Every corner of the country - December 2008

One week birding tour: Every corner of the country.
December 18th - December 24th 2008

Introduction
After several visits to Europe in the past, Ron and Marcia decided to look for possibilities to fill the gaps in their European bird list. After looking for options on the internet they decided to go to the Netherlands, because a lot of geese, owls and woodpeckers that were missing on their list would occur there in winter.
Marcia contacted Pieter at Birding Holland (www.birdingholland.com) and sent him a list of birds they still needed in Europe. They agreed on an itinerary that included most of the birds still missing on their list. Pieter told them that the expected number of lifers for them would be between around 30 if everything would work out according to plan.

Target birds
Obviously most of the target birds were in the “hard to see” category, including birds like:

. Tawny Owl
. Eurasian Eagle Owl
. Red-breasted Goose
. Lesser White-fronted Goose
. Taiga Bean Goose
. Black Brant*
. Pale-bellied Brant
. Twite
. Water Rail
. Middle Spotted Woodpecker
. Shag

*As it turned out the species Ron and Marcia still needed was Dark-bellied Brant rather than Black Brant, as the latter is the one that occurs in the USA. Nevertheless, all three species/forms of Brant were seen during the trip.

Ron and Marcia also indicated that if any rarities would be found while they were in Holland, they wanted to try to see those as well. This resulted in seeing two rare bird (Ferruginous Pochard and Little Bunting) and two very rare birds: Snowy Owl and Hume's Leaf Warbler!

In the end they managed to see 27 lifers and a total of 124 species! Most birds that were on the list of possible lifers were seen, but some (e.g. White-tailed Eagle (very poor weather), Taiga Bean Goose (hunting in the area) and Great Bittern (a bird reported earlier had already left) were missed.

Weather
The weather varied from very poor the first day with rain and low visibility, to stormy on the third day and wonderful in the end with dry sunny days. The temperature ranged from 0º to 10º Centigrade (32 to 50 Fahrenheit).

Hotels
During their stay in the Netherlands, Ron and Marcia stayed in Hotel Umberto in Wijchen and hotel Avifauna in Alphen aan den Rijn. These hotels are centrally located for most areas and allowed for a late start and an early return most of the days.

Miscellaneous
All logistics were taken care of by Pieter, the owner and one of the guides of Birding Holland (www.birdingholland.com/aboutus). Pieter was the guide for the entire period while Remco joined them on days 3 and 4.

In the e-mail contact Ron and Marcia indicated that they wanted Pieter to take care of all meals including diners, which are not included in the regular price for a multiple day tour. The diners included eating out some evenings and home made meals on other evenings. During the day breakfast and lunch were enjoyed close to the birding spots and the coffee and hot cocoa were very welcome on the colder days!

Special thanks go to Johan van 't Bosch, Niels Gilissen, Bertus de Lange and Luuk Punt for providing us with the latest updates on where to find specific target species.

ITINERARY

Thursday, December 18th 2008
After picking up Ron and Marcia at the gate of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, we drove to the first area close to the airport to look for ducks and especially Smew. The weather is rather poor today with some rain, but most of all it is very dark and somewhat gloomy. Because of this it is very difficult to see distant birds, so we miss the Red-crested Pochards that are usually found here. Fortunately a female Smew is present, as are hundreds of other ducks, including Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Goldeneye and Common Pochard.

Our next stop is a site for Ferruginous Pochard, a returning wintering bird. After parking the car we walk through a city park to the area for the pochard. The walk is productive, yielding Blue and Great Tit, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and a Short-toed Treecreeper. Only after carefully searching the banks on the other side of the water we are able to find the Ferruginous Pochard. The bird is a male and we get good views of the bird, including the white eye.

On to the main birding area for the day: Oostvaardersplassen, a huge wetland area with a lot of different habitats and good birds. The weather has deteriorated even more and by now the visibility is really poor. Our first stop here is a site that is good for Water Pipit, a lifer for Ron and Marcia. Even though usually 5 to 10 birds are present here, we fail to find one. Walking towards the area we pass 7 Common Mergansers in a canal, only 40 feet away from us! Suddenly Pieter hears a Water Pipit calling, but he is not able to locate the bird. Only after scanning the grass inch by inch he finds it, but when pointing out the bird to Ron and Marcia it flies off and it is not seen again.

The star birds in this area are the resident pair of White-tailed Eagles and their offsping. It is not possible to enter the area, but a few vantage points provide good spots to scan the area. To our disappointment the visibility is so poor that we are not even able to see the shore on the other side of the lake, meaning we have no chance of seeing the eagles today...
We decide to go to one of the hides in the area to have a late lunch and while eating we see birds like Smew (this time two gorgeous males!), Great Spotted Woodpecker and Bearded Reedling. Ron picks up some movement in the reeds and sees parts of a bird that can only be a Water Rail, but the views are uncountably brief.
After lunch we are ready to go back to the car, but when Pieter looks at the lake one more time, he sees that a pair of Whooper Swans have come close to the hide. Ron and Marcia get excellent views of this life bird!

On the other side of the reserve there is an elevated viewpoint, from which the White-tailed Eagles can sometimes be seen, but here the visibility is just as poor as it was on the other side of the reserve. Because we only get views of Great Egret and a lot of Red Deer, we decide to leave the area and drive to the center of the country where Pieter knows two spots for Tawny Owl.

When arriving at the first spot it is immediately clear that this bird will not be visible today. Because of the cold and rain it wisely decided to stay well inside the tree. After a short drive we arrive at the second site for the Tawny Owl, a bird that Pieter sees here 4 out of every 5 visits. Today is a proverbial fifth visit as this bird remains out of sight as well. A short walk in the area gives a very confiding Goldcrest, approaching us to less than 3 feet. We wait until dark at the owl site, but to no avail, the bird is not to be seen today.

We decide to end the day here and with 8 lifers and after enjoying an excellent home made typical Dutch meal Ron and Marcia go to their hotel early for a long night sleep.

Friday, December 19th 2008
Today's targets will be mostly forest birds as we head to the extreme south of the country. We decide to start in a forested area in the southeast where we have a good chance for birds like Lesser and Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Crested Tit and Hawfinch.

