Birding in the Netherlands

Focus on rarities

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When and where

Rare birds can turn up everywhere, but do you know where the true hotspots are in every season?

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Wind directions

Where would you go birding when the wind is blowing from the east? And what about the other directions?

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Species groups

Do you know where in the Netherlands rare warblers or other species groups have been found?

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Want to see which birds I managed to connect with? Click here.

#patchgold

What is rare here, is usually common elsewhere. Every patch is different and has its own challenging species. This is no different in my little corner of the birding world.

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NOW COULD BE A GOOD TIME

To search for an Audouin's Gull. This medium-sized gull with its striking red bill has turned up as a rarity in northwestern Europe before. In the Netherlands it has been recorded once on the coast (May 2003) and twice inland (April 2008 and April 2019). It breeds mainly on islands in the western Mediterranean and along the Spanish east coast, but also elsewhere from Portugal in the west to Cyprus in the east. Decades ago, Audouin’s Gull was considered an endangered species. Its global population reached a low of only c 1000 pairs in 1975. Thanks to conservation measures and more available food (particularly fish waste), the population has grown steadily since then and is likely to have peaked at c 25 000 pairs around 2007. However, at present Audouin’s Gull is undergoing a decline again and the species is currently assessed as Vulnerable.

Thanks to all observers who reported their rare bird discoveries to waarneming.nl or dutchbirding.nl and submitted them to the rarities committee (CDNA).

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