According to BirdLife in The Netherlands, due to the comparatively warm weather up to now, many birds who should already have migrated south, are still in The Netherlands.
If winter would really start now, many of those birds would die.
They are birds like the chiffchaff.
And the pied wagtail, which at the annual bird count last year was seen just once, versus 61 times this year.
BirdLife says that bird species who do not like cold winters have become more numerous during the mild winters of recent years.
They include species like the Eurasian wren (winterkoning in Dutch), and kingfisher (ijsvogel in Dutch).
The names of those birds refer to winter and ice, respectively.
However, they both are vulnerable to frosty winters; and have their names from being visible in winter, being non-migratory with no leaves on trees in winter.
Both species are the only species in The Netherlands from families with many more species in warmer climates.
Though there may be global warming effects, many birds from Scandinavian and other countries still migrate to The Netherlands.
Today, quite some great northern divers were seen.
ModBlog 4/7/05 at 5:40PM
Mood: Looking Playing: Beautiful Bird, by Travis
Blue-banded Kingfisher Alcedo euryzona
2004 IUCN Red List Category (as evaluated by BirdLife International - the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN): Vulnerable
2004 IUCN Red List justification This kingfisher is largely restricted to lowland forested rivers [in Indonesia; Malaysia] and, as such, is inferred to have undergone a rapid and continuing population decline as a result of disastrous losses in the extent of this habitat throughout its range.
Family/Sub-family ALCEDINIDAE
Identification 20 cm. Medium-sized river kingfisher.
Similar spp. Common Kingfisher A. atthis smaller, greenish-blue above, lacking breast-band. Voice High-pitched squeaks in flight, harsher than A. atthis.
Population estimate: 10,000-19,999
Comment by Administrator — December 24, 2006 @ 9:31 pm