male gave me a similar opportunity yesterday.

Another shocker from yesterday was a pair of European goldfinches, whom I haven’t seen in the countryside since October. They are supposed to be here all year, as with the American goldfinches, but not where I was looking, I guess.

It was starting to feel yesterday as though someone had opened a box in town of all the pretty birds I had discovered so laboriously over the summer out on the polder. Here’s a common chaffinch, which I didn’t spot until June 12 and only managed to show you three other times.

Finally, the parakeets were making a racket, as usual, but surprisingly willing to be seen while doing so. And here’s one just showing off in the gorgeous low-sun light against some more of that pretty blue sky.

Besides these beauties, I also saw rock pigeons and wood pigeons; carrion crows, jackdaws, and magpies; blue and great tits; a couple of Eurasian robins and redwings; a song thrush; and even another short-toed treecreeper. Not a bad haul at all for late January, eh?

My apartment in Delft has huge, old-timey windows in one end, and even though they are in pretty good shape, my apartment is a lot warmer if I keep the heavy curtains closed. Thus, I don’t really know what the weather is like outside until I explicitly look, and this morning I was pleasantly surprised to find that the forecast “partly cloudy” had drifted into “mostly sunny” if only for a little while. So I grabbed my camera and hustled out the door to see who I could see.

The cormorants were in their usual spot and this time, one was willing to give us a good look at those magnificent wings. That’s a coot with its head turned in the foreground.

The nesting grebes were still busy at work on their nest. One stayed on it, and the other was busy scrounging up sticks to drag over and add to the pile.

Someone must have gotten too close to the heron, and it retreated to a second-story gutter to let traffic clear out.

And this time I spotted a pair of swans on my first pass. They were flying south at about 20 feet over the river, and I managed to get my camera onto one of them just after they had gone by me.

On my way back south, I found the heron back at the water’s edge, and something in the water must have just caught its eye.

An Egyptian goose was on the lawn behind the heron, and this one was sporting some serious jewelry.

Finally, back at the south end, none of the cormorants had their wings out anymore, but this one was making quite a fist with its foot.

There were also a bunch of black-headed gulls, a few mallards, a few moorhens, and a lone herring gull along the river, and a small flock of graylag geese flew high overhead, which brings the aquatic species count all the way to 11 this time.

The forecast for tomorrow morning is for “light rain”, so my chances of having another photoshoot are pretty slim, and I’ve saved some non-water bird pictures to show you then.