As we arrive at the spot at daybreak it has just stopped raining. We first have breakfast and then go for a walk in the forest. To our surprise the forest is completely quiet. After half an hour of walking we haven't even heard a single bird! As we get to the edge of the forest, birdlife becomes visible and we see a group of Long-tailed Tits and an European Nuthatch. Walking through the farmland we add Hawfinch, Robin, Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare and as we walk back to the car Ron first finds a pair of Crested Tits feeding on the ground, followed by a small group of Marsh Tits feeding in the undergrowth, both life birds for Ron and Marcia.

Back at the car we have some time left in our schedule so we decide to take a walk in the forest across the road, finding more Marsh Tits, but also a Middle Spotted Woodpecker, another lifer!

Our next stop is a site which holds a pair of resident Eurasian Eagle Owls. Pieter knows the regular daytime spot for this bird, but despite careful searching from several vantage points we are unable to locate the bird. The whitewash present on the rocks tells us that the bird has been present here recently, but not today unfortunately. We do see a confiding Green Woodpecker, a Hawfinch taking a bath, a Dunnock and a few Yellowhammers, making this stop worthwile after all.
Because the Eagle Owl is one of the targets for this trip, we decide to first have lunch and then look again. No matter how hard we look at the daytime roosting area, the bird is simply not there..... Before giving up on this bird, Pieter decides to take a look at a different rockface, finding the bird! The bird is somewhat distant and very well camouflaged, but in the end everybody sees it sitting on the rockface.

The search for the owl took much longer than expected so we have to skip a few sites and we head for a site that sometimes has Caspian Gull. Before we reach that site, Pieter notices a large mixed group of gulls and after carefully scanning through them he finds one Caspian Gull, lifer #5 for the day!
Having found this bird so quickly gives us some room in the schedule again and we decide to drive north again where we can try to see two more lifers: Little Owl and Crested Lark.

The Little Owl is not present and when we get to the site for Crested Lark – an industrial area where one does not expect to find any birds at all – it is almost dark already. We park the car and split up to improve our chances of finding the birds. This proves to be unnecessary as Pieter finds the birds almost instantly, feeding in between the parked trucks.

After diner we pick up Remco who will be joining us the coming two days and we bring Ron and Marcia to their hotel.

Saturday, December 20th 2008
An early start makes sure we arrive at the only area in the Netherlands where Black Grouse still survives. Unfortunately it is very windy today, not a good condition for finding the grouse and we fail to find one, but Remco does find a Great Grey Shrike here.

Over the past few days a Hume's Leaf Warbler, a rarity, has been reported in the north of the country. Because this area sometimes also has White-tailed Eagles we go there, hoping to see both. The site for the Hume's Leaf Warbler is completely lifeless, not a single bird to be seen. After walking and looking in the area for about an hour, we decide to give up on this bird, but when we walk back to the car we meet two other birders who have just seen the bird and after two minutes the bird returns, giving excellent views while sometimes calling.
We also get a brief view of a Northern Goshawk and see a few of the 40 Hooded Crows that winter in this area.

Because of the very strong wind we are unable to locate the White-tailed Eagles (they are reluctant to fly in strong winds) and we move to the nearby coast. While having our lunch, Remco is scanning the surrounding area, finding birds like Greater Scaup, European Oystercatcher and a group of 30 Eiders, including one beautiful male!

The only remaining possibilities for lifers for Ron and Marcia for today are Red-breasted Goose and Eurasian Golden Plover. Two Red-breasted Geese have been reported in an area nearby. Eurasian Golden Plovers also regularly winter in this area and when we arrive there we immediately find close to a thousand plovers close to the car! There are also two large flocks of geese, but we are unable to find a Red-breasted in the first flock. While Ron and Marcia enjoy the Eurasian Golden Plovers, Pieter finds one of the Red-breasted Geese in the second flock. Because the meadows here are full of ditches and gullies, it is very difficult to get a good look at the bird and we decide to drive on to another part of the reserve, where we may get better views.
We are not disappointed, as Remco soon finds the second Red-breasted Goose and both are getting closer and closer to the car, eventually coming to no more than 120 feet from us, giving excellent views!

We start our long drive back to the hotel, eating some typical Dutch birding food for diner.

Sunday, December 21st 2008
A birding tour of the Netherlands is not complete without visiting one of the Wadden Isles. Today we are going to Texel, the most northwestern of the islands. Before taking the ferry we try for two lifers: Taiga Bean Goose – recently split from Tundra Bean Goose – and Tundra Bean Goose. The latter winters in large numbers in the country, but Taiga's are usually very difficult to find, so we go to an area where they both have been reported in the past week. Because of hunters in the area the day before however, the birds are extremely wary and try to get as far away from the road as possible, all tightly grouped together in a flock of over 5000 geese.
Fortunately a small group of Tundra Bean Geese is visible closer to the road and we get good views of them.The other flock is unfortunately too distant to allow for a thorough check for possible Taigas.

We drive towards the ferry, only stopping to look for Pale-bellied Brant. Remco finds the bird, but before everyone has seen it, the flock takes to the wing and flies off. A hybrid Black Brant x Dark-bellied Brant is seen by everyone though.
The ferry itself has Black-headed Gulls, a Red-breasted Merganser and a male Eider.

On the island there are a few targets: Black Brant, Pale-bellied Brant, Snowy Owl, but most of all Twite, a rather non-descript bird that is very hard to find anywhere. We know of an area where a group of more than 50 of these little birds has been seen recently, together with – for Dutch standards – large numbers of Horned Lark and Snow Bunting.
After parking the car we walk close to an hour to reach the site. Upon arrival we almost instantly find the flock that we are looking for, but the Twites are very difficult to discern, as they are the smallest of the three species in the flock, feeding in similarly-coloured Salicornia.

We walk around the flock, trying to get the sun in our backs, but as soon as we are in a good position, the flock flies up. After 20 minutes of looking, but not getting any decent views of the Twites, we finally succeed when one of the birds is walking out of the taller Salicornia and starts feeding in an open area.
On the walk back an immature Northern Goshawk flies past us but other than that the walk is rather uneventful.

The next stop is the Snowy Owl. This bird has been on the island for a few weeks now and she (it's a female) seems to be very sedentary, staying in the same area. The wind is very strong when we get to the site, but the owl is found quickly. Since this bird is not a lifer for Ron and Marcia we leave this side of the reserve quickly and drive to the other side where a large flock of Brent Geese is feeding. While Ron and Marcia are having lunch, Remco locates a Pale-bellied Brant in the flock and this time everybody gets a good, though distant, view of it.

