Birding Holland

05/04/2021

Part 2 of the review to the highlights of last winter. Sadly, we weren't able to receive you, but this way we at least try to share some of out best birds and experiences.
It was an exceptionally good winter for Lapland Buntings along the Wadden Sea coast. This species is an annual winter visitor to our country, albeit in relatively low numbers. However, they tend to be quite hard to find and generally 99% of the observations are flybys or birds flushed from rough, coastal terrains.
This year, we found a lot of very cooperative birds that sometimes showed incredibly well. Furthermore, we encountered groups of over 100 individuals, which is quite exceptional as well. Some of our guides have been birding for all their lives but have never seen so many Lapland buntings, so often and at such close range!

01/04/2021

For obvious reasons, we are still not able to welcome you in our country to enjoy our last winter birds as well as the first spring migrants. Hopefully. there's light at the end of the tunnel; like everybody, we can't wait to go back to what it used to be (or at least something approaching it).
However, we haven't just been sitting and waiting for the pandemic to pass; within the possibilities, we've been doing a lot of private birding tours (for one or two guests). Fortunately, we came across a lot of good and beautiful species and were able to put a lot of smiles on a lot of happy faces. Birding is and will always be the best way of distraction!
In the weeks to come, we will show you some of the typical Dutch species we've seen during the last few moths, all during those private birding trips. We start with our logo-bird: RED-BREASTED GOOSE. In total, we saw 9,5 different individuals on several locations along the Wadden Sea coast. Yes, 9,5, because one is a (very rare) hybrid Red-breasted x Barnacle goose ;-)
Hopefully, next winter it's your turn again to enjoy this and all our other birds. As said: we can't wait!

PS: Aan onze Nederlandstalige volgers: jullie zitten waarschijnlijk op de verkeerde pagina. De Nederlandse pagina is Birdingholland.nl

20/12/2020

Due to Covid-19, we hardly receive any foreign guests and therefor this FB-page seems to be hibernating ;-). As soon as this horrible period is over, I'm sure this page will get back to life. For Dutch trip report and bird pictures, like our Dutch page Birdingholland.nl . See you soon!
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Dit is de Engelstalige Facebookpagina, bedoeld voor onze buitenlandse gasten. U zult begrijpen dat deze nu zo goed als stil ligt. Voor Nederlandse excursieverslagen kunt u terecht op onze Nederlandse Facebookpagina: www.facebook.com/birdingholland.nl

14/04/2020

Dear guests, due to corona, all our group tours are cancelled for at least as long as the governmental rules and regulations last. If you happen to be in our country: booking a private tour is still possible. Just send us an email for prices and possibilities!
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Er komen nog steeds mensen bij die eerder op zoek lijken te zijn naar de Nederlandse pagina van Birding Holland. Dit is namelijk de FB voor onze buitenlandse gasten. Zet voor de excursies, verslagen, foto's en nieuws van onze Nederlandse excursies een "like" bij Birdingholland.nl

14/03/2020

We were supposed to receive a Spanish birder this weekend, but due to cancellation of his flight we are forced to postpone his visit. That's a real shame, because some of his main targets are currently showing extremely well along the Wadden Sea coast. These pictures were taken yesterday during a last preparation tour and just before the sad news broke.
Hope to see you soon, Luis!

24/12/2019

Just some pictures of some nice winter species we encountered during our tours of the last few weeks. Merry Christmas to you all!

04/12/2019

As you might know, Birding Holland has two websites as well as two FAcebook pages. This one is for reports and photos of private birding tours (mostly for foreign guests), while Birdingholland.nl is our Dutch page with reports, photos and news about our Dutch group tours (please like that one if you're interested!). The latter is updated more often, because we run Dutch group tours far more often nowadays.
However, this does not mean that we have a certain preference; we like private tours as much as our Dutch group tours, especially when they turn out the way they did last weekend, when both Leo J R Boon and I (Martijn) ran a private tour. Leo guided American birder Ed around and mainly focussed on forest birds. They saw Black Woodpecker, Crested Tit, Marsh Tit, Jack Snipe (not in a forest, of course) and a beautiful Tawny Owl. I had the honour to guide Marian and Diane around in the Oostvaardersplassen reserve with species like White-tailed Eagle, Red-crested Pochard, Bearded Tit (many!), Firecrest, huge numbers of Barnacle Geese, Water Pipit and Whooper Swan, to name a few.
If you're interested in a private birding tour somewhere in our beautiful country, please don't hesitate to get in touch!

