Last week Friday I hiked a short section of the Floris V Pad (read that blog here), while I was busy hiking the Hubby found he had parked next to a Nature Sanctuary filled with all sorts of birds. This is a photographic selection of his adventure.
First, I think this was the most entertaining of his adventure.
Under attack!
He was asked several times by actual birders if he was finding anything special. I had to laugh, he is only an amateur, as he told them he was only capturing normal or common birds. Here are some of those “common birds”. Fuut, Podiceps cristatusKievit, Vanellus vanellus
Vink, Fingilla coelebsScholekster, Haematopus ostralegus Not sure of this ID but closest I could come was a Tureluur, Tringa totanusAhhh… much easier for this Minnesotan to ID! Canadian Geese, Canadese gans, Branta canadensis Grauwe gans, Anser anserThis subspecies was very common at this location.
That adventure file is now empty. We are off on another adventure today. Product testing a new Kelty tent overnight at a local campground.
Today was a day to just enjoy what nice weather the universe sent us. It is far from what would be our normal February weather.
We took the plunge to trek the 7km to the ocean early enough to beat the crowds.
Nice rainbow glitter boots.Remarkably clear and still beach.A para sail catching a draft off the sea.Hummm… wonder how this rose ended up on the beach?Looking out towards the ocean.Hummm… something for the bird lovers.Ending the hike with a nice cup of coffee and sitting in the sun.
We love nature and we love exploring it in our human powered floating vessel. We have joked over our years of blogging that we might upend the birding world with some of our sightings. Please don’t fear bird bloggers we will not become the new birding community influencers with our most recent outdoor adventure.
We started our morning riding our bikes from our camping to the bird observation tower that is located on the far Eastern edge of the Weerribben National Park. We rode fast to try to beat the rain clouds. we suffered a short delay as I experienced an unexpected acrobatic bike fall that resulted in road rash and a very bruised ego. At 54 I don’t recover nearly as quickly from such events.
On our bike route, and within view of the observation tower, the Hubby spotted his first photo note worthy bird of the day, a spoonbill wading in the water.
Our first bird of the day, a spoonbill.
Once we reached the tower we were greeted by another birder. The enthusiastic older man was instantly impressed with the Hubby’s Nikon camera. Well… at least in the camera brand. He was also a Nikon owner but had a huge birder zoom lens attached. I have learned that talking about lens size in the birding world is a great conversation ice breaker. Soon the Hubby and this older birder were discussing all the birds that the man had spotted from this tower on past visits.
As the guys were discussing the finer points of the birding world I took this photo of a small reed bird.
Action shot of a reed bird.
Soon the other bird observer announced it was time for coffee and left us alone on the tower. The wind blew but the rain storm didn’t appear as we watched a pair of storks fly overhead.
A stork flying past the observation tower.
Once we had enough of looking at birds from the tower we biked to another location with a bird observation point. Before we arrived we had our best close up sighting of the day, a stork.
This stork was hanging around in a backyard of someone’s house.The other observation deck. Not nearly as clean or as nice as the tower we had just visited.The end of our birding tour brought us into Kalenberg and this site. A stork nest and the stork. No babies were seen.
With the arrival of what seems to be an early Spring here in The Netherlands, I have been outside with the camera trying to improve my skills. I captured some of these on my walk to the local pond. These birds are all acting like Spring is here to stay.
This was a dry summer and our adventures are now well documented. The RV trailer is now safely back in storage. The canoe and kayaks are waiting for the next nice day to come out of the back garden and head out on an adventure.
The Cedar Journal 