After a business meeting in Amsterdam I spent three days birding in the Netherlands. From Amsterdam I rented a car and drove to the Flevoland province; I followed indications from a number of books and Internet reports, but while on my own I only saw more or less common species, although for me it was fantastic to see hundreds and thousands of Barnacle and Brent Geese, species that we may occasionally see in Spain in very small numbers.

I was lucky to contact through the internet with Jan-Joost XX (I have lost his last name and address since then; he changed jobs and didn’t leave a new address behind), a Dutch birder who offered to take me around on the 19th. A dedicated world birder and twitcher (he was connected to a rare bird alert beeper service), it was thanks to him that I saw Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis), Bewick’s Swan (Cygnus columbianus) and LesserWhite-fronted Goose(Anser erythropus) around the Rhine Delta area. As a curiosity, we found an Emperor Goose (Chen canagica) among a large flock of Greylag Geese(Anser anser). It was most likely an escape, although it wasn’t ringed.

The very few Red-breasted Goose found among the huge flocks of Barnacle and other Geese can be surprisingly difficult to spot while they keep grazing with heads low, which is most of the time (see photos). On top of that, the weather was overcast and windy, not very good for photography.
Other nice species included many Smew(Mergellus albellus)near Lelystad, Bittern(Botaurus stellaris) near Harderwijk and Goldeneye (Bucephala clanga) between Groningen and Lawerdoorf. I saw a family of Grey Partridge(Perdix perdix) crossing a road, a species uncommon and difficult to see in the mountains in northern Spain.