On our way back to the ferry we visit a few more sites seeing birds like Common Redshank, Dunlin, Eurasian Curlew and Greater Black-backed Gulls.A mixed flock of geese is thoroughly checked for Pink-footed Goose, of which 4 were seen there earlier in the day, but apart from 2 Black Brants (a rarity in the Netherlands with fewer than 10 wintering), we do not find anything else.
We drop Remco off at a trainstation and continue to our diner and the hotel for the night.

Monday, December 22nd 2008
Because of better logistics we decide to swap the itinerary for today and tomorrow, birding in the province of Zuid-Holland today. This day should give a lot of chances of lifers, though when we start at a site for Great Bittern, the bird is not there.

A Black-throated Diver has been seen on a lake nearby, but when we arrive at the lake the bird appears to be not there. After scanning the lake for the second time, Pieter finds the bird on the other side. The birds keeps swimming closer, but when it disappears behind a small island it is not seen again, not even when we drive around to look at the other side of the island, a fortunate sighting indeed!

On the coast of The Hague there have been several good birds reported in the past week.
When we get there we quickly find today's second lifer, a Rock Pipit. The bird sits on one of the boulders next to the jetty and can be seen very well. The Shag and Glaucous Gull that were reported are not to be seen however.
When walking back to the car we find a Common Murre sitting on the beach. The bird is severely affected by an oil spill and is barely able to move anymore. After finding a group of Sanderlings and well over 100 Purple Sandpipers we move on to the next site, where we hope to find a Lesser White-fronted Goose.

Even though we find the group of Greater White-fronted Geese in which the Lesser White-front should be present, the group is too far away for such a difficult ID, so we decide to drive to the other side of the polder.
The target bird here is Pink-footed Goose, another lifer. When we meet another birder looking at a group of geese, he tells us he is looking at a blue phase Snow Goose, a rare bird in the Netherlands. Fortunately there is also a group of Pink-footed Geese present and Ron and Marcia are able to get good looks of those.
A few kilometers further on there are some nest boxes for Little Owls and when scanning the farm yards there, Pieter spots one sitting in a willow, the fourth lifer for today!

After having had excellent looks of the Little Owl, we relocate to the second largest city of the Netherlands, Rotterdam, where a Little Bunting – again a rare bird – has been found a week ago. When we finally find a place to park our car, we walk to the spot and see two photographers with long lenses pointing at the bird even before we see the bird itself.
The bird can be approached rather closely, seemingly unaware of our presence.

With new birds coming this quickly, we have more time in our schedule than expected, so we decide to try again for Tawny Owl, a bird we missed the first day. When we get to this third site, we find that people have been working close to the roosting tree today, and unfortunately the owl is not to be seen.

Our last site for today is the same site where we started this morning, looking for the Great Bittern again. This bird is notoriously difficult to find in the reeds and today is no exception.
We go to the hide overlooking the reed beds hoping for a better angle, but the Bittern does not show itself. Suddenly Ron finds another lifer, a Water Rail walking out of the reeds into the open, the sixth lifer for today!

Tuesday, December 23rd 2008
We start our last full day early in the morning at the Tawny Owl site and this time the bird is visible when we arrive. One of the more difficult birds to see in Europe to start the day with must be a good sign!

When we drive to the southwest of the country the fog hasn't disappeared yet, so when we arrive at the site where we hope to see Lesser White-fronted Goose, we first have a cup of coffee before we enter the area.
But even before we arrive at the proper area we find several Lesser White-fronted Geese close to the road, allowing for good views.

Because there are no other life birds to be expected in this area we drive to the North Sea coast where we hope to see Shag, a bird that winters there.
When we arrive at the spot we find the Shags not present at their usual roost, so we drive to the end of the road for lunch. We scan the inland part of the water finding Curlew, Slavonian Grebe, European Oystercatcher and Red-breasted Merganser, but no Shag.
We finish our lunch and Pieter decides to scan the water again, this time finding the Shag perched on an islet. When the Shag flies past us 5 minutes later, we realize how lucky we have been with seeing this bird.

The last target for the trip is Long-eared Owl. These birds roost in a pine tree at a cemetery close to the hotel and are found after some careful searching. The Long-eared Owl is the fourth owl species of the week and a good bird to end the trip with!

Wednesday, December 24th 2008
Pieter picks up Ron and Marcia at their hotel in the morning and brings them to the airport in time for their flight.

This has been a successful trip with 124 species seen, including 27 lifers. Highlights included 31(!) species of Anatidae (3 swans, 12 geese, and 16 ducks), 4 species of owls and rarities like Snowy Owl, Hume's Leaf Warbler and a splendid Little Bunting!

View the full trip list.

© Birding Holland 2008

ZUID HOLLAND AND AIRPORT SURROUNDINGS.

September 7th and 8th 2008

Introduction
On his way back from a meeting in Eastern Europe, Bill wanted to see some of Hollands birding highlights. He considered renting a car and driving to the birding areas himself, but after looking at the Birding Holland website (http://www.birdingholland.com/), he concluded that going on a private tour would be comparable in price, but much better in experience.
Birding Holland suggested an itinerary for Bill based on his target birds and also suggested a conveniently located hotel. They agreed on a full day of birding in the Oostvaardersplassen and a few hours the next morning in the airport surroundings, because Bill had to catch a flight home at 1 PM.

Target birds
Bob is a very experienced birder and he had visited Europe several times before, so there were only a few target birds on his list:- Purple Heron- Eurasian Spoonbills- Marsh Harrier- Montagu's Harrier- Spotted Crake- Tawny Owl- Little Owl- Bearded Reedling- Pied Avocet
Some of these birds (Montagu's Harrier, Spotted Crake and Tawny Owl) had either already migrated south or were not possible on this itinerary, so the focus was on the other birds.

Weather
The weather was extremely difficult for birding the first day: very strong winds with almost continuous rain. The second day was slightly better, but still had some heavy rain showers.The temperature ranged from 15º to 20º Centigrade (58 to 68 Fahrenheit). As a result it proved impossible to find a large number of species, but we still managed to see over 100 species, including some rare ones!

Hotels
Because Bill was in between flights, Birding Holland suggested a hotel that was both close to the airport and conveniently located for the pick-up and drop-off.

