Blog

Because of the 50th wedding anniversary of my parents, I visited the beautiful Canary Island of Tenerife with my family.

This time I will search for various alpine birdspecies in Switzerland, Leukerbad. Final destination is the Gemmi Pass, accessible by cable car from Leukerbad…

In June / July 2019 I made a trip to the Indigirka delta (Siberia, Russia) to photograph Ross’s Gulls...

In June/July 2019 I made a trip to the Indigirka Delta, the north part of Siberia, Russia. The purpose of the trip is to photograph arctic birds. The main goal is Ross’s Gulls in breeding plumage...

Sunday February 10th, Monday February 11th
After a flight from Amsterdam via Moscow I arrived at the airport in Irkutsk. There I was picked up by my guide Sasha (Alexandr Povarintsev) and our driver Nicolay, arranged by Rubythroat Birdingtours of Michiel Valkenburg. This first day (-34^oC) we visited some locations for orientation. Photographing Baikal Bullfinch (Grey Bullfinch or Pyrrhula cineracea) would be difficult, there were not many birds of this species observed last winter. I took some pictures of a Waxwing with backlight. After a traditional Russian meal, we went to bed early...

Redpolls from Greenland and from Iceland are called one (sub)species by some people, namely rostrata. I think this is not correct, because both redpolls are quite different.

A fascinating place to watch redpolls is Barrow, in the north part of Alaska. Are the redpolls in this remote arctic place Mealy Redpolls (flammea) or Coues’s Arctic Redpolls (exilipes)? Good question!

Together with Edwin Winkel, we travelled to Barrow, Alaska in October 2018. And all this to photograph Ross's Gulls!

In this article I’ll try to write about a ‘redpoll issue’, namely a wrongly claimed moult limit in the wing of a redpoll.

Wood Warbler, Katwijk, the Neterlands

Nutcracker, Triberg, Germany

In March, 2018 I visited northern Sweden for a week. My main target was to photograph Bullfinches...

The Parrot Crossbill is a scare visitor in the Netherlands…

A Bufflehead is staying in Barendrecht, the Netherlands for many years…

A Coues’s Arctic Redpoll is staying in Arnhem, the Netherlands for a few weeks (February 2018). The bird joints a group of approximately 30 Mealy Redpolls…

As a child, looking in my bird guide, I really liked the paintings of the Ross’ gull. I was believing that I would never see this beautiful Arctic bird in real life...

When you regularly stay in the far north, it is a nice change to book a trip to Florida. So at the end of November 2017, I traveled together with my wife to this beautiful and sunny State. I promised my partner not to spend too much time on bird photography, it should be a romantic holiday. I’m not sure if that worked out well...

What does the Hornemann’s Arctic Redpolls look like after moulting their plumage? To answer this question, I took the plane to Greenland at the end of October 2017...

Long, long time ago, as a 15-year-old-boy, I saw the Wallcreeper in The Netherlands, at the VU-building in Amsterdam (1989). From that moment on I fell in love with this bird.

Most men have a hobby. Some are encouraging their favourite soccer club, some become a wonderful cook, other go running, start saving stamps or maybe even start saving tattoos...

In January, 2017, I visited St. John's, Canada for a week. My main target was to photograph Kumlien's Gull at the Quidi Vidi Lake...

Here you'll find an overview of all redpoll-articles of my website. Enjoy reading...

I like urban birding, especially in Autumn because the colours are so beautiful!

Red-breasted Flycatcher, adult, Oostende, Belgium

In two weeks’ time (September 2016) we went from Bologna via Florence, Sienna and the picturesque village of Pienza to Rome. The reason: holiday!

Since September 2016 I’m the proud owner of a Canon EOS 5D mark iv…

Almost everyone has a weakness for owls. Of course we knew that long before Harry Potter. I have yet to meet a person who doesn't love these birds.

The Sand Martin is not only our smallest swallow, it’s also the swallow that, compared to other swallows, arrives the earliest in Springtime. You would already see these amusing birds in March...

In June 2016, Gerard Visser and myself visited Bulgaria to shoot Wallcreepers.

This is my third article about ‘less is more’ it surely won’t be the last! (see link to second and first article). ‘Less is more’ has become really my favorite thing. I'm even considering selling my 500-mm-telephoto lens as  it’s lying around in my basement uselessly (that being said, I keep using it regularly).

