Oder delta, Poland

From 19 till 24 October I participated in a photo workshop organized by Menno van Duijn. We stayed in a plain farmer accommodation on the Polish side of the Oder delta, a region that is well-known for its large White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla/Zeearend) population (± 70 pairs). The river Oder runs along the border between Germany and Poland and ends in the Baltic.
When you float around in a small boat with a Polish fisherman that doesn’t understand a word of English and ‘flying doors’ with a wingspan of 2.5 m regularly pass by at close range you become very silent. I enjoyed it very much.
A few impressions, from top to bottom: a) Polish fisherman, b) birch stems, c) nature reserve “Zalewv Szczecińskiego” just before sunrise, and, d) the main attraction.

Hare's Foot

This week, I found many Hare’s Foot (Coprinus lagopus/Hazepootje) on a footpath with chips of wood in the hamlet Hooydonck, close to Nederwetten, the village where I was born. On this photo they are just a couple of centimetres high. This mushroom species belongs to the genus Coprinus, a.k.a. the inky caps.

Number of individuals in a flock

A small experiment. How many birds are visible on this photo? 75, 100, 150, or even more? Take a chance and make a first estimation without really going into the process of counting them. It seems that large flocks are at first sight underestimated, even by experienced bird migration watchers. Anyhow, I did the hard work for you and there are 146 Sanderlings (Calidris alba/Drieteenteenstrandloper) present. And how did you perform? Was my conjecture about underestimation right?