Black-headed Bunting - Emberiza melanocephalus
On May 26th 1996 in the late afternoon Eric Bos showed a rabbit to his company on Ameland
(Friesland). One of the girls said: "How cute, but what is that bird next
to it?". It was a male Black-headed Bunting Emberiza melanocephalus! Next day (May 27th) the whole mainland birding scene (c 120 birders) gathered
to see this bird, but it was not on the original spot. It was found at noon by
Rogier Karskens 5 kilometres east. With mobile phones taxis were summoned to
bring all birders from every corner of the island and after a long wait, the bird showed itself for short periods.
The bird was gone the next day (cf Dutch Birding 18: 153-154, 1996).
27 May 1996, Ameland NH; © Arnoud van den Berg.
27 May 1996, Ameland NH; © Arnoud van den Berg.
27 May 1996, Ameland NH; © Arnoud van den Berg.
This was only the fourth record for the Netherlands. A fifth record was only 5 days later, when another male appeared briefly at the Westplaat (Zuid-Holland) on May 31st (cf Dutch Birding 18 (3): 153-154). The first was a male
on May 12th 1962 at De Koog, Texel (Noord-Holland) (cf Limosa 37: 53, 1964), the second a male visiting a garden in Ede (Gelderland) in 2-7 February 1967 (cf Limosa 40: 12-13, 1967) and the third a male in June 4th 1993 at Krimpen aan den IJssel (Zuid-Holland) (CDNA-archives). Until 2014 there are 14 records.
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