Miscellaneous
All logistics were taken care of by Pieter, the owner and one of the guides of Birding Holland. Bill arrived on his own at the hotel after a short train ride and was met by Pieter upon arrival. Pieter suggested that, instead of going to the Oostvaardersplassen, it would probably be a good idea to change the itinerary and to go birding in one of Holland's rarity hotspots, the Maasvlakte, because a lot of hard to find birds had been seen in that area during the past days. Bill agreed to go there and they also agreed on a pick-up time for the next morning.Remco, one of the other guides of Birding Holland (www.birdingholland.com/aboutus) would join them for the trip to the Maasvlakte.
With a return flight at 1 PM the second day, Bill only had a few hours available for birding. The birding on this day was spent looking for birds we had missed the first day, as well as some birds that were not possible the first day.

ITINERARY

Sunday, September 7th 2008
Pick up at the hotel at 6.15 AM and drive to the Maasvlakte, close to Rotterdam.Our first target for today is a couple of Dotterels that had been reported in this area over the past few days. Upon arrival it is raining and very windy and it becomes clear that finding birds today will be a challenge. After a short walk through the area Remco finds the Dotterels, an adult and a juvenile, and puts them in the scope for excellent views.

In spite of the weather the area is heavily birded and several people are birding different parts of this huge area. Walking back to the car we pick up a Wheatear and when talking on where to go next, Remco gets a phone call from another birder, telling him he has found a Greater Whitethroat and a Common Redstart close by. These birds are in a small row of little bushes, but still prove to be challenging to find. The Common Redstart is the first one to show, and a little bit later the Greater Whitethroat, Bill's first lifer of the day, is seen as well.

Our good contacts with the other birders prove to be very rewarding: we receive a call about an Ortolan Bunting nearby. After picking up two Whinchats and a couple of Eiders, we quickly relocate to the area where the Ortolan Bunting has been seen. Unfortunately the bird was flushed just before we arrive and can now be anywhere in the area. A Merlin chasing a long-tailed buff-breasted probable bunting, which might very well have been the Ortolan Bunting, fails to catch it and then turns its attention to a Meadow Pipit. First we follow the spectacular chase of the Merlin, then, with 3 other birders, we set out for the place where the probable Ortolan Bunting landed, but unfortunately we fail to locate the bird.

Remco and Bill continue walking through the area while Pieter gets the car to pick them up at the other end. The long walk has only yielded Linnet, Sky Lark and a Garden Warbler and by now things start to look grim: heavy winds, strong rain and only 10 species of birds in more than 2 hours of intense birding. We decide to relocate to another part of the Maasvlakte, looking for birds on the way. A hot cup of coffee with some snacks while looking for a Wryneck gives us a more positive look on things again and a when we notice a small group of Eurasian Spoonbills, another lifer for Bill, we are in good shape again.

A vantage point overlooking the sea and a sandy beach, looks very promising, especially when we are told that an adult Pomarine Jaeger has been seen 5 minutes before our arrival.It has started raining again and being directly on the coast, where the wind is so strong that looking through the telescope is almost impossible, we have to spend half an hour in a hide, waiting for the rain to stop. Even though the Pomarine Jaeger never resurfaces, the waiting is fruitful with two hunting Parasitic Jaegers, an Osprey, a Black Tern, some distant Harbour Seals and a group of Sandwich Terns.

Enough is enough, and as this weather is getting the better of us, we decide to go to a small wetland, a little bit more inland, where the wind should be less.
Upon arrival at the site we find the wind is indeed not as strong as before, but the rain is just as bad. While hiding under our umbrellas we scope the area and find waders like Red Knot, Ruff, Common Sandpiper, Dunlin and Northern Lapwing. When we hear Long-tailed Tits calling in the woodland behind us we walk there, finding not only the Long-tailed Tits, but Great and Blue Tits, Chiffchaffs and a Kingfisher as well. In the meantime one of Bill's target birds, Pied Avocet, has appeared in the wetland, allowing for excellent views.

On our way to the next stop that is to be the most important site for the day, Bill picks up a Peregrine Falcon, a good bird for today. Fortunately the rain has stopped and we can see a large feeding flock of Common Terns, Black Terns and Black-headed Gulls. After parking the car we climb the dike to see what birds are present at the other side. When Bill first sees the tidal mudflat area where there are literally thousands of birds (the conservative estimate we made is well over 25.000 birds!) it takes him a while to catch his breath again, what a site! The site is a feeding and roosting area for waders, gulls and terns and we are able to add birds like Eurasian Curlew, European Oystercatcher, Black-bellied Plover, Kentish Plover, Greater Black-backed Gull, Little Gull, Little Tern, Eurasian Shelduck, Greater Scaup, Goosander and Bar-tailed Godwit.

Our route then takes us to the Brouwersdam, one of the dams that was created as part of the Delta Works. The dam is a barrier between the North Sea on one side and the large Grevelingen Lake on the other side, preventing the sea from coming in during storms.In spite of the strong wind there are a lot of people here, mostly out at sea windsurfing, so they don't interfere with our birding. On the rocks we are able to find birds like Ruddy Turnstone, Common Ringed Plover, Sanderling, and Eurasian Oystercatcher. In winter this area is very good for Purple Sandpiper and Long-tailed Duck (they have not returned from their breeding grounds yet) and grebes. It is possible to see 5 species of grebe here in winter, but we also do very well, with four species: Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, a summer plumage Red-necked Grebe and an Eared Grebe.

Because we still haven't seen many songbirds we decide to drive back and take a walk to a hide where we expect some songbirds during the walk and some ducks and waders from the hide. We start with a number of Tufted Ducks on the creek and two minutes into the walk a Cetti's Warbler bursts out with its explosive song and Bill even manages to get a glimpse of this rare and skulking warbler. Other songbirds during the walk are Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Winter Wren and from the hide we are able to add Green Sandpiper and an adult female Marsh Harrier to our list and we realize we will have seen a respectable number of species at the end of the day.

Before the day is over however, we still have some sites to visit and the first stop has Barnacle Goose and Greater White-fronted Goose present. Crossing the road, we walk to a hide that is well known for seeing Osprey in August and September. When we reach the hide we don't see any Ospreys, but we do see a large group of Eurasian Spoonbills nearby and a nice juvenile Marsh Harrier eating a prey on the ground. While admiring the Marsh Harrier an Osprey comes in, eating a fish and flying off a few minutes later, and best of all, an European Kingfisher perches on a stick only 20 feet from the hide, staying there for several minutes, allowing us to appreciate every detail of the bird, even the rarely seen barring on top of the head.

