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On census Saturday just after noon, Pieter Tepper and I left town to participate in the 43rd IWC . We headed for the Groninger Wadden Sea coast. 03-44 is the patch that Pieter usually counts, also known as Noordpolder-oost. This is the approximate area on Google Maps. Dressed in several layers of clothing (thermal underwear, jeans, sweatshirt, fleece, winter jacket and waterproof windsuit and gloves), I did not only look like Mr Bib, the Michelin Man, I also walked like one. As I scrambled up the dike and put on my bird watcher beanie, I saw this... ... see the birds?
No, I didn't either. But Pieter had a telescope, you need a telescope to count here, as the birds are quite far away. Bird counts always take place at high tide, but last Saturday, high tide was exceptionally low. It was also quite grey and at the end of our survey it even started to rain. All in all, visibilty was quite bad.
However, I managed to count 50 Brentgeese (they landed 4 meters in front of us) and 3 buzzards that flew overhead. I did see many Common and Black-headed gulls, but I can't distinguish between the two yet. (In winter they look similar.)
Pieter counted these birds in the 3 km stretch we surveyed. (This is the standard form, used for all waterbird counts in the Netherlands: www.sovon.nl/pdf/formulier_watervogelproject.pdf)
Buitendijks (sea side of the dike)
970 – Shelduck - Tadorna tadorna
334 – Common Gull - Larus canus
30 – Herring Gull - Larus argentatus
198 – Black-headed Gull - Larus ridibundus
50 – Brent Goose - Branta bernicla
300 – Redshank - Tringa totanus
938 – Curlew - Numenius arquata
690 – Dunlin - Calidris alpina
13 – Pintail - Anas acuta
139 – Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos
120 – Oystercatcher - Haematopus ostralegus
38 – Teal - Anas crecca
3 – Common Buzzard - Buteo buteo
12 – Meadow Pipit - Anthus pratensis
1 – Grey Heron - Ardea cinerea
Binnendijks (land side of the dike)
65 – Common Gull - Larus canus
20 – Black-headed - Gull Larus ridibundus
5 – Herring Gull - Larus argentatus
After the survey we met up with the other volunteers at café 't Zielhoes, world famous in Groningen, where I drank two Weduwe Joustra Beerenburgers and ate thick pea soup to get human again. Next count is in April or May. :-)  Dutch version
» 8 Comments
1Comment
at Monday, 19 January 2009 16:34
Oh WOW Gwen!!! You guys did sooo well!! Would have LOVED to have seen you all dressed up like the Michelin Man!! :) Glad you had a good time!
2Comment
at Monday, 19 January 2009 16:35
sounds like a fun, if very cold day :-))))...and that soup looks very yummy LOL!
do they release an overall count or is this just for database purposes?
3Comment
at Monday, 19 January 2009 18:16
The results are released, here are the results of the province of Groningen over 2007 (with out the coastal areas - I haven't found my own patch yet :-s)
http://www.avifaunagroningen.nl/in dex.php?option=com_content&view=arti cle&id=139&Itemid=117
(copy, paste and take space out for link to work)
4Comment
at Tuesday, 20 January 2009 13:01
thanx Gwen ;-))
5Comment
at Wednesday, 21 January 2009 22:33
Cool beanie Gwen!
And the soup look very good indeed. I was thinking of you, as the weather was dreadful over here.
Very well done on counting all the birds :-)
6Comment
at Saturday, 24 January 2009 10:17
Gwen, "...970 – Shelduck..."
I think I would of given up at 500 :o
Well done, Gwen and Pieter, those totals are amazing!
7Comment
at Saturday, 24 January 2009 16:01
Yeah, Pieter used one of those count thingies, you know those little click things .. what are they called?
8Comment
at Tuesday, 27 January 2009 15:53
Not sure what they called either but I know what you talking about ;)
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