Yearly migration flyway

From August onward, spoonbills start to disperse out of their breeding colonies and spread out over The Netherlands. Large groups of several hundreds of birds can then be observed at a few key post-breeding gathering places, including the Lauwersmeer and Balgzand and several other high tide roosts in the Wadden Sea area. In the Delta, spoonbills are gathering at for example Prunje, de Kwade Hoek, Kwistenburg and Saeftinhge. In September, spoonbills start migrating south, following the East-Atlantic coast, to their winter quarters in (mostly) southern Europe and West Africa. Most spoonbills “only” migrate a few hundred kilometers in one go, although some migrate larger distances at once and take a lot of time to rest and refuel before the next journey. Estuaries and other wetlands play an important role as roosting or foraging areas.

Estuaries where many spoonbills stop during migration are the Eastern and Western Scheldt, the Somme, the Seine, the Rhone, the Garonne, Ria Oka (near Gernika) and the Tagus estuary. Other important wetlands are Het Zwin, Le Teich in the Bay d’Arcachon, Marais d’Orx, Santoña Bay, Embalse de Los Canchales in the middle of Extremadura in Spain and Bay of Cádiz.

Historically, most Dutch spoonbills spent the winter in West Africa. However, in recent decades, more and more spoonbills have started to winter in southern Europe. Currently, about half of the Dutch population is wintering in West Africa and the other half in southern Europe (mostly Portugal and Spain).

From February onward, spoonbills start to return to The Netherlands.

For more pictures in the series Chiclana, 17/9/2017: see our blogpost Near Chiclana on the way to Africa