When driving back to the hotel, Remco does a quick count and mentions we have seen over 90 species today. Nobody would have guessed that many birds after the first 3 hours of birding this morning!After a nice warm diner we try for two more birds, Little Owl, which we fail to see as this bird is notoriously difficult to find in strong winds, and White Stork, a bird Bill has only seen during his childhood. We do see the Stork standing on the nest, but the light is fading, so we decide to try again for these two birds tomorrow.

Monday, September 8th 2008
Because Bill has a 1 PM flight to the US, we have to be at the airport at 10.30 AM, leaving only three and a half hours to go birding. After picking up Bill at 7 AM we drive to a wetland area about 5 minutes from the hotel. This area can be good for songbirds, waders and ducks and we quickly hear a European Robin calling. Because of the heavy rainfall the water level is too high for any waders, but we do find a Garganey in eclipse plumage, a trip bird. The adjacent farm has some post-breeding Stock Pigeons that we get excellent views of.

On our way to a site for Purple Heron we pass the Little Owl site again, but unfortunately the bird is nowhere to be found. The drive through the typical Dutch landscape is very nice and when we arrive at the site for Purple Heron we are almost immediately rewarded when Pieter spots a late juvenile bird, sitting at the side of the road. Most Purple Herons have left Holland by now, but fortunately we still manage to find one. Amazingly, only one minute after having seen the juvenile bird, Bill picks up an adult Purple Heron, giving excellent views!

A quick stop at a good site for Red-crested Pochard indeed yields this species, but the birds are incredibly far away and the views aren't exactly great, but when we drive to our final stop one single Red-crested Pochard is swimming in a canal next to the road, giving excellent views. The site itself is crammed with birds, mostly Greylag Geese, but we are also able to add a few trip birds like Wood Sandpiper, Little Egret and Black-tailed Godwit and we get excellent looks of flying Eurasian Spoonbills and feeding Common Snipes.

When walking back to the car we see two White Storks feeding in the meadow. When they relocate to another field, they soar overhead and we get perfect views of this magnificent bird!
After a 20 minute drive we arrive at the airport and Bill is dropped off at the check-in counter for his flight home.

View the full trip list.

© Birding Holland 2008

Birding in the Oostvaardersplassen and Zeeland

August 18th and 19th 2008

Introduction
While visiting their daughter in the Netherlands, Bob and Ione wanted to go birding for a few days. They didn't want to drive themselves, nor did they want to browse the internet for birding locations in the Netherlands, so Bob started looking for a birding company that could provide a hassle free trip and found Birding Holland www.birdingholland.com.
Bob contacted Birding Holland and explained what he had in mind for their birding trip. Pieter, the owner of Birding Holland, suggested an itinerary for them and agreed to pick them up and drop them off at their daughter's house.

Target birds
Bob and Ione wanted to get a taste of the Dutch bird life without having any specific target birds.

Weather
The weather was rather wet on the first day and very windy with heavy showers on the second day. The temperature ranged from 18º to 21º Centigrade (65 to 71 Fahrenheit). In spite of this rather difficult weather for birding we managed to see no less than 112 species!

Hotels
Since they were staying with their daughter, Bob and Ione only used one conveniently located hotel at the end of the first day in Alphen aan den Rijn.

Miscellaneous
All logistics were taken care of by Pieter, the owner and one of the guides of Birding Holland www.birdingholland.com/aboutus. Bob and Ione were picked up at their daughter's house in Barneveld on the first morning and from there they drove to the Oostvaardersplassen.

At the end of the day Pieter took them to a hotel in Alphen aan den Rijn, a 10 minute drive from their final birding location for that day.
The second day took them to the province of Zeeland in the south-west of the country, visiting several sites along the way. A short detour took them to a forested area in the central part of the country, where Bob and Ione could enjoy some of the forest birds specialities of Holland, before returning to their daughter's house, just 20 minutes away.

ITINERARY
Monday, August 18th 2008
Pick up in Barneveld by Pieter at 6.30 AM and drive to the Oostvaardersplassen. Upon arrival at the first stop, the rain is still coming down heavily, so we decide to have a cup of coffee first. A good decision, because after about 10 minutes it stops raining so we can have a relaxed walk to the vantage point. The walk itself is not very productive, with only Winter Wren, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Gadwall and Eurasian Reed Warbler, but the vantage point doesn't disappoint us.

Birds like Herring Gull, Common Redshank, Great Crested Grebe, Greylag Goose and Northern Shoveler are all present and allow for good views. The best bird possible in this area is the world's second largest raptor, White-tailed Eagle, that has been breeding here for a few years. While scanning the treeline in the distance, Pieter finds one of these magnificent birds sitting in top of a tree. The bird, a juvenile, is apparently drying itself after the rain and doesn't want to move. Even though the bird is perched quite far away, it is still possible to appreciate the huge size of the bird.

Because we have found our target bird for today at the first stop, Pieter decides to go the northern end of the reserve to look for gulls and terns that may be present there. After a short drive we stop at the first stop on the dike where we see a House Martin and Bank Swallow as we get out of the car and surprisingly, also a Common Swift, a bird that should be gone by now. Across the road there is a small rocky island where a lot of birds nest. We see Common Tern, Black Tern, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Stock Pigeon, Common Sandpiper and the largest gull in the world, Greater Black-backed Gull. At close range Linnet, White Wagtail and Yellow Wagtail are showing off well, allowing us to take several good pictures of them.

When Pieter hears Bearded Reedling calling, we cross the road and look for them in the reeds, but the birds remain hidden. Amazingly we do find the two adult White-tailed Eagles, and much closer than the juvenile we had seen earlier. The lighter colour and their white tails are very well visible at this distance.

Our next stop is at the visitor's centre where there is a hide which usually has some Spoonbills close by. We are not disappointed, because one is only two meters away! On the island in front of the hide, several Northern Shovelers and European Goldfinches are also very well visible.

While it is still dry we decide to take a walk into the reserve. The birds are not cooperating at first, but as we get to the second part of the reserve they start appearing: Spotted Flycatcher, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Willow Tit, Great Tit, Winter Wren and a female Blackcap are all present and add to our list.

