To Texel and back
Having attended and spoken morning and afternoon at the Dutch Birding Vogeldag on 11th Feb, I got to spend the next day with top Dutch birders, Nils Van Duivendijk, Diederik Kok and Jeroan de Bruin . The place was under an arctic ice blast. So following early pick-up we headed north to the famous Dutch island of Texel- Holy ground apparently for Dutch birders! Arriving at the port of Den Helder I was hit by the Smew- quite a few. The guys with me were keen to get on Texel as both Smew and Goosander were potential island ticks. In the end over the next 3 days I saw Smew (and Goosander)- EVERYWHERE. And the boys got their Texel ticks. Some could even be found on the tiniest wee garden pond. A true Smew fest. Fantastic!
You could ‘knock yourself out’ on Smew watching. Early views I thought were great at Den Helder of small flocks
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However over the next couple of days views just got closer and closer.
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Very nice to see this 1st winter male Smew, a plumage I don’t recall seeing in the UK. This bird was on tiny patch of water in front of someone’s house!
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Saw one like this years ago of a returning bird which began as a redhead and eventually after few winters became a corking adult male which gave amazing views on small pond in Whitley bay.
Hello Martin. The last bird is the Katwijk-bird? It’s so strange that we ‘never’ see this plumage, in spite of all the thousands of Smew we can see in the Netherlands if we want to. Maybe we have to look better.
hi Gijs- yes sir this is the young male found straight after we filled up on a big meatball, crazy sauce and chips- thanks to you. I think you saw the bird – maybe Rene rang you? Your comment is very interesting- even you with higher numbers of Smew rarely see this plumage… The meatball must have helped us find it. Thanks!
Hi Martin, I’ve recorded quite a few 1W male Smew over the years. They often arrive looking pretty much like the females and the seem to have a partial moult in the late winter period.