Local Stuff and the Netherlands (04-09Feb2025)

I have been slacking off on my iNat submissions lately but in the first week of February I was still making them.

Kusumaki is a plant in my yard that I never bothered to look up.  Per Wiki:

"Podocarpus macrophyllus is a conifer in the genus Podocarpus, family Podocarpaceae. It is the northernmost species of the genus, native to southern Japan and southern and eastern China. Common names in English include yew plum pine,^[2] Buddhist pine, fern pine and Japanese yew.^[3]Kusamaki (クサマキ) and inumaki (犬槇) are Japanese names for this tree. In China, it is known as luóhàn sōng (羅漢松), which literally means "arhatpine"."

Eventually I will replace my non-natives but for now it is interesting to learn about plants from other places even if they are in my yard.

Here is one that actually is native to the US although I am not sure this is a native variety, Aloe Yucca at Airlie Gardens.  Also known as Spanish Bayonet from the sharp leaves.

Also at Airlie on this dreary day.....

Osprey - some over winter in NC although we don't have many that decide to wait out the cold here.

Bald Eagles on the other hand love it here in the winter and have even nested and hatched a chick already.

Some Scaup flying by the pier, probably Lesser but difficult to ID on a long shot.

Savannah Sparrow at Fort Fisher rocks.

Southern Dewberry grows all over the place in the sandy soil of Fort Fisher.  It provides seeds and berries for all kinds of critters and Marsh Rabbits will eat the leaves.

But it also easily snags on your clothes and can easily trip you up when you walk through it.

Bonaparte's Gull at North end.

Forster's Terns are always good photography subjects.

American Century Plant!  The name is a bit of a misnomer as it usually lives 10-30 years and blooms right before its death.

An Article about Feijoa trees prompted me to order this online.  Feijoas are from South America but apparently are hugely popular in New Zealand as a fruit tree.  The fruit are also called Pineapple Guava and I can't wait to try mine once it fruits.  I may have to wait a long time.

One the 8th of Feb, I hopped on a red-eye flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam.  When I was researching for this work trip to Cannes, France, I saw that most of the flights had huge layovers in Atlanta or New York but some had longer ones in the UK or Amsterdam for comparable prices.  So I selected the Amsterdam one because I had never been and the 8 hour layover was enough time to get out and see a bit of the Netherlands.  Initially I was planning to just catch a train into the city and explore some of the downtown parks, but after talking with my old buddy Jelmer, he suggested renting a car and exploring a bit further afield.  So that's what I did.  The Netherlands in the winter is actually great for all kinds of geese and ducks.  Also, I have always wanted to see a Bearded Reedling so I planned my first stop at a place where they can be found.  My flight arrived so early that I actually had to wait for the car rental place to open and I still arrived at Voglermeerpolder to watch the sun rise.

The sun rising with a windmill blade in front. Classic dutch scenery.

Much of the Netherlands/Holland is agricultural land but it also has tons of reservoirs and waterworks to help keep the farms supplied with water.  This particular spot looked promising for the reed beds that Bearded Reedlings love.  Unfortunately they didn't cooperate for me but I did get to see a ton of birds with geese and ducks constantly flying overhead.

My first Common Shelduck in the morning light.

Many of the birds were very skittish and didn't allow me to get close.  I could hear guns in the distance so clearly the Dutch like to hunt.

A little later I was able to sneak up on one between the reeds.

Great Crested Grebes never get old no matter how many times I get crushing views of them.

I have to say it was a little nerve-wracking that I had very little time and my main target was eluding me so I left the ponds and ventured out into the field where some of my other targets were.  The Dutch have their own version of eBird which I was using to look for sightings of rare birds.  I had four targets for geese:  Tundra Bean Goose, Lesser White-fronted Goose, Red-Breasted Goose and Bar headed Goose.  

The first two were more likely and the other two are regular vagrants in the NLs with some actually being escaped birds so you have to focus on the ones that have been deemed wild.  Its kind of like Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in NC, you have to check the legs for bands or clipped toes etc..

Greater White-fronted Goose - I thought it was going to be easier to find Lesser White-fronted Geese but there are millions of geese to sort through and many of them are far out in inaccessible fields.  The Lesser ones are smaller and have a yellow eye-ring.  So its the equivalent of looking for a Cackling Goose in a flock of Canada Geese.  Spoiler Alert - I never saw a good candidate.

I did finally find a large flock of Tundra Bean Geese, so yay for me!

The Tundras were surrounded by Greylag Geese which I didn't even bother to photograph as I have seen those many times elsewhere.

Nice to get a lifer even if it was the more expected one out of my targets.

I never was able to find the Bar-headed or Red-breasted either, but that is ok because I would rather see them in their natural habitats.

Black-headed Gull - There were a ton of other more common European species which I didn't bother to photograph as I was on a mission but I did snap a view in between.

I was running out of time and was getting a bit frustrated looking for a needle in a haystack so I headed to the east on a coastal area that had plenty of Smew records.  I had seen Smew in the UK in the Royal Gardens but they are not countable.

This was a much easier endeavor and I found many Smew quite quickly.

Smew - such a cool looking duck!

V for Victory!

Common Merganser male

Female

Common Goldeneye

There was a nearby farm field so I drove over.

Northern Lapwing

I could see all kinds of small birds flocking in the fields, probably Meadow Pipits, but I was out of time so I drove back to the airport in Amsterdam.

I left feeling a little unfulfilled but it was nice to color in my Netherlands map on eBird.  I definitely will allow for more time next time I visit.

Next stop, France!!