Booted Eagle - Aquila pennata
A very popular hobby amongst twitchers (twitching is not
our hobby, it is a way of life...) is butterflies. On July 13th 1995 Niels Gillissen had to survey butterflies at the National Park 'De Hoge Veluwe' (Gelderland) for his girlfriend. Especially the Niobe Fritillary Fabriciana niobeand the Dark Green Fritillary Mesoacidalia aglaja
needed special attention. At the 'Bosjes van Staf' he suddenly saw a bird of prey which turned out to be the third Booted Eagle
Aquila pennata for the Netherlands! This bird, a dark phase
stayed for two weeks and gathered quite a crowd (I saw it on July 15th, my third attempt). The bird showed itself very well (cf Dutch Birding 17: 178-180, 1995) and lots of pictures were taken.
14 July 1995, Hoge Veluwe NP Gld; © Arnoud van den Berg.
15 July 1995, Hoge Veluwe NP Gld; © Marc Guijt.
This was the third record for the Netherlands. The first was a dark
phase bird at the 'Leersumse Veld' (Utrecht) on May 30th 1992, the
second a light phase on April 24th 1993 at the 'Knardijk' (Flevoland).
(cf Dutch Birding 16: 102-105, 1994)
Do you want to go to the main-index, to the 1995-index or the next species, the Bulwers Petrel?