BELGIAN BIRDING

Belgium may not be the best place for birding, but there are some good places. Belgium has 4 neighboring countries: Netherlands, France, Germany and Luxembourg. And Netherlands is better for birding, Germany's Black Forest certainly is better than Belgium. France has many nature reserves. Even Luxemborg is good. So what about Belgium? There are National Parks and Nature reserves  like: Hoge Kempen National Park, Mechel's Broek, Wolvenberg, Oude Landen, and one outside the town of Ghent with some complicated Dutch name. But the nothing compared to the one and only Zwin Nature Reserve. In the town of Zwin; Het Zwin Nature Reserve was an airport, which is now a Nature Reserve. It is one of the few places in Belgium where the white stork (Ciconia ciconia) breeds. We left at 8 from Antwerp. After 1 hour in the car, we reached at 10. We parked somewhere and walked to the coast. Swimming wasn't allowed as it wasn't summer. The beach was surprisingly sandy. We walked to the visitor center. The beach was called gull coast with 6 species of gull: lesser black backed gull, greater black backed gull, Mediterranean gull, little gull, herring gull and black headed gull. Then, we drove towards Zwin. Oh! Did I mention that we saw 4 kestrels on the way to the coast. Once we were almost at Zwin, I saw something that told me we were close. A white stork flew high in the sky. We reached Zwin. Immediatley, I saw a white stork in her nest. I immediately shouted "stop!". The car stopped. The nest was right next to the parking lot. We looked. The nest had a chick. Then, we spotted another nest right next to this nest.

White stork (Ciconia ciconia) and her chick

Then, we went forward. There was a grassland with a pond in the middle. Canada geese, greylag geese, black headed gulls and herring gulls were in there. Then, my father wanted to go to the toilet. We waited. 2 white storks flew into the pond. We waited for 10 minutes, my father didn't come back. He usually takes 5 minutes. Another 5 minutes and he didn't come. We went looking for him. We went into the bathroom. looking for him. He wasn't even there. Then, we spotted him far away. He said he was buying tickets. Then, we went to the restaurant and ate. My father showed us the map. There were many bird hides. We walked to our first one. After walking over atleast 120 stairs, we reached the top. And then, eye to eye with the storks. There were 2 nest boxes. One had a chick. The chick peeped its head out. Then, a goose like bird caught my eye. We went out to look. It was the migratory Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca). 

Egyptian goose (Alpochen aegyptiaca)

We walked away. On the way we saw a place that looked like a hide. We went inside. It was full of bones on display. We walked to the coast. There was a hike along the coast. Faaaar away there was a whole colony of breeding black headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus). We walked along the coast. Suddenly, a white bird appeared in front of us. Hovering in front of us was the common tern (Sterna hirundo). It quickly flew away. The tern appeared in front of us multiple times, letting me get some good photos. 

Common tern (Sterna hirundo) hovering

We walked a bit more. We decided to walk back. We went to another hide. I saw an oystercatcher from far. Then, my mother spottted two pied avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta). 

Pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)

Then, we went to another hide. We spotted the avocets from much closer, however, their heads were underwater most of the time. The oysterchatcher roamed the beach. A common redshank (Tringa totanus) walked around. A pair of Canada geese ((Branta canadensis) had their chicks. Then, my mother said shellduck. I asked where. She saw it through here binoculars. I couldn't spot it. I looked through my camera. I still couldn't see it. Then, 800 meters away, it was sleeping. We had much better sightings in Mechel's Broek a few days after that.

Eurasian oysterchatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)

All children be in the middle...Canada geese (Branta canadensis)

Common redshank (Tringia totamus)

Then, we went to another hide, It had Nothing. Then, on the way back, a white wagtail (Motacilla alba) briefly landed. Then, the next hide. There were 2 dwarf cormorants and one great cormorant far away. Then, suddenly, we spotted a oystercatcher from very close (I mean about 20 meters away). Then, we walked back. On the way, we spotted another place that looked like a hide. There was a big group looking at a few tadpoles in there. Then, we walked inside. Then, connected to a computer was a giant microscope, looking over a container of water with mosquito larvae. The larvae were huge on the computer. He came with another sample:damselfly larvae. They also looked huge. Then, we went to another  bird hide. It had fake birds. Then, we walked back to the car and drove back.