About us
Guided birding in the Netherlands.
© Birding Holland 2009
The Netherlands have more spots for birding than we can list on this site.
Because of years of experience birding in the Netherlands, we know almost every one of them!
Birding Holland in its present form was founded in 2007 by Pieter. He decided to make a website and offer guided birding through the internet, instead of only through friends or friends of friends as he had done before. Teus soon joined Pieter as a guide and in the beginning of 2008 a third birder, Remco, was added to the list of guides.
Menno (biography to follow) and Ben joined Birding Holland in 2010.
Pieter and Teus have been birding together since the early '90s. They have not only been birding in Holland, but abroad (Ecuador, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Oman, the Arab Emirates, USA and Canada to name a few) as well. On some trips (e.g. USA and Canada) they were accompanied by Remco as well.
Since '98 all three have been guiding birders from all over the world in Holland, sometimes alone, sometimes together, showing them the birding highlights.
Pieter was born in October 1969 and lives in a town close to Leiden, the Netherlands. He started birdwatching around the age of 7 when he noticed a lot of birds he had never seen before on a family walk in the Oostvaardersplassen.
After a brief interruption during high school he picked up birding again in 1991, trying to see as many birds as possible in Holland and since '96 he has been birding abroad. Since then he has birded all around the world, visiting all 7 continents and countries like Uganda, South Africa, Peru, Argentina, Australia, Svalbard and Costa Rica, resulting in a lifelist of well over 3000 birds.
Pieter also runs Inezia Tours, a travel agency for birding and wildlife tours and polar expedition cruises. He has developed birding tours to e.g. Antarctica, the Falklands, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Uganda.
Birding in Holland is a wonderful experience and if you want an experienced guide to accompany you, Pieter would be happy to show you the birds of Holland.
Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) ©Jankees Schwiebbe, www.birdphoto.nl
Teus was born in December 1960 and lives in a village close to Delft, the Netherlands. His main interest lies in birds. He started watching birds around the age of 11, when he noticed there was more than just Great and Blue Tits visiting the winter feeders in his parents' home garden. An old Peterson field guide provided some insight to what more could be seen and that was the start of a "birding career". After some time in the Dutch NJN, a Dutch organisation for youngsters interested in nature, he started more and more to try to see as many birds as possible. This was not only twitching - the pursuit of reported rare birds - but also inventory work in the dunes, reporting for the national ornithological field work orginazation SOVON.
In the meantime, he started to travel a bit further from home during his holidays, and it was in this period that his fondness of the tropical rainforests was born. First 2 trips to the amazing country of Thailand, later to be followed by destinations like Indonesia, India, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil.
If you want to go birding in Holland, Teus would be happy to show you some of the magnificent birds that can be seen in the Netherlands.
Remco was born in August 1972 and lives in a town close to Leiden, the Netherlands. He has been a birder since early childhood. His parents took him to Turkey several times during his early teens and that is probably where his fascination for the Middle East originates. The combined love for travel, ancient cultures and nature took Remco to many corners of the world, among which Jordan, Vietnam, Nepal, the Phillippines, Madagascar, Tanzania, Brazil and Mexico. For over 6 years Remco has been the manager of the Dutch Birdline, while also devoting a lot of time on the dutch Dragonflies emailgroup.
Taking a recent interest in bird conservation, Remco co-lead the Syrian Wetland Expedition of 2004 and lead the Syrian Sociable Plover survey in 2007. Although his favourites are the laughingthrushes and other babblers of Asia, Remco loves to go out birding in the Netherlands regularly.
Because of a varied number of habitats in close proximity, maximizing species as well as numbers of birds is a piece of cake in The Netherlands. Therefore, Birding in Holland is great and if you want an experienced guide to accompany you, Remco would be happy to show you its birds as well as dragonflies and butterflies.
Pieter in short:
- Age: 41
- Lifelist: 3202
- Dutch list: 427
- Favourite bird: Southern Cassowary
- Favourite birds in Holland: Black Woodpecker and Firecrest
- Big day record in Holland: 164
Teus in short:
- Age: 49
- Lifelist: 3722
- Dutch list: 446
- Favourite birds: Malaysian Rail-babbler, albatrosses
- Favourite birds in Holland: Firecrest, Arctic Tern
- Big day record in Holland: 164
Remco in short:
- Age: 38
- Lifelist: 4177
- Dutch list: 440
- Favourite birds: laughingthrushes and other babblers, pheasants and cochoas
- Favourite birds in Holland: Common Eider, Bullfinch and Firecrest
- Big day record in Holland: 159
Ben in short:
- Age: 42
- Dutch list: 443
- Year list record: 326(!)
- Favourite birds: waders and seabirds
- Favourite birds in Holland: Osprey and Firecrest
- Big sit record in Holland: 116
Ben was born in 1968 and is currently living in Vlaardingen, a town just west of Rotterdam. In his early years he was interested in amphibians and other aquatic wildlife, but he can clearly remember that his birding days began on November 8th 1980 when a big black-and-white bird of prey flew right over his head. This event made such an impression that he borrowed a birdbook from a neighbour and looked up the bird: an Osprey.
In April 1981 he joined the NJN, a Dutch organisation for youngsters interested in nature, and became a fanatic birder. Until 1988 Ben birded his local patch and some well-known birding areas in the Netherlands, but somewhere during that year he started twitching as well, travelling across the Netherlands in search of rare birds. One aspect about birding Ben particulary likes is sharing his passion for birds with other interested people.
Ben has not birded outside of the Netherlands (yet!), but he doesn't regret this at all because he loves birding in the Netherlands.
He is member of an extremely select group of birders who have found two new birds for the Dutch list: Spanish Sparrow and Northern Waterthrush!
Ben would be very happy to share his knowledge of Dutch birds with people visiting the Netherlands looking for both the common and rarer species.
