Hoeksmeer Favorite Tips by sim1

And off it goes

Favorite thing:
And off it goes.... the Blue Heron thought I got a little bit too close for its liking and flew away.

I hope you enjoyed reading this page and maybe got a little bit enthousiastic in spotting birds as well.

Blue heron

Favorite thing:
One of my favourite birds : the Blue Heron. I just love seeing them, they are so prehistoric in a way. It's very common to see a blue heron fishing on the side of the canal, waiting for hours patiently to catch a fish. Since I was a little kid I loved watching them and I can remember sitting on the other side of the canal watching them staring into the water. When you get close with a canoe though they will fly away. This picture was taken just before it took off.

They are so cute!

Favorite thing:
This young coot was quite adventurous and tried to walk around a bit around the nest. This of course was great for me as I could take a better look at the bird. A watched it from a safe distance and made some photos using my zoomlens.

Young coots

Favorite thing:
Going on a canoe trip in the spring means that you have a good chance in seeing some young coots. Hahaha, they look ugly but very cute at the same time.

A coot hidden in the long grass

Favorite thing:
But not all of them were so eager to let their picture taken. Like this one for instance, all hidden away in the long grass. You're able to see a lot of coots when you canoe on the Damsterdiep, but you do have to keep an eye out for them. When they see you come close, they try to hide. Luckely I had a good zoomlens, so I could take their picture anyway.

A coot

Favorite thing:
When you paddle anywhere on the canals in Groningen you can't miss seeing some coots. I love watching birds and this is a unique way to get quite close to them. This coot didn't seem to be bothered so much by me and let me get quite close to it. To give you a bit of a feel of how it is to paddle along the canals in Groningen I've added this link. When you open that page you can hear the sound of a coot. A sound you can hear often during your canoe trip.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/johnfirth/coot.wav

Grebe (Fuut in Dutch)

Favorite thing:
But not only is it a perfect spot to see birds in this nature reserve. During my canoe trip to Appingedam I saw a lot of birds, even up close. I have put some of the pictures I took there on this page.

I love seeing the Grebe, they are so much fun to watch. They are excellent swimmers and they love to dive under water. One moment you see them swimming and the next minute... underneath the water. Hahaha, it's always fun to see where they will turn up again on the surface of the water. It makes them very hard to photograph though! Hahaha, you point your camera and oops.... they're disappeared under water again, LOL

Peewit

Favorite thing:
This is a picture of a Peewit, or also called lapwing (Kievit in Dutch). You can find a lot of them in this area. This one was on a pasture just outside the lake at the birdsland in Hoeksmeer. There is a ditch around the area so it's hard to get close to the birds. So make sure to bring your binoculars along when you go here!

Swans

Favorite thing:
On this picture you can see three swans flying over, they come from the birdsland. They fly over the farmland right next to the nature reserve. In the background you can see one of the farms in this area.

Birdsland

Favorite thing:
The area never used to look like this. When I lived here as a kid I it used to be farmland. There were green pastures with cows and sheep. My friend used to live right next to this piece of land you see here in this picture. I have walk through this field many many times. But about 10 years ago, they turned it into a nature area. The land was bought from the farmers and the water level has become higher. Now the area is a wetland, flooded like on the picture most of the year, but sometimes almost dry. It is a paradise for birds, and birdlovers of course!

You can't get onto this piece of wetland, but binoculours do wonders to have a good view of the birds. On my last visit to Groningen, I have been here a couple of times.

It is strange to see this area changed so much since I left Groningen. It has become so beautiful now. I wish that they had made this wetland earlier, when I played here as a kid and was here almost every day.