Report Private birding tour Lauwersmeer July 26th 2023

Private birdingtour Lauwersmeer July 26th 2023

This wednesday, from 13.00-16.30 hours, a birding excursion Lauwersmeer has been given to a women from the USA. She had neven been in the Netherlands before, but she was an experienced bird watcher. The weather was quite good, it was a dry sunny afternoon, 19 °C and windforce 4. Actually the excursion was supposed to be a day later, but due to the weather forecast it was moved a day.

A White-tailed Eagle and a singing Golden Oreole

We started at the train station in Groningen and drove to the Frisian side of the Lauwersmeer. Along the road we say a Grey Heron and some Carrion Crows.

When we arrived on the parking place, a Goldfinch was singing in a tree. In the grassland, we searched for for the Stonechat, and found a male sitting on the top of the reed. Then we walked on and saw Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Gadwall, Spoonbill and an Oystercatcher near the water and a Marsh Harrier came flying by. Also some Common Terns were fouraging above the water.

We arrived at the hill en enjoyed the view. From there we saw Great Crested Grebe, Tuffed Duck (with ducklings), Mallard, Great Egret and more hunting Marrsh Harriers. In the top of a dead tree, far away, an adult White-tailed Eagle was sitting.

We continued through the forest, where we heard Blackcap singing and we saw an Great Spotted Woodpecker, crawling around a tree. Suddenly, something walked over the path: a Pine Martin. Wow, nice! We walked on and heared a Song Trush and Golden Oreole singing. In a bush sat a Reed Warbler and a Coot with its young was swimming in the water. Then we got to the car and we drove to the second place.

Lots of gulls and some Black-winged Stilts

On the way we saw a field where a farmer was spreading manure, and there were a lot of gulls: Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser and Great Black-backed Gull walked through each other, looking for a tasty snack. Not much later we arrived at the Ezumakeeg, where we first had a look at the lookout hill. Lots of birds were swimming in and walking trough the water: Pied Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Lapwing, Ruff, Shelduck, Barnacle Goose, Greenshank and even a Black-winged Stilt. We also found a Kestrel sitting in the grass.

Then we drove to the next point in the area, where we saw Little Plover, Shoveler and a Buzzard, and a piece of art with the actual size of a White-tailed Eagle female.

At the last point of the Ezumakeeg we first enjoyed a cup of tea with a piece of cake, and then looked for new birds. We saw Teals and Curled Sandpipers in the distance. A Reed bunting showed itself much closer. Then we drove to the harbour, and on the way we saw Curlew, Chaffinch, Jackdaw and House Martin.

Turnstones in the harbour and Snipes in the grass

In the harbor a Black Redstart flew past us before we parked the car, Because it was high tide, the Turnstones were resting in a group, that’s always nice to look at. There were also Herring Gulls and some Oystercatchers.

We decided to drive to a last point for a view over the Lauwersmeer because we had to drive past it anyway. We both still felt like walking a bit, so we walked a bit more at the Jaap Deensgat towards the hut. in the grass we found White Wagtails and a Yellow Wagtail and in the distance we saw a large group of Spoonbills and some Canada Geese (unfortunately no Casarcas today). In the meanwhile some Swifts flew overhead. And while we were looking for Widgeons we also found some Snipes.

We walked back to the car and drove back to Groningen (that’s hard to pronounce properly 😉 ). Along the road we saw a White Stork before we passed the city marker. At the station we really ended the tour and said googbye.

Observed species list

1 Canada Goose – Branta canadensis
2 Barnacle Goose – Branta leucopsis
3 Greylag Goose – Anser anser
4 Mute Swan – Cygnus olor
5 Common Shelduck – Tadorna tadorna
6 Northern Shoveler – Spatula clypeata
7 Gadwall – Mareca strepera
8 Eurasian Wigeon – Mareca penelope
9 Mallard – Anas platyrhynchos
10 Eurasian Teal – Anas crecca
11 Tufted Duck – Aythya fuligula
12 Common Swift – Apus apus
13 Common Wood Pigeon – Columba palumbus
14 Eurasian Coot – Fulica atra
15 Great Crested Grebe – Podiceps cristatus
16 Eurasian Oystercatcher – Haematopus ostralegus
17 Black-winged Stilt – Himantopus himantopus
18 Pied Avocet – Recurvirostra avosetta
19 Northern Lapwing – Vanellus vanellus
20 Little Ringed Plover – Charadrius dubius
21 Eurasian Curlew – Numenius arquata
22 Black-tailed Godwit – Limosa limosa
23 Ruddy Turnstone – Arenaria interpres
24 Ruff – Calidris pugnax
25 Curlew Sandpiper – Calidris ferruginea
26 Common Snipe – Gallinago gallinago
27 Common Greenshank – Tringa nebularia
28 Black-headed Gull – Chroicocephalus ridibundus
29 Common Gull – Larus canus
30 Great Black-backed Gull – Larus marinus
31 European Herring Gull – Larus argentatus
32 Lesser Black-backed Gull – Larus fuscus
33 Common Tern – Sterna hirundo
34 White Stork – Ciconia ciconia
35 Great Cormorant – Phalacrocorax carbo
36 Eurasian Spoonbill – Platalea leucorodia
37 Grey Heron – Ardea cinerea
38 Great Egret – Ardea alba
39 Western Marsh Harrier – Circus aeruginosus
40 White-tailed Eagle – Haliaeetus albicilla
41 Common Buzzard – Buteo buteo
42 Great Spotted Woodpecker – Dendrocopos major
43 Common Kestrel – Falco tinnunculus
44 Eurasian Golden Oriole – Oriolus oriolus
45 Western Jackdaw – Coloeus monedula
46 Carrion Crow – Corvus corone
47 Barn Swallow – Hirundo rustica
48 Western House Martin – Delichon urbicum
49 Sedge Warbler – Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
50 Eurasian Blackcap – Sylvia atricapilla
51 Common Starling – Sturnus vulgaris
52 Common Blackbird – Turdus merula
53 Song Thrush – Turdus philomelos
54 Black Redstart – Phoenicurus ochruros
55 European Stonechat – Saxicola rubicola
56 House Sparrow – Passer domesticus
57 Western Yellow Wagtail – Motacilla flava
58 White Wagtail – Motacilla alba
59 Eurasian Chaffinch – Fringilla coelebs
60 European Goldfinch – Carduelis carduelis
61 Common Reed Bunting – Emberiza schoeniclus

Pine Marten – Martes martes