TRAVELS

Sahara Atlantique du Maroc


Pictures of my recent trip to the Western Sahara 

Desert Eagle Owl
African Desert Warbler

Dunn's Lark

Western Reef Heron


Lanner Falcon

African Great Cormorant

Mediterrenean Gull

Western Olivaceous Warbler

Saharan Olivaceous Warbler

Thekla's Lark

Tree Pipit

Black-crowned Finch-lark

Atlas Long-legged Buzzard

Western Orphean Warbler


third Fieldfare for the country

Spectacled Warbler (Eric Koops)


Dunn's Lark (Eric Koops)

Cricket Warbler (Eric Koops)

Red-rumped Wheatear (Eric Koops)



Turkey, june 2017

Some pictures of my trip to Turkey with my friends Enno Ebels, Lodi Nauta and Gernant Magnin


White-throated Kingfisher

probable Caspian Reed Warbler

juvenile ochruros Black Redstart

male Lesser Kestrel


male Lesser Kestrel

Greater Short-toed Lark


Cucumiau

Rock Sparrow

libanotica Northern Wheatear

Squacco Heron

Alpine Chough

Collared Pratincole


record shots of Caspian Snowcock by Enno Ebels



California, november 2015


In november 2015 we spent three weeks in november. It was a very fine family holiday with good quality birding: 175 species with 75 lifers. Also some mammals with my first ever bear, an American Black Bear! Along the pacific coast lots of Californian Sea Lions, Northern Elephant Seals, Sea Otters and harbour Seals.


Greater Roadrunner

first calendar Californian Gull

American Crow

Buff-bellied Pipit

Black-throated Sparrow

Black Phoebe

Black Turnstone

Black Oystercatcher

Brandt's Cormorant

California Gull

California Scrub Jay

California Towhee

Clark's Grebe

Western (left) and Clark's Grebe

Double-crested Cormorant

Ring-billed Gull

Forster's Tern

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Glaucous-winged Gull

Heerman's Gull

Heerman's Gull

Hermit Thrush

Hudsonian Whimbrel

Island Scrub Jay

Island Scrub Jay

Killdeer

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Long-billed Curlew

Marbled Godwit

Pelagic Cormorant

Brown Pelican

Bonaparte's Gull

Pileated Woodpecker

Raven

Rock Wren

Royal Tern

Greater Roadrunner

Song Sparrow

Verdin

Wandering Tattler

Western Gull

Western Gull

first calendar White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Western Willet

Yellow-billed Magpie

Harbour Seal

Island Fox

Jack Rabbit

Northern Elephant Seal

Northern Elephant Seal

Sea Otter

California Sea Lion

California Sea Lions



Madeira, august 2015

In august 2015 we spent a week at Madeira. Main goal for me were the seabirds Had six new species (nine for the WP)
Zino's Petrel, Desertas Petrel, Bulwer's Petrel, Madeiran Strom Petrel, Trocaz Pigeon and Madeiran Firecrest were lifers. In addition Great Shearwater, Cory's Shearwater and Wilson's Storm-petrel new for my Western Palearctic list.
Of further interest were Madeiran Barn Owl, Madeiran Chaffinch, both splits in the future, I guess!

madeirensis Berthelot's Pipit





a few of the many Bulwer's Petrels

Atlantic Canary

Cory's Shearwater



Long-tailed Skuas



Madeiran Chaffinches







Wilson's Storm-petrels


Trocaz Pigeons




Tenerife, february 2014

From the 17th to the 23rd of February 2014 we visited Tenerife with the family. The fact that we had a family holiday ment that I had to concentrate on the new species and didn't bird as I am used to. No problem off course. Although the weather was bad (cold, cloudy and some rain) we had a nice week off.