After a quick stop for House Sparrow (becoming increasingly difficult to find in Holland) and White Stork, we drive to the southern end of the reserve where Pieter has a site for European Kingfisher. The bird is very much hidden behind some vegetation, but when Pieter tells Ione where to look, she can't believe how pretty and cooperative this bird is. It instantly becomes her bird of the trip!

Our last stop in the Oostvaardersplassen is a vantage point overlooking the reserve. It is also a good place to enjoy lunch while looking at the hundreds of wild horses and large groups of Red Deer. The only new bird for today's list here is a common sight for Bob and Ione: Canada Goose.

What should have been a 45 minute drive to our next site, turns out to be twice as long because we get stuck in a traffic jam caused by an accident ahead of us. When we finally get to the site, we are not disappointed however. This newly formed wetland is as always teeming with birds, mostly ducks and waders: Common Snipe, Green Sandpiper, Ruff, Northern Lapwing, Common Redshank, Gargeney, Northern Shoveler, Eurasian Wigeon, Eurasian Teal, Eurasian Spoonbill, Common Pochard and Marsh Harrier make this a very productive stop.

On our way to the final stop for today Pieter decides to spend some time to look for the beautiful Purple Heron. There is a large breeding colony not too far out of the way and this opportunity is too good to pass, even though it will probably take some time before we see one flying overhead. When we enter the reserve Ione first spots another European Kingfisher and shortly after that finds a Purple Heron standing in the reeds closeby! Another productive stop and it has only cost us a few minutes.
The last stop for today is a stake-out for Little Owl. The trees the birds are usually in have been pruned so it takes a little searching before we find one. Even though the bird is only seen in flight, it still is a very good bird to end the day with!

After a short drive Pieter drops off Bob and Ione at their hotel and they agree on a pick-up time for tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 19th 2008
Pick-up at 06.30 AM. One of the first birds we see is a miss from yesterday: Lesser Black-backed Gull. On our way to our first stop we add European Kestrel and White Stork to the list.

Our first stop is a small, newly formed wetland in the northern part of the province of Zeeland. On the shores and in the shallow waters there are a few waders like Common Redshank, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper and Northern Lapwing. Because of a construction crew working next to the reserve there are fewer birds here than expected, so we quickly relocate to the other side of the reserve, where we add Little Ringed Plover and Ruddy Shelduck, a rare migrant.

A giant tidal mudflat area where there are literally thousands of birds is our next stop. The area is a roosting place for waders, gulls and terns and we are able to add Eurasian Curlew, European Oystercatcher, Little Tern, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover and Eurasian Golden Plover. Unfortunately a strong wind is blowing and we have to move on to the next site.

Our route takes us to the Brouwersdam, one of the dams that was created as part of the Delta Works. The dam is a barrier between the North Sea on one side and the large Grevelingen Lake on the other side, preventing the sea from coming in during storms.
Because of the strong wind there are very few people here, a huge advantage because now we can easily find birds like Common Eider, Ruddy Turnstone, Common Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Eurasian Oystercatcher and Whimbrel.

A nature development area close by has a lot of birds present, but a limited number of species: Barnacle Goose, Dunlin, Egyptian Goose, Eurasian Spoonbill and Greylag Goose. A hide at the other side of the reserve finally gives us Pied Avocet, a bird that has sofar been missing today.

A viewpoint overlooking some inland lakes and wetlands has Red Knot, Common Tern, Eurasian Wigeon and Spotted Redshank. Our lunch stop is a short drive away, overlooking a grassy area resembling arctic tundra. No arctic birds here, but no wind either because we are sheltered from the wind by a dike. Apparently dikes can block more than just water!

Because the wind is still blowing and it has started to rain as well, we decide to leave the province of Zeeland to try our luck inland, where there should be less wind. On our way there we have two more stops, one for Eared Grebe (which we find close to the car between two heavy showers) and one for Greater White-fronted Goose. This bird has a broken wing from being shot and can't follow the other geese on their way north in spring. We are able to spot the bird quickly and unexpectedly also see another Purple Heron fly over.

Our drive to the central part of the Netherlands is in constant rain, but fortunately it stops a few minutes before we reach our final stop for this trip, a woodland area with some forest birds.
Without any doubt the best bird here is a Tawny Owl which has a roost in the area. After some careful searching we are able to get good views of this bird, which is apparently not disturbed by our presence.

After having enjoyed this very difficult to find bird we make a short walk in the area and are lucky enough to find a small feeding flock with birds we have not seen before on this trip: European Nuthatch, Willow Warbler, Coal Tit, Crested Tit, Goldcrest and Long-tailed Tit.
Realizing how very fortunate we have been with this flock we stop birding and walk back to the car, only to be surprised by the last addition to our list, a European Robin sitting in a garden, just two meters away!

View the full trip list trip list.

© Birding Holland 2008

Birding in Zeeland and the island of Texel

Zeeland and the island of Texel

July 15th and 16th 2008

Introduction
Dennis and Sarah had visited the Netherlands before, but in order to see as many as possible of the bird species they had not seen before as possible, they decided to hire a birding guide from the Netherlands to help them with this.
While looking for information on birding in Holland, Sarah came across www.birdingholland.com, a website for guided birding in the Netherlands and she decided to contact them well in advance to book the two tours she wanted to go on.Since all tours by Birding Holland are private tours, all Sarah had to do was ask for a specific date and tell which tours she wanted to take.

Target birds
There was only one bird Dennis and Sarah really wanted to see: Bearded Tit, a species that had eluded them on previous visits to the Netherlands.
Even though Bearded Tit (also called Bearded Reedling) is rather difficult to see in July, we managed to get very good looks of a family, flying around in a reedbed on the Island of Texel.

Weather
The weather was mostly dry with a bit of rain on the first day and a lot of wind on the second day. The temperature ranged from 18º to 22º Centigrade (65 to 72 Fahrenheit).
HotelsDuring their stay in the Netherlands, Dennis and Sarah stayed in a hotel in the centre of Leiden and they were dropped off at their hotel on the island of Texel at the end of the second day.

Miscellaneous
All logistics were taken care of by Pieter, the owner and one of the guides of Birding Holland (www.birdingholland.com/aboutus). Dennis and Sarah were picked up at their hotel in Leiden the first day by Pieter. On their way south to the province of Zeeland they picked up Teus, the other guide for their tour.The second day Pieter picked them up at their hotel in Leiden again and they again met Teus, this time close to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. At the end of the second day Dennis and Sarah were brought to their hotel on the island of Texel, since they wanted to spend an extra day there after their birding tour.

