a day off for mom

I just had my first all-bird day in Belgium. I went with Belgian friend Mady and a French bird club to an environ. educ. center & restored wetland near Chimay, BE (town where 1 of the 6 original trappist beers is brewed). Mady and I have birded on several occasions but this was our first grand day out. Mady's studying to become a nature guide and she knows about plants, moss, fungi, etc., including the huge yellow thing growing next to my head. When we watch birds, we usually use four different names (scientific, Dutch, English, French) to make sure we're talking about the same bird, which can be fun but confusing.

The agenda called for a birdwalk in the am and pm, with a pique-nique and aquatic tour midday. Now, if you're like me you're wondering "what the heck is a pique-nique"? Sometimes it seems the obvious is not so obvious. Or my brain capacity is too small or underutilized. Well, it turns out it's just as it sounds ... a picnic! And what do my fellow French birders drink for lunch, but of course Chimay beer! And when they found out I was American they started swearing about Bush and politics. They lightened up, however, when I began speaking Dutch and divulged that "mijn man is Nederlander". After that, Mady and I made a quick exit and got back to the fun stuff, like trying to find reed warblers and buntings.

And for those interested, here's the list of 38 birds we saw, which includes 6 warblers. Some of these birds make spectacular migrations, like European garden warblers which begin their journey in central Africa and fly all of the way across the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea, returning in a giant circle by way of the Strait of Gibraltar and across the desert again. That's my plug for International Migratory Bird Day, which was celebrated yesterday (mostly in North America I believe, as birders here have never heard of this event). Happy birding!

great crested grebe
mute swan
egyptian goose
canada goose
pochard
tufted duck
mallard
great white heron
coot
black tern
little ringed plover
common sandpiper
barn swallow
purple house martin
pied wagtail
chiffchaff
chaffinch
short-toed creeper
song thrush
long-tailed tit
blue tit
european cuckoo
wood dove
spotted flycatcher
reed bunting
reed warbler
goldcrest
garden warbler
blackcap
willow warbler
redstart
greenfinch
European goldfinch
blackbird
tree sparrow
house sparrow
crow
starling