Birds in Holland

Just a small selection of birds encountered while wondering the streets in various places throughout the Netherlands. 

 

Eurasian magpie

Grey heron

Grey partridge

White stork

A day in Amsterdam

Amsterdam, the city of bikes...and a lot of other things. 

 

Dutch flower blooms

In spring, Dutch landscapes come to life as the fields are transformed by the blooming flowers of all colours of the rainbow. The following photos were all taken in Holland's largest flower garden - Keukenhof.

 

Brielle, The Netherlands

Feast your eyes on a small town called Brielle - a magical place in Holland I always go back to when I visit. 

 

Feeding frenzy - common dolphins vs. needlefish

Dolphins are incredible hunters. The use their echolocation to locate prey and depending on the area and the species, they use a variety of hunting techniques to capture them. In the Azores, common dolphins work as a coordinated group to surround schools of small fish and herd them to the surface. The energetic display at the surface is incredible to watch, and if you're luck you can even see dolphins leaping out of the water with a fish in its mouth. 

 

Some not so common encounters with common dolphins

Common dolphins are a beautiful species that really deserve a more interesting name. They have an hourglass pattern on their sides which normally varies in colour from a mustard yellow to a more sandy colour. On the odd occasion you might even encounter one with dark sides, referred to as a "dark edition" common dolphin. Behaviours vary a lot too, making them an interesting species to watch, and depending on where you are in the word, common dolphins are not always a common species to come across.

 

A rare 'dark edition' common dolphin (with dark instead of yellow sides)

A more common-coloured common dolphins in a smooth ocean

Common dolphins interacting in crystal clear waters

A beautiful common dolphin calf surfacing alongside its mother

Autumn in Massachusetts

Autumn in North America - a beautiful time to go out in nature for some photography. 

  

Tufted titmouse

Red-tailed hawk

End of summer in the Azores

The end of summer is one of the best times of the year to be out on the ocean in the Azores. The water is often very calm and a brilliant blue colour  and the species diversity is usually very high.

Common dolphin mother and calf pair

Loggerhead turtle

Risso's dolphins of various ages (the whitest ones are the oldest)

Sperm whale landing after a breach

Sperm whale diving