Birds on Tenerife (a volcano island, are few and far between, but it is quality rather than quantity that makes Tenerife birding special. I saw 29 wild species of birds with a total of 19 new taxa, including seven new species. New: Laurel Pigeon, Bolle's Pigeon, Plain Swift, Blue Chaffinch, Atlantic Canary, Canarian Chiffchaff and Berthelot's Pipit
Some other interesting birds included Canarian Goldcrest, Canarian Blue Tit, Canarian Chaffinch, Atlantic Yellow-legged Gull, North African Raven, Canarian Blackbird, Canarian Robin and Barbary Falcon. May be some of these result in armchair ticks in the future.
All birds were easily found, but the two pigeons were quite difficult due to bad weather and habitat destruction. Had some luck with the swifts as I saw only once a group of 20 in the mountains.

Blue Chaffinch teydae


Canarian Chiffchaff. Note long bill and short wings. Song very distinctive with a kind of Cetti's Warbler quality

Berthelot's Pipit

Atlantic Yellow-legged Gull

Barbary Flacon (?). It is claimed that large falcons on Tenerife can also have characters of Peregine Falcon F peregrinus broke as a result of hybridisation. I didn't see this bird very good and just took some pictures, but it seemed to me a  Barbary Falcon due to the small moustachial stripe and the very light grey upper parts. I didn't see the neck.
I saw only two birds. One far away and this one hunting for some ten minutes above the hotel. Think it is quite difficult (and very annoying) when other large falcons for hunting purposes are involved.

Canarian Great Spotted Woodpecker. Note the characteristic brown tinge to the breast.

Canarian Goldcrest

Canarian Blackbird


Florida, april-may 2013

From 15th of april to 6th may 2013 I made a birding trip to Florida, United States, with my brother and parents. Main purpose was to see as many bird species as possible and of course photography.
Florida means lots of birds and easy birding. It is being said that winter is presumably best as many north american species winter in Florida, but spring offers besides some remaining wintering species loads of migrating birds, mainly warblers and shorebirds. We traveled almost the whole of Florida, including the Panhandle and the Keys. Off course we made the trip to the Dry Tortugas as well. The Dry Tortugas is a group of remote islands which attract many migrating birds, especially during spring.
We saw a total of 211 species, including 88 lifers for me.
Good birds were Florida Scrub Jay, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Piping Plover, Mississippi Kite, Antillean Short-eared Owl, Antillean Nighthawk, Acadian Flycatcher, Thick-billed Vireo, Cave Swallow, Golden Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Western Spindalis and Shiny Cowbird. Besides that, we found a very good bird for the United States, the below depicted Black-faced Grassquit, a straggler from the Bahamas. It was present for a few days on Key Biscayne and consequently twitched by many, the last being in 2002.



Black-faced Grassquit, best find of the trip




Florida Scrub-jay, endemic to Florida

Cape May Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Palm Warbler

Northern Parula

Yellow-throated Warbler

Veery

Grey-cheecked Thrush

Swainson's Thrush

Black-and-white Warbler
Northern Waterthrush

Grey Plover

Grey Plover

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Snowy Plover

Snowy Plover

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Ruddy Turnstone

White-rumped Sandpiper

Willet

Piping Plover

American Coot

Anhinga

Black-crowned Night Heron

Cattle Egret

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Least Bittern

Little Blue Heron

Reddish Egret

Snowy Egret

Wurdemann's Heron (White morph Great Blue)

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Tricolored Heron

Limpkin

Barred Owl

Black Vulture

Broad-winged Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk

Northern Crested Caracara

Northern Crested Caracara

Eastern Screech Owl

Eastern Screech Owl

Osprey

Swallow-tailed Kite

Turkey Vulture

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelicans

Pied-billed Grebe

White Ibis

White Ibis

Lesser Scaup

Mottled Ducks

Black-bellied Whistling Duck (and Mottled)

Sandhill Crane (southeasren pratensis)


Sybrand and crane

Magnificent Frigatebird

Brown Noddies

Laughing Gull

Laughing Gulls

Ring-billed Gull

American Herring Gull

Cabbot's Tern

Caspian Tern

Royal Terns

Royal Tern

Royal Tern

Sybrand checking gulls

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

American Crocodile

Common Ground Dove

Mouring Dove

Mourning Dove

Sora

my Dad and Sybrand

Bachmann's Sparrow

Bachmann's Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Boat-tailed Grackle