26/10/2019

We might end up making ourselves useless by promoting this book, but we are more than happy to take the risk ;-)
Last year we guided Roger White around for a couple of times. His plan was to add a new title to his "A Birdwatching guide to"-series, this time with a book about The Netherlands.
Well, 1,5 years later we received one of the first copies of the result and we have to say: it's a truly fantastic book with a detailed description of all the must-visit birding locations of our beautiful country as well as some great pictures (especially the ones taken by us ;-))
So visit The Netherlands, buy this book, add a Birding Holland guide (we know all the species, all the calls, all the songs and all the recent sightings) and enjoy the best Dutch birding experience possible!

15/09/2019

This spring, our guide Leo J R Boon guided a Brazilian film crew through some of our best en most beautiful nature reserves. The result of the two days of filming can now be seen as part of this impressive production:
http://redeglobo.globo.com/sp/eptv/terradagenteeptv/videos/t/edicoes/v/holanda-pelos-ceus/7921953/
Enjoy and we hope it inspires you to pay a visit to our country as well sometime soon!

Terra da Gente faz registro inédito para o Brasil de refúgio das aves na Holanda.

23/08/2019

Unfortunately, the five day birding trip "Waders in Friesland" that we run for The Travelling Naturalist Birdwatching & Wildlife Holidays has already come to an end. We've had a superb time, not only enjoying the mindblowing numbers of waders but of course also all other birds that came across. Raptors were amongst the highlights, but also huge numbers of geese, Ruddy Shelducks and (migrating) songbirds were fantastic.
If you'd like to join next year, please have a look at the Naturalist website, with dates in 2020 and 2021 already available: https://www.naturalist.co.uk/tours/netherlands-waders-in-friesland

12/08/2019

Facebook keeps reminding us that our followers haven't heard from us for a while. Well now, here's just a quick update to tell you that we are still up and running, doing mainly what we're good at (and that's clearly NOT keeping our FB-page up-to-date ;-)): showing you all our best birds! Recently, both Leo J R Boon (Texel) and Joost Bouwmeester (Oostvaardersplassen) were out there guiding American and British birders around in two of our best birding reserves. Both had an excellent time and Joost even managed to take some pictures of the day, which can be found below!
If you are interested in a (multiple) day tour, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us through our website or FB messenger!

09/07/2019

After several target- and private birding trips without pictures taken, yesterday Martijn guided 2 Canadian birders during a private day tour in search of Cranes and other local specialties in Nationaal Park Drents-Friese Wold. Because of the rather grey circumstances, the raptors refused to appear but fortunately there were a lot of other birds to enjoy. Besides the Cranes (first we saw a group of 15 birds flying, later we found 2 birds feeding in a corn field) we saw Red-backed Shrikes, Yellowhammers, Wood Warbler, Spotted- and Pied Flycatcher, Whinchat, Quail (heard only), Black Woodpecker (heard only), Ravens, White Storks, Goshawk, Bluethroat, Crested Tit, Common Crossbill and more.
If you are looking for an experienced private guide and an unforgettable birding experience in our beautiful country, don't hesitate to get in touch with us: www.birdingholland.com

06/06/2019

There are birders that ask us to show them as many birds as possible within the given time. Others, however, do it nice and easy and are here to relax, enjoy our landcsape en sniff some culture.
Joost Bouwmeester has made this his specialty and he took Diane LeBas on a two day tour to Oostvaardersplassen and Waterland. They saw tipical Dutch houses, polders, a national park, lakes, pools, farms and farmlands and of course some of our iconic birds like White-tailed Eagle, Black-tailed Godwits, Marsh Warbler, Red-crested Pochard and more.
Thanks for your company, Diane, and see you soon! A trip report by Joost (in Dutch) can be found here: www.birdingholland.nl/blog

28/05/2019

(VOOR NEDERLANDSE EXCURSIEVERSLAGEN / FOR DUTCH TRIP REPORTS: Birdingholland.nl)
Not all our guides carry big lenses while guiding our guests, so we are not always able to show pictures of all our private birding tours. However, if you wonder if we are still out and about: yes, we are indeed! Last week, for example, Thomas Luiten guided a Belgian birder through the Dutch Delta. As was to be expected, the waders filled the headlines with species like Kentish Plover, Black-winged stilt (on a nest!), Bar- and Black-tailed Godwit, hundreds of Ringed Plovers, Grey Plovers and Dunlins and even a self-found Broad-billed Sandpiper (a rarity!). Other birds worth mentioning were Black Terns and Whinchats. Below is a digiscoped picture of the wader roost in the famous Prunje Polder, just to get an impression ;-)

01/04/2019

It's officially spring time in The Netherlands, which is always a very busy period for our guides. This weekend, for example, there were two private tours: one guided by Joey Braat in the Biesbosch (Osprey, White-tailed Eagle, Bluethroat, among other things) and one guided bij Martijn Bot with one single target: photography of the stunning Bluethroats. Well, German birder Boris went home satisfied, because the birds (in the Onlanden reserve, close to the city of Groningen) were very cooperative indeed! These are the pictures of "amateur" Martijn, so we are very curious to see the result of Boris!

