Birding in the Netherlands

A lot of visitors to the Netherlands arrive in Amsterdam - either at the airport or sea port. Tussen Starrevaart en Spookverlaat is a website by Adri de Groot, which includes photos of birds seen in several different locations in an area south of Amsterdam, around Leiden. The site includes a map of the area where he takes most of his beautiful bird pictures. A portion of the site is available in English.

Dutch birders can record their (rare) bird sightings on the site Waarneming.nl. On the main page the recent rare sightings are listed, to give you an idea of where to go birding (or twitching!). The bird names can be shown in English and individual sightings may include detailed information about the sighting and location, including maps and directions.

Another great resource for finding places to go birding in the Netherlands is Vogelkijkhut.nl, a database of the bird hides in the country. The site is in Dutch but the search (Zoek) page is easy to navigate. Clicking on the name of bird hide brings up details including GPS coordinates, recent sightings (linked to Waarneming.nl), and accessibility information. The site works pretty well via Dutch-English translation services like Babelfish (tip: the word Search is translated as Missing).

Each year in August, various bird- and birding-advocacy groups on the Netherlands hold a Bird Fair, called the Vogelfestival. The fair is organized by the Dutch State Forestry, SOVON and Vogelbescherming Nederland, the Dutch partner of BirdLife International. It is a major event for bird and birding enthusiasts and is modelled after the British Birdfair. The annual Dutch event has grown to include over 100 exhibitors and is attended by more than 15,000 visitors. The fair is held at the Oostvaardersplassen, an important nature reserve.

The next Vogelfestival will be in 2010.

The 2008 event took place on 23 and 24 August.

Read this blog report of the Vogelfestival in 2007.