If you’re planning a trip to Holland for business or pleasure, you may want to consider doing a spot of bird-watching in your spare time. This stunning country is home to a number of great bird-watching sites and there are usually more than a few avid birding enthusiasts in the area who will be more than willing to accompany you and provide you with helpful information and a trained eye.

The north-western parts of the country are probably the best place to go if you want to enjoy a spot of birding in Holland. This part of the country is home to a large number of Nature Reserves and National Parks and so you can expect to find plenty of great wilderness areas to go bird watching. Moreover, many of these natural areas feature a variety of different bird habitats, such as tidal mudflats, bays, dunes, beaches, brackish and fresh water ponds, lakes, peatbogs, woods and marshes. As you travel the area that is nestled along the coastline of the North Sea, IJssellake and Wadden Sea, you will find never-ending opportunities to spot birds in exciting new habitats. There are some great birding spots just 90 minutes from Amsterdam, so you won’t have to take too much time out of your day to enjoy this great leisure activity.

The amazing diversity of habitats in this relatively small country provide homes for almost 470 different bird species. The Netherlands are situated along a wader migration route so there are plenty of these birds visiting Holland. Other birds you may expect to see during your stay here include the Common Rosefinch, the Penduline Tit, the Eagle Owl, the Greenish Warbler and the Thrush Nightingale. Migration usually starts in March, with large numbers of different species sticking around until as late as May or June before making the journey for the arctic. A new influx of birds arrives from Africa or Southern Europe around April/May. Actually, there are a number of migrations of birds in different parts of the country which are continually starting and ending at different times of the year. The result is a never-ending change to the variety that Holland has to offer visitors.

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3. Unbelievable Birding Opportunities in Kenya

Primarily due to its abundant wildlife, Kenya is a popular tourist destination, and there are many different types of organized tours available, with the classic wildlife safari being the most sought after. The main objective of going on a classic wildlife safari is to spot the “Big Five” – lion, elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard and rhino – and while this in itself is exciting, the focus is on the animals and not the birdlife, which can be frustrating for the keen birder.

Appreciating the fact that many people visiting Kenya want to focus on bird watching, a number of tour companies offer specialized birding tours and the trick is to find the tour that is right for you. Do you want to stop and watch the birds in a relaxed manner, seeing how they interact with one another in their natural habitat? Or do you want to spot as many species as possible in the shortest period of time possible? While given the number of species resident in Kenya, the latter may be tempting, the first option is considered by many birding enthusiasts to be the most rewarding. Whichever choice you make, make sure that the tour you pick will suit you.

From a birding point of view, one of the most popular of the eleven reserve areas in Kenya is Lake Baringo, which is situated about 290 kilometers north of Nairobi. It is not uncommon to spot around 300 different species of birds in the Lake Baringo area in a single day. Birding enthusiasts can expect to see Vereaux’s Eagle, Heuglin’s Courser, Three-banded Courser, Lichtenstein’s Sand-grouse, Spotted Thick-knee, Paradise Flycatcher, African Fish Eagle, Marabou Stork, Hemprich’s Hornbill, African Skimmer and much more.

Tsavo is Kenya’s largest game reserve and one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries in the world. In addition to the fascinating wildlife that are resident in Tsavo, birders can look out for Golden-breasted Starlings, Evergreen Forest Warbler, Kenyan Ostrich, Common Ostrich, Somali Ostrich, Hartlaub’s Bustard, Sooty Falcon and Eleonora’s Falcon.

Many of the lodges in Kenya have a resident guide who is knowledgeable with regard to local birds and can give guests an informative tour of the lodge area. The best time for birding is between October and April each year when over 120 Northern hemisphere migrant species arrive for the summer. Between April and October migrants from the southern hemisphere and Madagascar flock to Kenya, many of which are in breeding plumage at that time.

Kenya certainly has plenty to offer birding enthusiasts, and many birders return year after year to explore a new area each time – and are never disappointed.

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