Saturday 14 June 2014

The Birds of Vondelpark

This time last year we were preparing for a big trip to Europe. I was pretty excited. And rightly so. It was an absolutely amazing holiday. I've only ever shown you tiny glimpses of it really. Particularly my first trip to Holland. So different to France of course. We loved our time in Holland.

I was of course keen to see some different birds in Holland. In Amsterdam we went to Vondelpark one afternoon. A large park in central Amsterdam. I was a bit disappointed with the park itself- it smelt really quite strongly of beer in some places. The majority of parkgoers seemed to love it though. Master Wicker just reminded me that he renamed this park Bogaan Centraal. Apt.


My first sightings of Egyptian Geese (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
-introduced obviously, it was early summer so there were many geese
families

I'm still not quite sure if that red spot around their eye is creepy or cool.

Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)
Very familiar to Australians, there are some out the back of my house,
and I've shown you them in Tasmania before

You don't always get a chance to see the ungainly, messy
(and particularly difficult to photograph) Coot youngsters though

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
Possibly a juvenile Grey Heron

 Black-Headed Gull
(Larus ridibundus)
An exciting spotting at the time-
many, many more to be seen in Paris

Eurasian Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)
I think I've seen this before in Ireland

Another introduced bird, the Rose-Ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri)
a surprising glimpse of the tropics in Europe
there are quite large feral populations in many centres!

Gulls can be tricky when you really don't know the area. I think this is
an European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

Not all of the birds were happy to be in the park, some were angry birds.
I'm not totally familiar with all these birds, and am prepared to be considered wrong on some of the IDs.

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13 comments:

Brona said...

I love your attention to detail with naming all these foreign (to us) birds :-)

Louise said...

Thanks Brona, but I think it's inherent geekiness at play. I'm not quite at the list keeping stage, but surely it can't be too far off?

Sean @ His And Her Hobbies said...

Awesome pics. I either must not be looking or we don't have nearly as many different birds here in VA. The Egyptian Goose is interesting. Almost looks like a cross between a Canadian Goose and a duck.

Sean at His and Her Hobbies

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

People say that our area is one of the best birding spots in the country. I wish I knew more about birds. I think I need to bring along my camera when we take our morning walk this summer and see what I can find.

Louise said...

Sean- I'm sure they're there! Once you start looking for them you'll notice many different birds.

And Deb, you sure are in one of the best birding spots in the world. I hope you take your camera at least once. Birds are very frustrating to photograph. You'll notice all these are quite large birds. They sit still much better than small birds. Maybe we'll make a birder out of you yet?

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed seeing all the variety of birds. It was extra nice that you took time to identify them.

My favorite is the angry bird. He-he. :-)

Actually, I liked the great variety you featured. The heron and the gulls are the only ones I have myself seen.

Jackie McGuinness said...

I loved Amsterdam as well.
Angry birds, indeed LOL.

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Fabulous shots! It is amazing how many different kinds of birds there are...thanks for sharing.

And thanks for visiting my blog.

Sandra Nachlinger said...

LOVE your bird photos -- I look forward to them every weekend. My favorite today is the young coot. Definitely the case of an ugly duckling that will turn into a swan!

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

GA HA! Love the angry bird! Sweet pics!

Susan Lindquist said...

I loved Amsterdam when we visited a few years ago ... Vondelpark was one place that we missed ... gee. Must go back. That's that! Thanks for the tour and all the bird shots!

Brona said...

I've been seeing a bit of a buzz about this book and though of you straight away Louise...
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/book-reveals-secrets-of-the-birds-and-the-trees-20140624-zsjc5.html

Louise said...

Yes I've seen a number of reviews too. In fact just moments ago I read that review in the Sun Herald and clipped it out to pop it in the book when I buy it (later on this week I'm sure). I'm very good at buying bird books, but not terribly good at getting them read. Still I'll buy it and put it on my bird book shelf.