20/02/2019

Hi, Martijn and Leo, I wanted to thank you both for a fabulous day yesterday (Tuesday, 19 February 2019). Leo shared his birding expertise with me as well as his extensive knowledge of locations of my target species with an organized itinerary from the moment he met me at the airport. Six new species (among which Lesser White-fronted Goose and Little Bustard) were added to my life list, as well as a Brant subspecies, and a lifer European Hare. My personal highlight of the day was a gorgeous RED-BREASTED GOOSE that conveniently was discovered a few days ago just ahead of my arrival here. How fitting that it’s also your Birding Holland logo!
I’m also grateful (or not?? 😉) for being introduced to Stroop Wafels, what a delicious Dutch treat, yum!
Thanks again for a great day of birding and sharing your beautiful country and birds with me! - Janice (Canada)

26/10/2018

It has been a very busy autumn with a lot of group tours and pelagics (check/like our Dutch FB-page www.facebook.com/birdingholland.nl for all trip reports and pictures), so there was a bit too little time left to write FB-posts of all our private day tours. But it's not that nothing has happened! On the contrary: there have been private day tours lead by our guides Leo J R Boon (2), Ellen Tanger and recently a three day birding tour in the Top-of-Holland with Lazar Brinkhuizen. The latter produced a grand total of 107 species, including scarcities like Pectoral Sandpiper, White-tailed Eagle, Kingfisher, Whooper Swan, Red-crested Pochard, Merlin, Great Grey Shrike, Firecrest and Crested Tit. The checklist of this trip is online now (http://birdingholland.com/trip-reports), reports of the other day tours will be added soon.

04/10/2018

"I just want to tell what a great two days I had with Lazar Brinkhuizen. I never met anyone more knowledgeable about birds. He was very friendly and was always looking out for my needs and trying his hardest to find what I wanted to see. You may be Dutch and can control the sea but no one can control the coming and going of birds. Lazar came close. I had a very memorable time. Thanks so much! - Sean (USA)"
This very kind review after a two day birding tour in the norther part of The Netherlands (Top-of-Holland) speaks for itself! If you would like to go birding with Lazar as well and have the same fantastic experience, please get in touch with us for a personalized tour!
For the checklist of these two days, check http://www.birdingholland.com/trip-reports

27/09/2018

Today I (Pim Julsing) had the honour to go birding with American couple Francois en Beatrice. I met them at 8.30 at the trainstation of Almere Centrum. From here we drove to the nature reserve of the Oostvaardersplassen. We took the d**e. You could easily see the difference in waterlevel between the big lake and the nature reserve which is almost 4 metres lower.
We stopped at a parking place and saw Black headed gull, Great black backed gull and Mew gull. We started a short hike to a bird hide (or blind). Along the walk we saw many flocks of Bearded reedling, an amazing bird! We heard the explosive song of a Cetti’s warbler. Due to the changing climate this bird is getting more common in the Netherlands.
From the bird hide we saw a Common snipe, it’s very good in hide and seek. A Great spotted woodpecker flew over and we heard several Water rails.
Back at the car a beatiful bird was sitting next to the lake on a big stone: a Common kingfisher. Last winter nearly 80 % of the population died but after a few years the population can recover. A kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) can have 3 nests in one year.
Our next stop was at the birding hotspot of the moment. Due to the hot en dry summer the water level was very low, it attracts many shorebirds like Northern lapwings, Pied avocets, Black tailed godwits, Common ringed plovers, Ruffs and Dunlins. Amazing soo many birds together! Also many ducks, mainly Common teals and Northern shovelers and further away a group of about 500 Common pochards. We saw several Common shellducks.
A Lesser black backed gull was hunting for ducks, it behaves like a raptor.
On our way to the bird hide we saw many Great tit, Blue tit, Common chiffchaff, Winter wren, Northern willow tit and we heard a flock of Siskins. We went to another bird hide from were we saw Northern pintail, Eurasion wigeon and Little grebe. Another bird hide looked like a clubhouse for retired bird photographers. We saw a pair of Great crested grebe with a late juvenile.
Our next stop was at a viewing point whick overlooks the whole area, from which we saw many wild horses and Red deer. Also our first Stock dove and a male Stonechat.
We finished on a field with many European greenfinches flying around and some Common kestrels.
Around 12.30 we arrived at the trainstation of Lelystad.
We've had great weather, you could almost call it “Indian summer”! Hopefully you enjoyed your morning of birdwatching!