Dennis and Sarah wanted to see a few of the sites of the famous Delta Works, which came into action after the disaster floods of 1953, so we visited some of these as well.

July isn't exactly the month that comes to mind when thinking of a great number of species that can be seen, but we managed to do well with an astonishing 109 species the first day and a total bird list of 122 species!

ITINERARY

Tuesday, July 15th 2008
Pick up at the hotel in Leiden by Pieter, at 6.00 AM and a short drive to the town of Delft to pick up Teus, the second guide for the tour.
When we stop to buy some breakfast for Dennis and Sarah – the hotel kitchen wasn't open before they left – we start birding and kick off with two good species, a pair of Turtle Doves and a Green Woodpecker flying across the road.

Our first real birding stop is a small, newly formed wetland in the northern part of the province of Zeeland. On the shores and in the shallow waters there are waders like Common Redshank, Pied Avocet, Ruff, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper and Eurasian Oystercatchers. Fortunately there is a lot more to see than just waders and after seeing ducks like Shovelers and Mallards, songbirds like White Wagtail and 6 species of gulls, including a Mediterranean Gull, we leave for the next site already having seen more than 50 species!

Teus had prepared this itinerary by visiting most of the sites in the previous weekend and he takes us to a giant tidal mudflat area where there are literally thousands of birds, all feeding or resting. It becomes apparent pretty quickly that we are going to see a lot of birds today: not only the expected waders and Eurasian Spoonbills are present, but we also see rare birds like Caspian Tern and a Ruddy Shelduck and uncommon birds like Little Tern. While overlooking the mudflat Golden Plovers and Common Terns fly by, all adding to our day list.

While driving to our next stop, Dennis sees a Marsh Harrier and since we are stopping to get a good look of the bird anyway, we have some coffee and enjoy one of the many Dutch specialities Pieter has brought, stroopwafels (a sort of caramel waffles).After finishing our coffee we move on to our next stop, a trail through a woodland area that leads to a hide overlooking large reed beds.
At this site a Cetti's Warbler has been present earlier this week, but when we try to find it, it appears to have left. The trail itself proves to be rather good, with birds like Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Short-toed Treecreeper, House Martin and best of all, a Kingfisher sitting out on a limb in plain view for minutes on end.The reed beds in front of the hide have some Eurasian Reed Warblers and Chiffchaffs and one of the mudflats has a family of Black-winged Stilt, again a rare bird in the Netherlands.On our walk back to the car Pieter spots a male Bullfinch flying by to the other side of the water, so we decide to cross the water and to try to find the bird. Unfortunately, the bird remains inside the woodland and is not to be seen. When walking back to the car the Cetti's Warbler suddenly bursts into a quick song; the bird hasn't disappeared after all.

Our route takes us across the Brouwersdam, one of the dams that was created as part of the Delta Works. The dam is a barrier between the North Sea on one side and the large Grevelingen Lake on the other side, preventing the sea from coming in during storms.The Brouwersdam is very good for birding in winter, but in summer there are fewer birds present, however we still manage to get good looks of Ruddy Turnstone, Mew Gull and Whimbrel.The lunch stop is just around the corner and before we get into the small restaurant to have lunch we take a quick look at the parking lot, finding Song Thrush, Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat and an Eurasian Sparrowhawk.

After lunch, on our way to a nature development area, we drive to the town of Ellemeet with our windows down. Pieter hears a call that he doesn't recognize so we decide to get out of the car and do some birding in this little town. A good decision, because when Pieter shows Dennis and Sarah a Robin and a singing European Greenfinch, Teus finds the bird that has been making the call, a young Icterine Warbler. These birds are not uncommon in the Netherlands, but they usually remain deep inside the foliage, so seeing it can be rather difficult. However, this young bird is constantly calling to its parents to be fed, so we are able to get good looks of both the young and two adult Icterine Warblers.

The nature development area is as always good for birds and we add Dunlin, Sanderling, Barnacle Goose and Sky Lark. An albino Egyptian Goose is somewhat confusing, especially because all birds suddenly take off in panic: an Osprey is flying overhead. Ospreys are rare birds in the Netherlands, only present during migration. This individual is the first one of the season to be seen; our luck doesn't seem to end!

A viewpoint overlooking some inland lakes and wetlands has Arctic Tern and Eurasian Wigeon present, bird 100 for the day!On our way back we stop at a site that is usually good for Eared Grebe, which we find, but we also get good looks of Little Grebe, Reed Bunting and Willow Warbler.The last birding stop for the day is an area which holds a lot of Barnacle Geese, but we also manage to find the Greater White-fronted Goose that has been present here. While looking at a Greater Whitethroat we again see panic among the birds, but we fail to find a raptor that may have caused it. A quick re-check of the pylons in the area shows us why the birds got scared: an immature Peregrine Falcon just flew into a pylon close to us. Brilliant views of yet again an uncommon Dutch Bird. When we are about to leave we are treated to a bonus: a Great Egret flying by. Fortunately Teus is able to relocate the bird at the other end of the reserve, so we manage to get good looks of it.

Just before we drop off Teus again, he shows us a nest of a White Stork, with 2 birds present, our last bird for the day.
Pieter drives back to Leiden to bring Dennis and Sarah to their hotel and in the meantime Teus has checked the times for the high tide in the northern part of the Netherlands for tomorrow and he calls Pieter on his cellphone, so we can agree on a pick up time for the next morning, getting us to the high tide roost in time.

Wednesday, July 16th 2008
Pieter again picks up Dennis and Sarah at their hotel in Leiden at 6 AM and drives north to a meeting point close to the Amsterdam airport, where we pick up Teus. The drive north takes us past Amsterdam, but because it is holiday season there are no traffic jams. We arrive at the high tide roost in the north of the country at exactly the right time when the water is at its highest, causing the waders to come very close to shore to roost, allowing for perfect looks.Close to 1500 Eurasian Oystercatchers, dozens of Common Redshanks and smaller groups of Eurasian Curlew, Ruddy Turnstone, Bar-tailed Godwit and Dunlin are a true spectacle to be watching this close!
Because we have to be in Den Helder in time to catch the ferry to the island of Texel and because there are two more sites we want to visit before we get to Den Helder, we have to leave the high tide roost and we drive to the town of Den Oever.

