Menno van Duijn

This first winter / second calendar year male Common Kestrel perched nicely on a dead branch. John, who I was guiding on a Birding Netherlands tour, and I sneaked up to the bird using a shed as a shelter.

Last four months I've spend my free time at a non-inspiring habitat, an industrial area. Among the high buildings of offices and parking lots I've photographed wintering Black Redstarts.

Ameland is one of the Dutch Wadden Islands, it's 27 kilometres wide from the east to the western corner and only 2 kilometres at the narrowest point between the North - and Wadden Sea.

Crow's intelligence at work.

This autumn holiday we spent our family week at Texel, a good place to be in autumn for bird migration. I was hoping to find a rare bird so set out when I had the opportunity but had to do with two Little Buntings, Richard's Pipit and Lapland Bunting.At De Koog two immature Waxwings were reported and together with Sven we visited them. Both birds are immatures (first calendar) as they only have the horizontal line on their primaries and not the arches like adults do. The right bird is a male as the throat patch and bandit mask reaches farther then the left bird, making that a female.

Last month I spend a couple of evenings at a construction site. Between the buildings was a mudflat with some water which is an ideal habitat for Little Ringed Plovers. These plovers are very opportunistic and favour these kinds of habitats.

For the third year we've visited Helgoland, a small island about 55 km out in the North Sea and just over four square kilometers. A visit in autumn can't go without seeing and preferable photographing a Yellow-browed Warbler.

Every time I go trough my European bird books I stop at the page with the redstarts. My eye is then caught by the splended colours of the male Common Redstart, yes there are more and even prettier like the Moussier's and Guldendtadt's Redstart (only the name has more status then "Common").

On the 4th of June I guided Peter and his wife for a Birding Netherlands day tour. At the Oostvaarderplassen we came across a very cooperative Marsh Warbler which allow us to photograph him from different angles.

During the migration there's always a change for a nice opportunity. Gijsbert Twigt found a very nice male Kentish Plover (Strandplevier in Dutch) on the beach between Katwijk and Wassenaar. I visited the bird at the end of the (work)day. With some patience and tactic positioning the bird came walking (head into the wind) closer.

Some species of birds always ask for one more photo. So do Great-crested Grebes, in spring they look stunning and at places where there are more grebes around you get some nice interactions.

The best photo is always the one you have in mind. But getting the shot is more of a challenge. On the fist of April a layer of fresh snow covered the landscape. A unique opportunity and tempting to photograph some landscapes or large birds in the snow.