Winter birding tour
Winter birding group tour.
© Inezia Tours 2009
Join us for some of the best birding that Holland has to offer in mid-winter!
Saturday 29 January 2011 -
Pick-up at the airport and transfer to your hotel in the western part of the Netherlands. Depending on the arrival time, we will go birding in a grassland area close to the hotel. Possible birds include White Stork, Little Owl, Kingfisher and Whooper Swan.
Overnight in a hotel in Alphen aan den Rijn.
Sunday 30 January 2011 -
An early start takes us to the province of Zeeland in the south-western corner of the country. Today's focus will be on waders and waterbirds, with possible highlights like Eurasian Golden Plover, Spotted Redshank, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwit, Common Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Pied Avocet and Purple Sandpiper.
The province of Zeeland was severely hit by the 1953 disaster floods and has undergone serious changes since then. The Delta Project, a series of projects that have created several dams and dikes, not only made this part of the country safe from floods, it also created several new habitats for animals.
Before the Delta Project was put into effect, most water was salt water with a direct connection to the North Sea. Today salt water only remains at the coast itself and partly in the only connection Antwerp has to the Sea, the Westerschelde. Most other parts are either fresh water or brackish water and birds have found their way in this diverse eco system.
The birds that are present vary enormously with the seasons. Zeeland is the warmest part of the country in winter and because of this geese abound on the grassland: Greater and Lesser White-fronted Goose, Black Brant, White-bellied Brant, Barnacle, Brent, Pink-footed Goose, Greylag Goose and the very rare Red-breasted Goose.
Since most of the water doesn't freeze over, ducks like Long-tailed Duck, Pintail, Shoveler, Mallard, Goldeneye, Black Scoter, Surf Scoter, Eurasian Teal and Scaup are often present in the relative warm water here.
Other waterbirds to look out for in winter are up to five species of grebes (Great Crested, Red-necked, Black-necked, Slavonian and Little Grebe), three species of divers (Red-throated, Black-throated and Great Northern Diver and five species of gulls (Black-headed, Common, Herring, Lesser and Greater Black-backed Gull).
At the end of the day we drive back to our hotel.
Overnight in a hotel in Alphen aan den Rijn.
Monday 31 January 2011-
Our focus for today will be woodland birds. We will drive to the surrounding areas of one of the largest National Parks of the country, Hoge Veluwe. This park was established during the first decades of the 20th century by a wealthy business man who bought the area as a hunting reserve. In the 1930's the area was bought by the Dutch government and opened to the public and today it is one of the largest nature reserves in the country.
Target birds for today are the world's second largest woodpecker: Black Woodpecker and smaller birds like Crested Tit, Goldcrest, Firecrest, Short-toed Treecreeper, Hawfinch and Bullfinch. The area is generally good for raptors as well, with Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Goshawk as some of the possibilities.
One of the highlights for today could be Tawny Owl, there are several roosts in the area and with some good fortune we may get excellent looks!
Overnight in a hotel in Alphen aan den Rijn.
Tuesday 1 February 2011-
A visit to the province of Noord Holland should give us an exciting day. We will have two different focusses today: geese and any rarities that may be around.
We will look for geese like Greater and Lesser White-fronted Goose, Brent, Pale-bellied and Black Brant, Barnacle Goose, Taiga and Tundra Bean Goose and possibly the most beautiful goose of all, Red-breasted Goose.
The province of Noord Holland is renowned for wintering rarities. During the previous winter rare birds such as Snowy Owl, Iceland Gull, Roseate Starling and Canvasback have all been present for most of the winter. We can't give any guarantees, but we will know the location of any rarity that has been reported and may drive up to look for it.
If the weather has been cold and a most of the water has frozen, we have very good chances of seeing Bittern, Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl close to Amsterdam as we drive back in the afternoon.
Overnight in a hotel in Alphen aan den Rijn.
Wednesday 2 February 2011-
This day we head for one of the best birding sites of the country, the Oostvaardersplassen.
The Oostvaardersplassen were meant to be an industrial area when the Flevopolder was turned into land in 1968. Fortunately the remarkable status of the area was quickly noticed and the plans for the industrial area were abolished and the area was made into a nature reserve. Birds that were scarce in north-western Europe in the 1970's, such as Bearded Tit and Great Egret quickly found their way to the Oostvaardersplassen and are now relatively easy to see.
We will visit several areas within the reserve and will focus on birds like Smew, Pintail, Shoveler, Barnacle Goose, Common Merganser, Pied Avocet, Northern Goshawk, Rough-legged Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Brambling, Hawfinch, Snow Bunting and of course possibly the best-known rare bird species in the Netherlands, White-tailed Eagle. The eagles have since long been coming to this area in winter to hunt the geese and ducks, but in recent years they have also become a breeding species. Nesting poles were erected to attract Ospreys to breed, but the White-tailed Eagles have - rather unexpectedly - taken possession of the nesting sites and have been breeding successfully for several years now.
Overnight in a hotel in Alphen aan den Rijn.
Thursday 4 February 2011-
Depending on the departure time of your flight we will have the opportunity to go birding close the hotel, visiting a site where birds like Water Rail, Smew and Bittern regularly winter.
Drop off at Amsterdam airport Schiphol.
Please note: the itinerary is to be used as a guideline. Depending on the weather and the whereabouts of the birds, we may rearrange the route or go to different areas.
Little Owl © Jankees Schwiebbe, www.birdphoto.nl
Long-tailed Duck © Jankees Schwiebbe, www.birdphoto.nl
Crested Tit © Jankees Schwiebbe, www.birdphoto.nl
Lesser White-fronted Goose © Jankees Schwiebbe, www.birdphoto.nl
Bearded Tit © Jankees Schwiebbe, www.birdphoto.nl