De Hoge Veluwe National Park (Re)visited

Yesterday I went to De Hoge Veluwe National Park in province of Gelderland, here in the Netherlands. This 55 sq. km park has many kinds of habitats and is a great place to watch birds. However, since I had gone there with my school our main aim was to see the Kruller Muller Museum housed at the heart of the Park and the St. Hubertus hunting lodge designed by famous dutch architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage.

So the little birding I did manage was en route (and while at) these buildings.

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) -
- The swallow are back announcing the arrival of summer!!
Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba)

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba) and a female Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba)
Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

This however, was my second visit to this beautiful park. (Check out some snaps from my previous trip there by clicking - HERE )

Breda

Went yesterday to the city of Breda here in the Netherlands. I found these guys in the park Valkenberg in the centre of the city.

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) – Dancing pair

Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata)

Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata)
The one in the back with this black body is more like the wild ones. The grey or bluish-grey birds are an outcome of domestic selective breeding.

Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula (Sulzer, [1776])

Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria (Linnaeus, [1758])

Birding in Schiedam (NL)

Nesting White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)

Yesterday, I went to a small town just outside Rotterdam to do some birding with a local birder - Mr. Ben van den Broek - who I met online through Bird Pix Yahoo group.

He was kind enough to show me around his 'home birding turf' very close to his house. We got some fleeting views of Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) and Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica). And the highlight of the day was hearing the mating call of the male - Great Bittern (Botaurus stellaris), which is a deep fog-horn or bull-like boom, easily audible also from large distances - sadly it was not possible to view this almost invisible bird in a perfect habitat of reedbeds.

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

Check some great photos by Mr. Ben van den Broek on his website - http://home.hetnet.nl/%7Ebenvandenbroek/#

Snapped this Comma ( Polygonia c-album) this morning just outside my house in Rotterdam

My first butterfly of this season!

Bergen Aan Zee, North Holland

Yesterday I went to Bergen a small town also the beach in North Holland. There I rode my bike along the Dune reserve (in one of the most beautiful natural landscapes of this country). And while at the edge of the dune reserve with the huge fields, soaring up in the sky was the Common Buzzard Buteo buteo (All three of them are photos of the same bird)

In the above snap if you look hard in the centre of the snap you can see some Bison.And just five minutes from this beautiful natural landscape are the huge agricultural fieldsThese fields however, at this time of the year is teeming with nesting activity by a large no. of birds. Here I saw Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus

Most birds allowed me to go amazingly close to them.The first Oystercatcher of the day was quiet far awayBut the prized catch for me for the day was the very clear views and photos I managed to get of the Common Pied Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus
(Though this bird is quiet common at this time of the year over here back home in India and especially near Bombay it's quiet a rare sight)

The small canal in between the fields almost always had a nice set of birds feeding along it.Common Redshank Tringa totanus

And last one for the day was the Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa
(I'm sure that it was a black-tailed because I got clear view of it's characteristic black tail when it flew overhead)

This morning I went to Capelle a. d. IJssel a small town east of Rotterdam to get my camera cleaned and was presently surprised to see some nice birds in this suburban environment.

To start off this posting I shall share this ‘lifer’- the Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) - though a common bird I had sadly seen them only in cages.

And the next bird was equally exciting for me – the Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)– I had only once seen it before in the southern city of Maastricht last September.

This has to be my favourite bird in the tit family.

After that I headed home only to stop at the canal close to my house because I saw a ormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)really close by and boy did he let me get close to him.

Since I had taken out my camera again I thought I might as well spend some more time at the small canal.

Here’s a snap of the Common coot’s (Fulica atra) nest, which they have been making at the same spot where the tree is the closest to the surface of the water for the last three years. These birds use almost anything they can get their beaks on – plastic bags and all sorts of other trash.And last for the day the beautiful Egyptians (Probably starting to worry about the approaching nesting season).

Spring ??

This morning I went to the small park near Euromast here in Rotterdam and it seems spring is here!

I shall go with the Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) on this fellow... but I could be wrong because its very difficult to say it apart from the Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus).

I am still amazed at how close these Common Coots (Fulica atra) in Europe let you go very close to them completely opposite to the ones I see near my house in India.

The Magpie (Pica pica) taking a stroll down the recently bloomed field in the park.

And the wise old Grey Herons (Ardea cinerea) of the park

Check out his breeding plumage.

Was also lucky to catch this really small (yet really loud) fellow – the Wren ( Troglodytes troglodytes ).