Act I: I grew up in the city of Rotterdam together with my parents and my older brother (Henk). But as a four year old, I suddenly got a new brother: what a nice surprise! My brand-new brother, named Jaap, was already around thirteen years old when he was introduced to our family...

Some people are born in the wrong body. They feel like a man trapped in a woman’s body or, of course, the other way around. Since a few years ago, when I first visited Scandinavia, I knew that I also had a problem. Not that I was born in the wrong body, but in the wrong country. Like some sort of ‘trans-countrier’.

The Great Grey Shrike is anything but boring, it’s a beautiful bird and a dangerous killer. This former breeding bird is now a scarce winter guest in the Netherlands; you’ll find these birds in moorlands, which is their favourite place to be.

Sexing and ageing is important for the identification of redpolls. Further identification will be easier when keeping these in mind. With redpolls, sexing and ageing isn’t always that simple. In the field it’s sometimes impossible. Shall we give it a go?

Any self-respecting photographer would be shooting in RAW, wouldn't they?

Like Greenland and Spitsbergen, Barrow (at the last northern part of Alaska) is a dream location for any bird photographer, especially those who have a preference for arctic species. That is why Jan van Holten, Martin van der Schalk and myself visited this magical location in June 2015 for the duration of two weeks.

On my trip to Barrow, Alaska, USA (June, 2015) I found a notable amount of redpolls. I was pleasantly surprised as I wasn't expecting it!

The opportunity to film is one of the advantages of modern photography. Now and then it’s nice to take a short video, just for fun!

In Spring 2008 Menno van Duijn, Adri Hoogendijk and myself visited the southern part of Poland. Our goal was to photograph Pygmy Owl and Ural Owl...

As a bird photographer I love less-is-more-pictures. The subject that matters takes up only a small part of these pictures, while its surroundings plays an important role.

In March, 2015 I visited Kaamanen, Finland for a week. My main target was to photograph redpolls, but the Siberian Jay and Siberian Tit were also on my wishlist...

I love redpolls. It’s not easy to explain why I like redpolls that much. With their nice red cap and their tiny bill they appeal to many bird lovers. There are different species of redpolls and not always easily identified in the field.

Some test pictures of a Canon EOS 7D mark II. First the whole picture (reduced to 1024 pixels) and after that a part of the same picture (100% crop)...

The gems of the Portugese Azores aren’t the rare American migrant birds. No, they're the endemic Azores Bullfinches (pyrrhula murina), found at the eastern tip of the beautiful island of São Miguel. Some would claim that these birds are less than inspiring to look at and thus not worth observing but as a lover of finches I find them anything but dull. I would go so far as to call them beautiful and even mysterious due to the ‘Priolo's’ (the Portuguese name for the species) history; once being thought extinct and then rediscovered.

For a bird photographer a Cetti’s Warbler is always difficult to photograph. This species is mostly (or always) invisible. Most birders only hear the bird and never get the opportunity to see a Cetti’s Warbler. The strong and typical song or call of a Cetti’s Warbler is a good indication of the presence of these birds. Last winter I had an unexpected good opportunity to photograph this bird...

Batsfjord, March 2014. Never before had the days leading up to a bird photography trip been so bad; a week before leaving a piece of my tooth broke, then I stubbed my toe and after that I burnt my back in an infrared sauna. To make matters worse, the route app of Norway I had installed on my phone didn’t work and last but not least I got a nasty pain in my lower back which also through my left leg…

In 2013 I visited Kangerlussuaq, Greenland from the 18th to the 25th of March in order to photograph the redpolls there. Now you might be wondering how one might pronounce Kangerlussuaq. My heartfelt advice would be not to spend too much time thinking about it, only the Inuits are able to pronounce this word correctly…

In order to make a photography trip, I visited Spitsbergen (Svalbard) from July 22 to August 13, 2010. The first week I was lonely and alone in Longyearbyen. On the last two weeks I sailed, together with a group, on a classic sailing vessel...

In January 2010 I went to Canada to photograph Snowy Owls together with Rob Reijnen, Han Meeuwsen, Hans Nooitgedacht and Adri de Visser. The Snowy Owl was at the top of my wish list…