Where to go birding in the netherlands
The Netherlands is a relative small country. Within two hours you can go to any corner of the country from Amsterdam.
In the north part of the Netherlands you find the provinces of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe including the Wadden Islands.
This part of the Netherlands is less populated than the other provinces and therefore has larger areas suitable for birds. You find extended grasslands were many geese graze on during the winter.
The IJsselmeer and Wadden Sea coast has many interesting birding spots especially good for waders. Inland you find woodlands, moors and heath with species like Red-backed Shrike, Golden Oriole and many warblers, tits and flycatchers.
Top birding sites are Workumerwaard, Zwarte Haan, Lauwersmeer, Zuidlaardermeer and Fochterloerveen.
With famous areas like The Hoge Veluwe, Utrechtse Heuvelrug, Blauwe Kamer and the Ooijpolder you have some good birding areas within reach of Utrecht, Arnhem and Nijmegen. More then a quarter of our tours also go to the province of Flevoland to the Oostvaardersplassen.
These areas are mainly visited in the summer but during the winter it's also fantastic to follow the rivers and scan the flood fields for the wintering ducks and geese.
The provinces of Noord- and Zuid Holland and Zeeland are along the North Sea coast and in reach of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague were we mostly start from.
The dunes and meadows are very productive in spring and in the winter we often visit Zeeland for the wintering birds. Top sites are Wieringermeer, Texel, IJmuiden, Nieuwkoop, Stellendam, Brouwersdam and Prunjepolder.
When clients want to see woodpeckers and owls we visit the south part of Holland with the province of Limburg and Noord Brabant. Near the highest point of the country you can observe Eagle Owl and in the woods Black- and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. When there's a wind from the east we keep a look out for migrating Cranes and Red Kites.