Common Grackle

Northern Cardinal

Indigo Bunting

Eastern Kingbird

Grey Kingbird

Grey Catbird

Marsh Wren

Marsh Wren

Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Meadowlark

Northern Mockingbird

Scarlet Tanager

Summer Tanager

Loggerhead Shrike

Orchard Oriole

Western Spindalis

Bank Swallow

Bobolink

American Crocodile

Grey Squirrel




The Attack of the Grackles


Ecuador august 2012


From 03-08-2012 to 26-08-2012 I visited my good friend Dusan Brinkhuizen, who lives in Ecuador. Together we traveled the east slope of the Andes, from 4000m to the foothills varying from 1300 to 600m and Amazonia. In Amazonia we stayed two weeks in Sani Lodge (9 days) and Napo Wildlife reserve (4 days). It was hardcore 24/7 birding and this trip resulted in 684 species, of which 72 heard only (c. 11%).

This is an incredible high total, thanks to Dusan, who knows the sounds, which makes finding the birds much easier. Besides that we had a very competent guide in Sani, Domingo!
Best birds were Agami Heron, Zigzag HeronHarpy eagle (distant views), Red-and-green Macaw, Spot-winged Parrotlet, Long-tailed Potoo, Great Potoo, Occelated Poorwill. 50 Species of hummingbird with Fiery Topaz being the best, Rufous-headed and Red- necked Woodpecker, Brown Nunlet, Greater Scythebill, 60 species of antshrike/bird/wren, best being Wing-banded Antbird, Cocha Antshrike and Bicolored Antvireo. Further five species of antthrush (Rufous-capped, Barred, Striated, Black-faced and Short-tailed), 11 species of antpitta with the first ever good pictures of White-lored Antpitta, 91 species of flycatcher, Black-necked Red Cotinga, Southern Martin (only the second for Ecuador and the first to be documented by photo's) and 75 species of tanager.


Greater Scythebill

White-lored Antpitta, below first ever movie of it


Hoatzin

skulking Black Bushbird

Zigzag Heron (photo by Dusan Brinkhuizen)
Orange-eyed Flatbill

Long-tailed Potoo

Occelated Poorwill on nest



Southern Martin (second recording, first photo for Ecuador). This drab species should be commoner in Ecuador.  It is a quite common austral winter lowland visitor to Peru. We found it by checking the Grey-breasted Martins...

Rufous Antpitta

Hoatzin

Long-tailed Potoo

Long-tailed Potoo (same bird)

Stout-billed Cinclodes

Tawny Antpitta

Black-chested Mountain Tanager


Blue-crowned Trogon

Cinnamon Flycatcher

Amazonian (White-tailed) Trogon

Golden-green Woodpecker

Black-fronted Nunbird

Black-capped Donacobius

Black-bellied Cuckoo

Ladder-tailed Nightjar

Long-billed Woodcreeper

Long-tailed Sylph

Many-banded Aracari

Many-spotted Hummingbird

Rainbow-bearded Thornbill

Red-capped Cardinal

Rufous-collared Sparrow

Shining Sunbeam

Slate-colored Hawk

Smooth-billed Ani

Southern Yellow Grosbeak

Torrent Duck


Great Kiskadee


White-eared Jacamar

White-eared Jacamar


White Hawk


Blue-throated Piping-guan


White-lored Euphonia


Slender-footed Tyrannulet


Blue-grey Tanager (amazonian type with much white in the wing)