12/09/2018

Our guide Lazar Brinkhuizen just finished a three day birding/photography tour with German birders Andre and Dagmar. Three days of beautiful Wadden Sea coast, famous sites, huge numbers of birds and A LOT of GB's of pictures yet to be sorted out! A total of 109 species were seen, among which were rare and scarce species like Ross's Goose (group of 3 adults!), Snow Goose, Spotted Crake, Ruddy Shellduck, Eursasian Spoonbill, Curlew Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Caspian-, Arctic- and Black Tern, Rock Pipit (very early migrant) and Whinchat.
Thanks for your pleasant company, guys, and see you again soon!
The complete bird list can be found here: http://www.birdingholland.com/category/trip-reports

21/08/2018

Our annual "Waders in Friesland"-trip for The Travelling Naturalist Birdwatching & Wildlife Holidays was fantastic! Great weather, the impressive wideness and richness of the Wadden Sea, a very enthusiastic group and many, many birds! The waders of course were the headliners, but the many species of raptors we managed to find were equally unforgettable!
If you want to experience this best part of The Netherlands as well, take a look at the Naturalist website for the 2019-trip or book a weekend in spring with us:
https://www.birdingholland.nl/groninger-hoogtepunten

20/07/2018

The best birding tours are non-birding tours ;-). A non birding trip with British birder Roger White (he just wanted to get to know good birding locations to include in a book he is writing) turned out to be one of the best summer trips so far ;-). We found a Terek Sandpiper and saw a fair amount of other specialties of Top-of-Holland: Whiskered Terns (with young), Gull-billed Terns, Montagu's Harriers, White-tailed Eagles, Whinchats, Red-backed Shrikes, Icterine Warbler and two Glossy Ibisses amongst lots of other enjoyable birds. The complete checklist of all the 110 species we saw can now be found on our website: http://www.birdingholland.com/category/trip-reports

27/06/2018

A truly great multiple day tour with the very friendly and fanatic American birdwatchers Walker and his wife Emily. The combination of a day at Hoge Veluwe national park and one at Lauwersmeer national park/Zuidlaardermeer produced an impressive trip list consisting of 106 species of birds as well as a few scarce and rare species of butterflies. Highlights were birds like Red-breasted Flycatcher, Short-toed Eagle, Ruff in summer plummage, Whiskered Terns, Ashy-headed Wagtail, Honey Buzzard, Bluethroat, Bearded T**s, Caspian Gull, Spotted Crake, displaying Snipes, Great Bitterns (three seen!), Ruddy Shelducks and a White-tailed Eagle! Butterflies worth mentioning were Purple Hairstreak, Dark green fratillary and Heath fratillary. These are the days, if you ask us!
Thanks Walker and Emily, hope to see you again soon!
Check the complete species list on our website: http://www.birdingholland.com/category/trip-reports

03/06/2018

And yet another multiple day tour has come to a succesful end! Fred Dalbey and his wife Sonia saw different sites in Noord-Holland and the Oostvaardersplassen and guide Leo J R Boon did another excellent job by showing him species like Honey Buzzard, Great Reed Warbler, Bluethroat, Nightingale, Icterine Warbler, Bearded Reedling (Tit) and lots more? If you are curious to know what more they have seen/heard: http://www.birdingholland.com/category/trip-reports

29/05/2018

There are few better places to go birding than The Netherlands in spring. Canadian birdwatchers Una and David knew that like no other, and decided to book a six day birding tour that would take them to some of the best and most beautiful sites and reserves our country has to offer. From the island of Texel to Oostvaardersplassen, from Hollands Duin to Oldambt in Groningen and from Lauwersmeer N.P. to Drents-Friese Wold: they ended up seeing two guides (Joost Bouwmeester and Martijn Bot), a lot of different landscapes and even more species of birds: an amazing 138 birds (141 if you include re-introduced species) were seen and heard! THe highlights were numerous: Honey Buzzard, White-tailed Eagle, Bluethroat, Whiskered Tern, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Ashy-headed Wagtail, Savi's- and Marsh Warbler, Hen- and Montagu's Harrier, Brant- and Barnacle Geese, Ruff, Common Crane, Black Kite, Wood- and Cetti's Warbler etc...
Please find below a selection of pictures of the trip, taken by both Joost and Martijn and find their full species list on our website: http://www.birdingholland.com/trip-reports (multiple day tour 21)

25/05/2018

The two day birding tour of British birdwatcher Andy Hall has come to an end. Andy is a frequent visitor of The Netherlands and is rapidly building an impressive Dutch list. Our guide Leo J R Boon tried to find him some spring targets to fill in some doable albeit not so easy "gaps". Yesterday they a very successfull day, today some of the birds seemed to be playing hard to get, hide and seek or both... Nevertheless they had a very good time with some very nice birds indeed and a wide variety of landscapes and places they have visited. Please enjoy some of the pictures taken by Andy himself and Leo.

