So cool: Birds & Spring Live

[Dutch mom]

This is so cool http://www.beleefdelente.nl/ (we really got addicted to it, me and my family.)

"Beleef de Lente" is Dutch for "Experience Spring".
The website is online since the first day off March and will be online untill the first day of July. This is the seventh season.
It is a project of the Dutch Bird Protection Foundation, for research, to educate people and to raise funding (people can adopt a bird.)
It is a very popular website here and each week people can view an update on tv.
Many people voluntarily take part in the research done on several birds by watching them closely a sceduled hour and note all relevant observations online.

You can LIVE visit the nest of 11 different birds and watch new clips each day. They have a pair off:
storks
spoonbills
Montagu's harriers
barn swallows
blackbirds
swifts
kingfishers
great tits
screech owls
peregrine falcons
eagle owls

Watch their courtships, the laying and hatching off their eggs and watch the birds raise their chicks untill they fledge.

The first eagle owl egg hatched today! You can see the newborn chick in a clip.
The stork will lay her first egg within a few days.
The falcons and the screech owls have allready occupied their hives.
The the swifts and the kingfishers are courting and busy exploring their nests.
We are waiting for the other birds to arrive in the coming weeks, some are allready in our country, others have to travel a long way from the south.

The website is in Dutch but what you see needs no translation.

 

[Nakamova]

Thanks DM!

This will help with my withdrawal from my vacation in the Galapagos (where the nesting birds are so tame you can get very close indeed).

 

[Chaz1]

this is soooo cool - a fellow addict in the making. I love Owls, they are so rare these days..

thanks a million for sharing

 

[Dutch mom]

Is it too bad they have a problem with the eagle owls cam (the new created internet connection failed), the first eagle owl chick was born last wednesday. They are working on it and hope to have them online again coming week.

The storks have two eggs now and the falcon is expected to lay her second egg today.

My personal favorites are the screech owls, I followed their chicks hatching, growing and flying out last year.

 

[Chaz1]

I shared this with my whole office today ...the sounds of oh, awe…..it’s so lovely and going to bring this home for the kids was great...

Just outside my work window we have busy nests every year....

oh the privilege of living in The Netherlands if u r a bird lover - I feel like an excited child.

 

[Dutch mom]

Keep watching! There will be more birds online soon, ít's all spring here in Holland now, blue skies and sunny days are coming up this week!

My youngest boy is a total addict and he loves owls, especially the mighty eagle owl. He was part of the screech owl research team last year, being a 7-year old (by then) he was the youngest researcher. He stared at the screen one hour each day for two months and he noted each worm, mouse and frog the owls brought to feed their chicks and all other relevant facts. They do start the sceduled reseach hours for volunteers as soon as the first egg hatched.

The eagle owl problem seems to be in the pc. It will be fixed soon, they wrote on the website today. I hope so because the other chicks must be there allready.

For owl lovers who can't wait, take a peep at Lotte, a European eagle owl in Germany: http://webcam.pixtura.de/SWR_UHU/

Chaz1: Vroege Vogels on tv, each tuesday evening (about 19.30 uur), they show BdL updates each week.

 

[Dutch mom]

Yes, the eagle owls are online again! There are 2 chicks for sure, maybe 3.

http://www.beleefdelente.nl/vogel/oehoe

 

[Chaz1]

Oh my goodness.......

Your 7 year old is probably the youngest Owl researcher in NLD that is just sooo cool!

1st day of spring and the Owls are back on line YES!!

I tend to work long, long hours so get to see little to no TV...But I can at least login now thanks to u (and chill for a minute) and see our spring coming to blossom in our birds, live, live no less...... (And outside my office window to boot too, lucky me)

Can u hear my utter excitement......? I hope so coz it’s there…big time.