Thursday, February 27, 2014

more Bargerveen

The Crane experience, or expedition. Days with mass migration of Cranes are rare and as I realised they were on the move I headed for the viewpoint in Onnerpolder. After an hour in cold wind and no Cranes I decided my best chance would be in Bargerveen, the extreme Southeastern tip of TOH and still an hour drive. But it turned out to be a good decision. Not for the numbers, but as I arrived I immediately saw a flock of big birds coming in from the West, would they be!?
Yes! And they are coming my way!



And still coming my way! By now I could hear them calling.

The sight and sound of a close flock is priceless! A mixture of trumpetting adult and screaming immature birds.
The next hours some more flocks passed, distant and all heading straight East. Many flocks drifted over the Southern part of Holland in the morning but corrected their direction during the day. As a result almost none were seen in Friesland and Groningen.

Another spectaculair sight was the big roost of Starling, close to the German border.


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Monday, February 24, 2014

Spring!!

Today the Cranes officially decided that spring has started! Many thousands migrated over the Netherlands and in the afternoon I was able to enjoy this spectaculair movement on small scale over Bargerveen (154 birds in total).

I will add some more pictures coming days.