17/05/2018

And yet another multiple day tour has come to an end; this time a three day target birding trip with South African top birdwatcher Sue Welman. On her wish list were some rarities as well as some last remaining winter species. Our guide Leo J R Boon had to work very hard and drive to some unusual locations but eventually succeeded in seeing/hearing quite some lifers and very sought after species. Top birds were Red-breasted Goose (one of the last on the main land!), Eastern Bonelli's Warbler (a MEGA in The NEtherlands), summer-plumaged Purple Sandpipers, Black Woodpecker, Bufflehead, Brant- and Barnacle Geese, Goldeneye, Purple Heron, Osprey, Savi's- Grasshopper- and Marsh Warbler, Bluethroat, Caspian Gull, Black Tern, Long-eared Owl and Woodcock.
If you want to see their full species list (consisting of 116 species), please check our website: http://www.birdingholland.com/category/trip-reports
(Not many pics, as no cameras were involved in this target birding trip. However, Leo did do some filming along the way and the Purple Sandpipers are I-phone shots!)

16/05/2018

"Just completed the tree days guided visit to Holland and I am currently in the hotel at De Koog, Texel. It has been great success with excellent birds and guides. I could not have asked for more. Thank you for organising it so well! - Colin Rogers"

Thank you for your very pleasant company, Colin! We hope you'll enjoy the rest of your stay in our country as well! If you want to know all the 128 species Roger and Pim, Herman and Leo have recorded during the three days they've been birding in Zeeland, Biesbosch and Texel, please take a look at the species list on our website: http://www.birdingholland.com/category/trip-reports

13/05/2018

Last week, our guide Joost Bouwmeester guided Beverly Robertson around (for four days in total!) in mainly the southern part of our country. Conclusion: she couldn't have wished for better weather, she saw 105 species of birds of which 56 lifers and a she will never see this many tulips in her life again. And she’ ll be back…for sure! Want to read the whole story? http://www.birdingholland.com/category/trip-reports

12/05/2018

Canadian birdwatcher Graham had never been birding in our country before, so a full day in Oostvaardersplassen reserve produced an impressive number of new birds for his world list. He and guide Martijn recorded a total of 83 species, of which the majority were so called "lifers". Because almost everything was new, there were no special wishes and Martijn and Graham could just go en enjoy whatever they would be able to find. Okay, there were two "priority"-birds: White-tailed Eagle and Bluethroat, both of which were found during the first stop! The rest of the day they enjoyed local specialties and our common but beautiful breeding/migratory birds like for example Cetti's-, Savi's-, Grasshopper- Sedge- and Marsh Warbler, Stonechat, Hobby, Caspian Gull, Redstart, Linnet, Spotted Redshank, Spoonbill, Black Tern, Spotted Flycatcher, Barnacle- and White-fronted Geese etc. The full checklist can be found on our website: http://www.birdingholland.com/category/trip-reports

10/05/2018

American birdwatcher Janine and our guide Lazar Brinkhuizen experienced a crazy morning in and around the new birding hotspot of the northern part of our country: Zuidlaardermeer! In only a few hours, they saw and heard no less than 99 SPECIES, including specialties like Barnacle- and White-fronted Geese, Gargany, Black-necked Grebe, Great Bittern, White-tailed Eagle, Black-winged Stilt, Whiskered Tern, Black-necked Grebe, Spoonbill, Hen Harrier, Spotted Crake, Ruff, Mediterranean Gull and Wood Warbler. The rarest bird, however, was the long-staying male Ashy-headed Wagtail. Incredible, isn't it?? Check the complete species list on our website: http://www.birdingholland.com/category/trip-reports
(Thanks to Menno from Birding Netherlands!)

04/05/2018

Red-breasted Geese: we simply love them and can't get enough of them! There are still several birds lingering, mainly on the Wadden Isles, but they are about to leave to their breeding grounds in Siberia. We will welcome them back sometime next autumn and if you want to see one (who doesn't??), make sure to book a target birding trip to one of the Dutch hotspots in time (www.birdingholland.com). Ameland is definitely one of them and that's where these pictures were taken throughout this week.