European vacation: 27 new birds for me

Just got back from an incredible European vacation that included stops in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Edinburgh in Scotland and a few days in London. There were so many great things to see, and, of course, that included birds.

While visiting three counties, I came across 27 new-to-me birds. I’m really happy with that total, but also just a small bit disappointed. For our last day in Edinburgh, my wife booked a private birding tour with a local guy who promised we would see at least 70 different birds – but the gentleman canceled the tour at the last minute after he said he got food poisoning. Oh, what might have been!

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that I saw many of the birds in all three countries – Netherlands, Scotland, England – since they are so close to each other. I was surprised to come across some birds there that look a lot like birds here in Florida but have a few key differences that make them different.

I’ll be posting more about the different European birds, but for now here’s a quick recap of the 27 new birds for me.