In many respects autumn was remarkably slow. But November turned everything upside down!

Like in spring (with an Alpine Swift), the girls from De Wulp delivered the highlight of the season (year!).

On 5 November Lizzy sent me a WhatsApp message. She asked if I knew which species was just taken into care. Despite the pics showed a wet and scruffy bird, my pulse raised and I missed a heartbeat or two...

There's a big if  - but another big redpoll invasion could be in the making.

The if depends on stuff like weather conditions, and the exact turn the majority of the wandering birds in Europe will take. But it's obvious that at the moment, a higher number of birds than usual is passing through. And they are early! 

The thought alone is thrilling - two large invasions in a row would be unprecedented ...

First proof that it's the nominate subspecies of Hume's Leaf Warbler that reaches Europe.

Aerobics, the final countdown and warbler taxonomy

Back in the 80s, Hume's Leaf Warbler was still considered a ssp. of Yellow-browed Warbler. Since then not only our hair fashion and taste in music has improved, but also our insights in leaf warbler taxonomy. There are significant genetic, morphological and aco...

Autumn 2016 was nothing less than perfect. But this autumn, well... it was a bit boring to be honest. I missed most good vis mig days, ringing was often impossible due to unfavourable weather, and I hardly saw anything notable in the field. The Hawfinch an Parrot Crossbill invasions were the rare highlights.  

But since November, things seem to have changed a bit. A self-found Richard's p...

On 14 July I stumbled upon a calling Iberian Chiffchaff (ca 45th record) in my hometown The Hague. Since calling birds are probably overlooked in The Netherlands, I wrote a short note on their calls.

Upper and lower pic by Gerjon Gelling

Quite amazing that I was lucky enough to find two of these birds within 3 months! Ageing this bird turned out to be straightforward. In July  juveniles are very fre...

Spring 2016 was mind-blowing: good migration, loads of rarities and a few nice influxes due to seemingly never ending easterlies. But this year's spring was rather odd. In general it was kinda bleak. But I had a fantastic spring myself when it comes down to finding rare birds.

A Blue Rock Thrush on the island of Vlieland was an exciting twitch (2nd Dutch record, new bird for my Dutch...