DISCOVERY OF A NEW BIRD PARADISE IN HOLLAND
During my visits to Holland Riet and I have the tendency to visit again
and again our favourite areas, areas which we know well and which seldom
disappoint us. But for my last birthday my sister had given me a booklet
with two bird walks in every Dutch province, and yesterday (22 May) we
decided to try out one of those, i.e. the Zouweboezem, in the province of
Zuid-Holland, but still within a one hours drive from Odijk. This area is
situated in the Vijfherenlanden, in the extreme south-east of that
province, just south of the river Rhine which here has changed its name to
Lek (Don't ask me why!). It is an archetypical Dutch landscape (with even a
classical wind mill), and this day more than ever, as the weather was cool
and very clear, with a brisk wind, and magnificent, 'typically Dutch'
cloudscapes over a low horizon and a green landscape full of wetlands and
water. Of course the Dutch, in this case the Zuidhollands Landschap
provincial nature conservation society, never can let nature alone (there
is no wild nature anywhere in Holland anymore) ; by judicial changes they
try (and largely succeed, too) to make the area still more attractive for
the wetland birds. So where we parked the car, on a small dead-end road
down from the high river dyke, there was a small area with mud and shallow
water---as if it had been dug out for peat production---, and this was
already full of birds.Both Greylag and Canada Geese had lots of downy
young, and there were also several pairs of Egyptian Goose (now far too
common already in Holland), as well as many Lapwings and Redshanks,
Mallards with young and two beautiful male Garganeys with their broad white
eye-stripes, one of the less common dabbling ducks in Holland.
Walking along the narrow tarmac road we had an excellent view on the
extensive reed fields between us and the open water. Because the new
Phragmites as yet had not grown very tall, many of the reed birds sang from
the dead stalks of last year's reed and were therefore somewhat easier to
watch than normally. There are basically two sorts here. One is brownish,
unicoloured, with a deliberate, not very fast song, which is well described
by their Dutch name of karekiet (they go "karre karre karre, kiet kiet,
erre orre karre kiet kiet''). The other is much more of an enthousiast and
not rarely launches himself in a short song flight; his song is rapid and
varied, but with the same basic croaking timbre--the bird itself is also
brown but striped, and with a clear white eye stripe. This is the Sedge
Warbler , while the other one is the Reed Warbler. There ought to be
further reed warblers here, two Locustellas and the double-size Grote
Karekiet, the Great Reed Warbler, but this day I heard none of them. One
congener, the Marsh Warbler, extremely similar looking to the Reed Warbler,
but one of the best songsters among Dutch songbirds, did occur here, but
typically we found him in an old overgrown orchard---it is much less a reed
bird than the Reed Warbler. There is another songbird, that is common in
the reed-fields here, and that is the spectacularly beautiful Reed Bunting
with its jet black head and white neck ring; its song is 'quite
forgettable, but nevertheless once learned never forgotten'---it sounds as
if the bird never really gets started, but tries again and again. The reed
fields, esp. if there are some alder bushes growing in them, also house the
complete opposite, the most accomplished songster of all, the Bluethroat,
here the race with a white star on its blue breast (At home they have red
stars). These birds used to be very rare indeed in Holland, but have made a
great comeback in later years, and now can be heard many places. Here at
the Zouwe there were many of them this day. (The real Nightingale also
occurs here, and I watched one forage in a dry ditch, buit we unfortunately
did not hear him sing this day)
While watching all these reed birds, which pop up and disappear again all
the time, we were regularly distracted by the sharp cries and elegant
presence of a colony of Black Terns, one of my favourite birds. They
foraged often over the mowed fields, and nested in the 'boezem' , the open
water, full of the yellow Nuphar waterlilies. Most nests were on small
man-made rafts, another service by man to the birds here in Holland. The
extensive reedbeds themselves are of course inaccessible to man---they are
physically dangerous quagmires, and also protection demands that they
remain in peace---, but Zuidhollands Landschap has constructed a several
hundred meters long boardwalk, ending in a viewing screen. Walking this
boardwalk is a very special experience, as one is in the middle of the
marsh, and can watch all the special marsh vegetation, while the marsh
birds zoom around, and one hears now and then even the eerie booming of the
Bittern, a bird that has become uncommon also in Holland. A Spoonbill flies
overhead , then a Grey Heron .But the next bird, though clearly also a
heron, seems quicker and lighter, with a stripy head and flaring toes.
This is a Purple Heron, and it turns out that the Zouweboezem now is the
stronghold of this by now scarce breeding bird in the Netherlands; last
year the colony counted 110 pairs. They are shy marsh birds, but we still
saw them regularly overhead.
We also walked a longish tour through the grazed area in the centre of the
polder, where yellow and pink flowers abound, but the dark red of the Rumex
still dominates the overall vista; how different from the all too many
fields in this country where all 'weeds' are kept out, and grass production
is artificially increased. Lapwings and Black-tailed Godwits protest our
intrusion, and from a row of tall poplars a Cuckoo calls incessantly, one
of the no less than 14 year-birds I gain this one day. Another one are the
two White Storks who stalk a freshly mowed field, but not the pair of Mute
Swans, which have led their three small cygnets, somewhat unexpectedly, to
the middle of a large field, quite far from the nearest water
Also frogs still contribute to the chorus here --this area is also known
for its quite rich herpetofauna (by Dutch standards, that is).
From isolated small trees Common Whitethroats sing their abrupt strophes
and carry out their short song flights, while the rows of pollarded willows
and Hawthorns house a more diverse songbird fauna, with Blackcaps,
Chaffinches, Winter Wrens, and of course the ubiquitous Blackbirds.
Pheasants break away just before our feet, a pair of Buzzards circle
overhead.and later we finally also find the long expected Marsh Harriers.
Overhead there are swallows (of all three species) and swifts galore.
We only have been able to scratch the surface of this wonderfugul and
diverse birding area not too far from Odijk, but no doubt this will in
future be reckoned among our regular haunts.
Wim Vader, Tromsoe
Museum
9037 Tromsoe, Norway
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