Coastal life
About shorebirds
You might notice that this gallery contains several look-alike species. Shorebirds, specifically the Calidris bunch, are my favourite birds, and I adore observing and photographing them. Most of these fit in your hands, but that doesn’t make them fragile. They migrate thousands of kilometres from their Arctic breeding grounds to their more tropical wintering stops.
The other brilliant thing with shorebirds is that they tend not to be scared of people much. If you stay low, keep calm, and let them approach you, you can usually manage some close-up behavioural photos. The front dunlin in the photo to the right responds to the second landing bird by calling.
A special gentleman
In early 2025, the Dutch birding world awoke following a seemingly impossible sighting. A male spectacled eider was spotted swimming near the island of Texel. This dapper duck was far from its usual breeding range of Alaska and Russia. This species showing up here is so improbable that many dubbed him the ‘most unlikely bird in the country, maybe ever’.
Of course, he got quite a bit of attention, as people throughout Europe (and even beyond) visited Texel the following year. On this visit, however, there were no others, and I got incredibly lucky when he swam to shore, where I managed some intimate portraits.
Weeks later, he fell ill and was taken in by a specialized hospital, where, after seemingly recovering, he unfortunately passed away in March 2026.
