A 1250+ White Wagtail roost in
Holland, 1966
In early August 1966, in the holidays of
my secondary school, I discovered a night roost of White Wagtail
Motacilla alba in my home town Ede, in the centre of The Netherlands. I
found the roost by just following the small groups of wagtails, from
different angles flying towards an apparently common destination. The
focal point appeared to be just inside a big factory called AKU (later
AKZO). I tried to get a look inside this complex but the gatekeeper
didn't let me in - school boys were just sent away in those days. All I
knew now was that the wagtails had a roost somewhere at a small green
spot with some bushes inside this large complex where a lot of lights
were shining during the night.
However, I was more interested in knowing
how many were roosting here, and I found a good spot for counting them
while they came flying in. Of course I could count them only from one
angle, but I checked a bit and found out that by far the most came
flying in from this angle where I stood, just outside the factory wall.
The areas covered by this very angle were suitable breeding areas for
the wagtails - ruderal town outskirts, and further to the West the large
region with small-scale farming in the Gelderse Vallei. I had actually
seen them flying towards the roost from that far indeed. White Wagtail
was a very common bird in that agricutural area, with lots of
old-fashioned barns, freely roaming pigs, etc. in those days.... I
certainly don't think the bird is as common now but I don't have
numbers. The farming methods are highly intensive now.
The numbers that I counted near the roost
were astonishing, as I would even say after so many years. In the new
standard work (2001) Common and Scarce Birds of The Netherlands, late
summer White Wagtail roosts are mentioned of size varying from tens to 800 birds. And I had at least 1250... I never published the result
except in our local nature youth journal, so I will do it here now again
(I kept the journal).
I counted from 6 p.m. (when there were a
few birds only) until dusk set in and no more birds flew in. The numbers
were:
6 August: 859
7 August: 712 (not so good weather that evening)
8 August: 987
9 August: 1252 (sunset 8.15 p.m.)
10 August: 1211
...Then I went on birding camp to the Wadden Sea I think...
2 September: 409
14 September: 231
22 September: 123
30 September: 157
7 October: 135
(20 March 1967: 95)
