The Pallid harrier is one of the most elegant birds of prey that occasionally visits the Netherlands. However, in the three years that I'm a birder I had never seen one. Last year a 1st Calendar year animal was seen on the Maasvlakte, but it did only appear after I had left for 10 minutes to go to work. And also the adult male that has stayed in Groningen this winter, thought it was funny to move to another area the day I came over to visit him. But finally last week I saw one! On wednessday, the night before Kingsday, I told Margreeth that I would stay home on thursday. That night, after seeing the notification of a sighting of a Pallid Harrier in Waddinxveen, I told her: "If that Pallid Harrier is spotted again tomorrow, I'll try to  see it, if that's okay". Fortunately she was alright with it.




The next morning I woke up and one view on Waarneming.nl made me jump out of bed! The bird had been seen even before 7 am. So I dressed myself in a hurry and jumped in my car. Immediately after arriving at 't Weegje in Waddinxveen I saw him chasing a Marsh harrier. Despite the difference in size, the pale one wasn't impressed. The tree here the Marsh harrier guarded his breeding wife was a favorite spot.

After a while the pale hunter decided to show off: While singing it flew higher and higher just to show some impressive dives. Even loopings where possible:


 
What an marvellous show! Unfortunately he kept quite some distance and the sun wasn't helping either. So a week later I visited him again, this time in Bentwoud, where he found a new residence. A nice area, very large and with a lot of trails and canals. He flew in the distance over a row of trees, together with four Marsh harriers, too far for nice pictures. I was just thinking that I took the wrong turn, not being able to get closer due to the water, when he took off, leaving the trees and flying over a dike. So I just walked on, following him.

He decided to land in the rye, so that meant waiting.... I had the feeling that he would return to the trees on the other side, but where would he cross the canal and the dike? On one spot there was a fence and a small bridge. If I was the bird, that would be my choice, so I decided to post there. After some twenty miinutes the bird choose air again, and with a zig-zag he went for the dike, right where I choose position! Although the light again wasn't perfect, high ISO, the distance was ideal. So I'm very pleased with these pictures!