Dode Zangvogels op de Vloedlijn

During the beached bird surveys in the Netherlands from 1969 through 1985 (covering about 22000 km), 5034 passerines were found, the species composition of which is expressed in both table 1 and figure 1. It is remarkable that species measuring 20 cm or more (especially thrushes) seem to be overrepresented in the sample, when compared to other species migrating across the North Sea. This discrepancy is attributed to the swallowing capacity of the larger gull species foraging on dying passerines, which tens to swallow the smaller species entirely, while being unable to do so with larger birds.