I just had a fantastic trip to the Netherlands and while serious photography was not part of the rest and recreation, I did manage to get a few new birds for my photography portfolio. No rarities, but it was the first time I visited Europe since I became a somewhat obsessed with bird photography and so there where a lot of 001s. Oh, 001 is my code for a new bird species…

We traveled by barge through the canals around Amsterdam and Haarlem and then down to Delft.  We had pretty good weather the entire trip and so I was able to be on deck and grab some shots of birds along the way. I really scored some good images at the famous Keukenhof Gardens. If you can tear yourself away from the gazillion (ok actually something like 7 million bulbs) you can get some good birds. The other place that was loaded with birds was the Zaanse Schans a living museum and wetland in Zaandam. Awesome birds there!

I didn’t take a long lens, well I had the 80-400mm (new version), but not my newly purchased and already beloved 500!

I managed to photograph 17 species and 16 of them were new for me. I was very surprised that they had birds like a coot and heron that were not distinguishable (by me) for the birds here in the US. Then there was the “blackbird” that was actually a thrush…those whacky bird naming peeps! I suppose a real birder could sort out the differences, but I am merely a bird photographer!

Netherlands Bird Photography

Bird Photography Portfolio

I have around 2000 images and several hundred species of birds in my photography portfolio. You can browse those images and order prints or license images for your needs. You can find my bird photography portfolio…HERE.