Prior to coming to Amsterdam, we'd arranged a birding tour through
Flevo Birding. Today was the day! We had to get up very early and take a train to a nearby station where our guide would meet us. Waiting for the train:
Pigeons waiting for the train (starting our birding early!):
On the train:
At
Oostvaardersplassen, we saw 59 species, many of which were new additions to our life list, as we had never before birded in Europe. Here are some waterfowl:
Our guide brought a scope that we could use. We brought our own binoculars from home, but he had some we could have used had we needed to.
Shovelers:
Many people bird in the Netherlands, and they have nice birding blinds set up in popular spots. Every time we went to one, there were plenty of other people there.
The view from the blind:
Mostly herons:
Mostly cormorants:
We drove back to the visitors' center and ate a picnic lunch outside. This guy, a relative of our chickadee, had gotten rather tame and kept flying to our table, hoping for crumbs:
Outside the visitors' center:
We had to hike a fair amount to get to the next blind. Along the way, we passed some red deer:
Our guide and Brian walking toward the blind:
We passed so close to her!
Walking up to the blind:
It was extremely muddy; luckily no one lost their shoes, though we did end up with muddy pants:
Near the end of the day:
This mural was outside of the center:
Modern windmills:
We ended up seeing quite a few birds in these fields, which was fun. At the end of the day, our guide brought us back to the station. A starling contemplated taking the train with us back to Amsterdam:
He was actually probably hoping we'd give him some food, but we didn't have any. Back home, we ate dessert first:
And then had a nice stir-fry for dinner.
We were disappointed in our dessert, feeling no effects from it.
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