In March
2015 – two days after Magnus Robb and the other The Sound
Approach
members had launched their fifth title ‘Undiscovered
owls’ (Robb & The
Sound Approach 2015) at the annual Dutch Birding day – I had
the honor of showing
Killian Mullarney and Dick Forsman around at my local patch. Our target
bird
was European Rock Pipit Anthus petrosus, as Killian wanted to learn more about the
continental subspecies A p littoralis.
Without much trouble we
located five individuals at IJmuiden’s South Pier. While I grabbed
my camera, Killian took out his notebook. Once on the way back, we
discussed
what we had seen. It turned out that, although I had succeeded in
collecting
some fine documentation, I had not really given the birds a good look.
Killian
on the other hand, had noted all sorts of plumage features, proving to
me that looking and
seeing clearly are not the same. My photographs indeed
showed those
features. Interestingly, a rather fresh looking individual with broad
wingbars stood
out from the more colourful ones with worn median and greater coverts
(and thus
narrow wingbars). Taking notes, capturing images and making
sound-recordings
all play an important role in bird identification, especially when
combined
with a curious mind.
Besides
documenting what the birds look and sound like, it is also worth
recording when
and where they occur and in what numbers. After all, bird populations
are
subject to change. Trends can be very obvious or much more subtle or
confusing.
Range expansions or contractions can take place rather quickly. For
example, when I saw my first Western Great
Egret Ardea alba at Oostvaardersplassen in Flevoland
in July 1991, it was still quite rare in the Netherlands. Up to 1985 it
was even
considered by the Dutch rarities committee (CDNA) (Scharringa &
Winkelman 1986). However, in just two decades this species has become a
common
visitor throughout the country. In 2015 alone I recorded over 400
sightings of up
to a 1000 individuals. At the
other end of the spectrum, Grey Partridge Perdix perdix, European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur, Hen
Harrier
Circus cyaneus and Crested Lark Galerida cristata (considered a rarity from 2015 onwards, Haas et al
2016) are examples
of species with declining populations in the Netherlands. In 2015, I
recorded
only five, zero, four and one sighting of these species,
respectively... |
