The Wadden Sea is a key area for large numbers of wading birds - even as many as eight million migration birds come to the mudflats from Spring till Autumn! We can find over one million birds staying in the tidal range of the Wadden, whole year round. We already know that shellfish and worms are essential for the surviving of these birds, but we don’t know enough about where those feeding grounds are located. To know more about the feeding grounds of wading birds, where they rest, what they eat and how much they eat in the shallows, researchers are keen on exploring these questions with as less disturbance as possible. Therefore, a camera observation project on Balgzand - based on video images - combined with radar footage is arranged to research the distribution and the behaviour of wading birds in the light of migration, the tide and seasonal changes on Balgzand. The results may be useful for other ranges in the Wadden Sea as well. Simultaneously, researchers are busy with examining the invertebrates, like shellfish and worms – the main food of wading birds as far as we know. Balgzand is located in the North of the Netherlands, close to Den Helder.
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| Balgzand at low-tide and the camera observation range - thanks to Google Earth and Joost Boerboom |
The Balgzand camera observation project is part of the NWO Sea and Coast program. Today I started with my contribution to the camera observation project: determination of the birds that I see on the video, if these birds are foraging or resting, and on what time of day of August they are exploring Balgzand. Although the research markings on the mudflats are not very clear anymore – deteriorated by weather conditions – there is a system on which I can rely to determine which spot I am looking at on Balgzand. We do hope that the camera keeps on working during the cold days. At least, I can use the footage that is already there. I mostly saw oystercatchers, common gulls and common terns passing by in not even half an hour. Spying on wading birds…
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| Artic tern - photographed at Svalbard - is sometimes seen on the Wadden |
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| Common gulls (on the background) and herring gulls (up front) are abundant on the Wadden - Photo taken in Poland |
