Birds of Oostvaardersveld nature reserve

This photo is from Oostvaardersveld nature reserve in Flevoland province in the Netherlands. Like the other photos in this blog post, it was taken, as an experiment, with a ‘lensbaby‘: a kind of camera lens enabling to make photos in which some parts are focused while other parts are not. Also, as it was a bit of a foggy day, the photos are not as focused as some others.

We went to Oostvaardersveld on 6 April 2019.

First, we went to the Grote Praambult viewpoint. There was a flock of still wintering barnacle geese there. A running red deer.

An Egyptian goose flying. Herring gulls near the barnacle geese flock. A great egret.

A white wagtail in a tree, calling.

A peregrine falcon nest in an electricity pylon. Three falcons flying around it. Is this an intruder trying to dislodge the nesting couple? Or just a curiosity visit? We don’t know.

We go on to another viewpoint, Kleine Praambult.

A song thrush sings. Chiffchaff sound.

As we start our foggy Oostvaardersveld walk, a blackcap sings.

So does the first one of many willow warblers, just back from Africa.

A coot swims on a lake. Two goldfinches just off the footpath.

In the next lake, mallards and tufted ducks. Common pochards and mute swans.

A Cetti’s warbler sings. A common linnet on the top of the bush.

Great spotted woodpecker sound.

We enter a wooded area.

Some trees are dead.

For some trees, the spring is just beginning.

Common field-speedwell flowers.

Nuthatch sound.

We arrive at the hide ‘De Krakeend’, meaning the gadwall duck.

Indeed, two gadwalls swim here. And a little grebe.

Grey herons.

Many barn swallows, recently back from spring migration, flying low above the water. There is a barn swallow nest inside the hide, but its inhabitants do not seem to have arrived yet.

As we walk further, a flock of barn swallows sitting on dead branches of a tree.

In another tree, a willow tit.

We continue to another lake.

A reedy area. A male stonechat on a reed stem.

And a bluethroat.

Still further, beavers prove that they live here: quite some trees gnawed through.

Coltsfoot flowers.

This 2012 video is about the Oostvaardersveld.

We arrive at the visitors’ center. A wooden sea eagle sculpture.

Then, something special: a real live sea eagle sits in a tree top.

If you walk towards the Zeearend hide, then many big carp swim near the second bridge.

We continue to another footpath, leading to the Oostvaardersplassen hide near the Knardijk dike. The hide is called De Grauwe Gans.

Flowering blackthorn shrubs along the footpath.

And pollard willows.

And other trees.

From the hide: Shelducks. Avocets.

Common horsetail growing.

See also here.