White-throated Toucan

Yellow-billed Jacamar

Yellow-tufted Woodpecker
Yellow-browed Sparrow

Yellow-billed Nunbird

Agami Heron
Agile Tit-tyrant
White-tailed Hillstar



Thailand january 2011

In the last two weeks of january 2011 we visited Anne's family in northern Thailand. Anne's father drove us to places like Doi Inthanon, Bong Borapeth, Chiang Saen, Mae Sai and so on. It was a leisure birding trip with a good deal of tourism with side trips to Laos and Burma.
I managed to see about 160 new species, which I consider a good result for a family visit. Thailand in winter is a very good place to see some would-be vagrants to western Europe. I saw among others Two-barred Warbler, Arctic Warbler, Siberian Rubythroat, Thick-billed Warbler, Brown Shrike, Taiga Flycatcher, Brown Flycatcher and Pallas' Grasshopper Warbler)

Olive-backed Sunbird


Olive-backed Sunbird


Blue-tailed Bee-eater


Blue-tailed Bee-eater


Barn Swallow (photo by Anne Karliczek)


Long-tailed Shrike

                               Chestnut-tailed Minla (photo by Anne Karliczek)


Grey Bushchat


Striated Heron


Dark-backed Sibia


Intermediate Egret


Thousand of Lesser Whistling Ducks


The usual suspects


Purple Swamphen


Lineated Barbet (morning fogg)


Red Collared Dove


Oriental Darter


Siberian Rubythroat (photo by Anne Karliczek)


Paddyfield Pipit


Paddyfield Pipit

Spotted Dove


Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker


White-vented Myna

                                Chinese Pond Heron


                                Shikra

Failed to see these (last confirmed singhting 1980...). This at the monument for the White-yed River Martin at Bong Borapeth (photo by Anne Karliczek)




Ecuador august 2010

Slaty-backd Forest Falcon

In july-august 2010 I visited my friend Dusan Brinkhuizen, who's living in Ecuador as a bird guide. Together we made a very succesfull trip to the Choco area of northwestern Ecuador. During this 20 day trip we had an amazing 519 species. Best birds were among others Rufous-crowned Antpitta (14 species of Antpitta), Long-wattled Umbrellabird, Club-winged Manakin, Black Solitaire, Indigo Flowerpiercer, Golden-chested Tanager, Moss-backed Tanager, Star-chested Treerunner and White-rimmed Brush-finch. We also managed to find a new species for the northwestern lowlands: Slaty-backed Forest Falcon. That species occurs only in the eastern foothills of the Andes


Ecuadorean Thrush

Club-winged Manakin


Black-breasted Puffbird


Andean Emerald


Black-cheeked Woodpecker


Blue Cotinga (photo: Dusan Brinkhuizen)


Blue Cotinga


Blue-fronted Parrotlet


Blue-headed Sapphire


Blue-winged Mountain Tanager


Booted Rackettail


Masked Trogon


White-whiskered Puffbird


Western White-tailed Trogon


White-rimmed Brush-finch


Flavescent Flycatcher


Giant Antpitta (the famous Maria)


Golden-chested Tanager


Oilbird (photo by Dusan Brinkhuizen)


Star-chested Treerunner aka Fulvous-dotted Treerunner


Plate-billed Mountain Toucan

Silver-throated Tanager


Common Potoo

Crested Quetzal

White-capped Tanager


Tanager Finch

Crimson-mantled Woodpecker

Golden Tanager

Golden Tanager

Golden-breasted Puffleg

Great Thrush


Green Thorntail


Green Honeycreeper


Rufous-tailed Hummingbird


Slate-throated Whitestart


White-necked Jacobin


White-necked Jacobin female


Sword-billed Hummingbird

White-lined Tanager


Scaled Fruiteater


Velvet-purple Coronet


Velvet-purple Coronet


Toucan Barbet


Brown Violetear

Spotted Antbird


Chestnut-backed Antbird









During march 2005 my brother Sybrand and I visited Colombia. During that trip, which was guide by Jurgen Beckers, we discovered a new species for Colombia, Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus. Back than I didn't have a camera, so not many pics of myself

photo by Jurgen Beckers

This bird was resting between lot of waders at Riohacha at the caribbean coast of the mainland