Den Oever has two ports: one on the seaside of the dike, where we manage to see our first Black Terns of the trip, but amazingly Teus also spots a Little Gull sitting on a pipeline.Other birds here include Red-breasted Merganser, Great Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Common Swift and several Great Crested Grebes.The port on the other side of the dike is much more protected from the elements and has a different set of birds, including Eurasian Reed Warbler, lots of Tufted Ducks and Mute Swans and some Common Pochards.

On the ferry there is usually some good birding to be done and we see some of the gulls very nearby, including Lesser Black-backed Gull and Black-headed Gull less than 6 feet away!Common Terns and Eider are also present and we manage to see a Common Seal resting on a sandbar just before we reach the island of Texel.

Texel is the most western of the Dutch Wadden Isles and very good for birding. Nowhere in the Netherlands have more species for the country been found!Today we are not necessarily looking for rarities, but for the more common birds of the island. Our first stop is at a large tidal mudflat with some reed beds where we hope to see the target bird of the trip, Bearded Tit. We do hear them calling, but fail to see them, so after scanning the mudflat where Bar-tailed Godwit, Eurasian Curlew, Eurasian Spoonbill and European Golden Plover are present, we go for a walk to a lookout point first.

Pieter has been to Texel just one week ago and even though he heard a Penduline Tit on this walk then, the bird is no longer present. The lookout point itself has a lot of Herring Gulls and on the lake there are Gadwalls and Ruddy Duck present and we finally manage to see Great Tits, a bird we somehow managed to miss yesterday. Just before we reach the car we can hear Turtle dove calling and we see Greater and Lesser Whitethroats feeding in the bushes.When we scan the reed beds for Bearded Tit again, we finally get a group of them into view, sitting out in the open up in the reeds for a long time. The most wanted bird for Dennis and Sarah seen well!

After checking in at the hotel we go to the only woodland area on the island, a mixed forest of pine trees and deciduous forest. A Garden Warbler is singing at the parking lot and the walk we take here seems only to yield Robin, but when we are about to go back to the car we encounter a “feeding flock” with several species new for Dennis and Sarah in it. We get good looks of Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, and Coal Tit and finally of Long-tailed Tit as well. Flocks like this are uncommon in the Netherlands and neither Teus nor Pieter has ever seen one with this many birds in it, a good find!

After a quick lunch we drive north and visit another high tide roost, but because it is now low tide and because the wind has picked up considerably, there are very few birds present at this site and we decide to cross to the other side of the island where we hope there will be less wind. A good decision, because the small inland lakes do have quite a lot of birds and as usual they are very close to the car: Common Ringed Plover, Pied Avocet, Eurasian Lapwing and Sandwich Tern all come to within 30 feet of the car, allowing for superb views.The highlight at one of these small lakes however are Common Tern, Arctic Tern, Sandwich Tern ánd Little Tern in one scope view, something you don't see every day!

After spending close to an hour at this site, we move to the last site of the day, a large reed bed and wetland that is close to the hotel Dennis and Sarah will be staying in tonight. Just before we reach this site Teus spots a gray bird sitting in the meadow close to the car and when we stop to see what it is, it appears to be an adult male Hen Harrier sitting in the field, looking around quietly. The bird is about 100 feet for the car and we are able to study it carefully, even the yellow on the top mandible and the deep-yellow eyes are clearly visible.

Our last stop has Common Teal, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Great and Lesser Black-backed Gull and White Wagtail present, but the star attraction at this site is the Eurasian Spoonbill that is feeding close to road, apparently unaware of the nearby birders, eventually coming to about 40 feet from us. What a bird to end the day with!

View the full trip list.

© Birding Holland 2008

The rarities season

Summer migration in Holland starts mid-April. At least that's when the numbers of migrating birds start increasing seriously. The peak of summer migration usually is between the last week of April and the second week of May.
There are several good migration watchpoints, of which Breskens is the most famous one. At Breskens birds migrating north are forced to make a decision: either cross a large body of water (the Westerschelde) or keep following the coast line and turning more to the east.
Most birds choose the latter and on a good migration day with Easterly or South-easterly wind force 3 or 4, hundreds of thousands(!) of migrating birds can be seen here.
Very impressive if you're into watching migration or if you're hoping to catch a glimpse of a rarity for the Dutch list flying by, but other than that not very interesting for the average visiting birder.

The interesting part about the migration apart from experiencing the change of the seasons, is the chance that a rarity may pop up. Anything, anywhere.

Dutch listers live for the next rarity, hoping they can add yet another tick to their already impressive lists, but to the unwary visitor the rarities season can also have some unexpected bonuses for their birding trip to Holland.
This bonus can vary from "oh, nice" for the odd Melodious Warbler, to "bloody hell" for a bird you never imagined possible like a Bulwer's Petrel or a Red-headed Bunting.

If you are looking for a bird from the latter category, the first ten days of June are your best bet. Present in Holland this year at the beginning of June: Griffon Vulture, Scops Owl, Baillon's Crake, Collared Pratincole, Red-breasted Flycatcher and River Warbler.
Not all birds stay around for a long time and some birds can only be heard, but then: we still have 5 more days before the first 10 days of June are over....

Intro

This blog will be about birds and birding in the Netherlands, but with a difference...

There are other blogs on this subject, but as far as I know all of them are written by Dutchies, for Dutchies and in Dutch. This blog will be about birds and birding in the Netherlands from a visitor's point of view. That means focus on different birds and a different style of birding as well. And all this will be in English.

Dutch birders may pass a flock of 15.000 Barnacle Geese if there is no Red-breasted Goose in the flock. They've seen it before and chances are they may see it again. Tomorrow even.

A visiting birder most likely has never seen a spectacle like it, has no idea that 80% of the world population of a species may be wintering in an area the size of a US county. Or less!

Every Dutch birder has seen Black Woodpeckers, sometimes hundreds of times during many years of birding. Visiting birders, even from Europe, may never have seen a single one. I have actually seen a grown man jump and kick his heels when he first saw this bird!

That will be the difference for this blog: Dutch birds and birding in Holland, but from a visitor's point of view.

I will try to get in some pictures of Dutch birds and landscapes from time to time as well...
Reactions, questions and remarks are very welcome!