Birds of Lauwersmeer national park

Friday, 28 September 2012.

Yesterday evening we went aboard the ship, originally built for fishing.

In Zoutkamp harbour early in the morning, coots and a great crested grebe swim. Herring gulls fly.

The ship passes five flying lapwings. Six flying barnacle geese.

This is a video about birds in the Lauwersmeer national park in the Netherlands.

A female marsh harrier. The weather is a bit foggy this morning in Lauwersmeer national park. Not really good conditions for seeing ospreys and white-tailed eagles, which we won’t see this morning. We do see other birds.

A grey heron.

Lots of grey lag geese on the banks.

A bit further a great cormorant.

Two tufted ducks in the water. A great egret on the bank.

An Egyptian goose flies past.

Mute swans swimming. A juvenile great black-backed gull swimming.

Barn swallows flying. If all goes well, their autumn migration will bring them to Africa.

Twenty spoonbills standing in the water. Most of them will migrate to Africa as well.

Meadow pipits flying across the water, calling. Some will winter here; some in south-west Europe; some in Morocco or even further south.

A buzzard on a tree.

The Lauwersmeer used to be a part of the Wadden Sea. In 1969, a dike was built. Our ship passes through a lock in the dike to the Wadden Sea.

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