vacation in the netherlands May 2019

Hello everybody, yes we were for 2 weeks in Holland. Visiting our family and friends and of course did watch birds.
We did have typical Dutch weather...partly clouds, wind ...the rain was not there for the 2 weeks.
Did stay in Schoonhoven, a small typical Dutch town for 2 weeks in a farm house along the dike. We did live before we left for Panama along the dike and we still love it.

Nearby Schoonhoven is a nice small village , the name is Ameide. We did go there a few times because there is a very nice nature reserve "Zouweboezem" where black Terns (zwarte Stern) are nesting. The last couple of years in the Netherlands,  I do see more and more black Terns. They get more protection and more habitats  are created for them. They are migrants from west Africa and come all the way to breed in the Netherlands and of course other European country's

Okay...it does not look very natural...but the black Tern is marked as threatened on the red list of breeding birds in Netherlands, so it's important that they get extra protection.

Also this year I did hear and see more Cetti's Warblers! Sorry no pictures. They are hard to take a picture of..their songs are very beautiful..I will add a taped song later this month. (10th of July 2019... does not work... you can listen to the tape on ebird.)

The amount of Cetti's Warblers are getting more and more because the winters are not so cold anymore in the Netherlands... also in Schoonhoven along the dike we heard and did see this Warbler... 

When you go to the Netherlands, try to visit https://www.zuidhollandslandschap.nl/gebieden/zouweboezem

We did visit also the Biesbosch national park but I must say... I did love as a birdwatcher more the Zouweboezem. 

Also there is a colony of purple Herons (purper Reiger), it was a long time ago that I did see this beautiful Heron... Also with these Herons it goes  much better! These are migrants and winters in west Afrika(south of the Sahara)

Here some impressions of this beautiful nature reserve:

                                                            sedge Warbler (riet Zanger):

                                                          European Goldfinch (Putter):

Next to all our visits to friends and family, we did visit and did do some bird watching all over the Netherlands... I think they have a problem with too much wild pigs in national park the hoge Veluwe, nearby Apeldoorn..everywhere the soil was a mess. Did see some nice birds though, but more in the open area, not in the forest . You can see , it was very dry (for June!)

And of course I try to see a new bird in the Netherlands...it is getting harder and harder...but I did see this European Honey Buzzard (Wespendief) 

We did go to the east of Netherlands (province of Overijssel), that was great, we did not have a lot of time ...but next time we hope to spend more time there. 

In the south of Holland in the garden of friends of us this nice Dunnock ( Heggemus)

First I thought that it was a Flycatcher, because his behaviour was like that.

I never did see that of a Dunnock:

This Song Thrush (Zanglijster) had a good catch for her baby's

Like in Panama, a lot of birds did have nests and immatures...like this white Stork:

This grey Heron was showing off :

And picture taken from the dike in the early morning..last morning in the Netherlands...

Egyptian Goose (Nijlgans), probably nearby nest, they can have nests in old tree holes...

also they use old nest of Herons,Storks and birds of prey and so.

Well this was a small impression..for all my list go to my E-bird. I add 2 lists of this vacation favorite 

birding place "Zouweboezem"...see down below..

It was a super vacation!

Greetings from Terry

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Zouweboezem--Zouwendijk, Zuid-Holland, NL
May 21, 2019 6:15 PM - 6:35 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments:     Wind, cloudy
17 species

Gadwall  1
Great Crested Grebe  2
Common Cuckoo  1
Water Rail  1     Ho call
Eurasian Coot  2
Lesser Black-backed Gull  1
Black Tern  2
White Stork  1
Great Cormorant  2
Gray Heron  1
Purple Heron  4
Hen Harrier  1
Eurasian Kestrel  1
Barn Swallow  3
Common Chiffchaff  1     Ho
European Starling  3
Reed Bunting  1

Ameide--Zouweboezem, Zuid-Holland, NL
May 22, 2019 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 kilometer(s)
Comments:     partly clouds
48 species

Mallard  2
Great Crested Grebe  2
Eurasian Collared-Dove  4
Common Cuckoo  1
Common Swift  X
Eurasian Coot  2
Eurasian Oystercatcher  1
Northern Lapwing  2
Black-tailed Godwit  2
Black Tern  26     1 on nest, no eggs yet..colony
Common Tern  1
White Stork  2
Great Cormorant  1
Great Bittern  3     HO (heard only)
Gray Heron  1
Purple Heron  1
Great Egret  1
Eurasian Marsh-Harrier  3
Great Spotted Woodpecker  1
Carrion Crow  3
Barn Swallow  X
Common House-Martin  X
Eurasian Blue Tit  2
Great Tit  3
Long-tailed Tit  3
Eurasian Nuthatch  1
Eurasian Wren  2     + immatures in nest
Cetti's Warbler  3
Willow Warbler  3
Common Chiffchaff  1
Icterine Warbler  2
Sedge Warbler  3
Marsh Warbler  2
Eurasian Reed Warbler  2
Savi's Warbler  1     HO
Lesser Whitethroat  2
European Robin  1
Common Nightingale  1
Bluethroat  4
European Starling  5
Dunnock  1
White Wagtail  1
Meadow Pipit  3
Common Chaffinch  2
European Greenfinch  3
European Goldfinch  2
Reed Bunting  1
House Sparrow  3

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