If it's a rooster, why do they call it crowing?

This rooster didn't care that it was the middle of the day, he was determined to show off his vocal skills anyway.

Are we in India? Where?Wednesday

The dutch call this the "Indische Gans" (Indian Goose, known in english as the Bar-Headed Goose). They are native to India, but they do not migrate here. Some are kept in captivity, and there are some breeding escapees throughout Europe.


I don't know if this family is captive or not, but we spotted them right here in The Hague in the Clingendael.

A Reluctant Subject

I spotted this pheasant (fazant) near the Kralingse Bos in Rotterdam. He eluded me for quite some time before I got an (almost) clear shot.

Valkenburg Falcon

This week we'll leave the Wassenaar/The Hague area behind and visit a town in the southeastern part of the Netherlands. We stopped in Valkenburg on our way home as part of a trip to Aachen, Germany.

The weather was perfect for a walk around town and viewing the area from the castle ruins. This is said to be the only hillside fortress in The Netherlands (probably due to the fact that the province of Limburg is pretty much the only region in the country with real hills).

At the castle there was a "roofvogels" (birds of prey) exhibition. Due to the warm weather, this falcon had a mind of its own and wasn't interested in performing; after bringing this bird back into the roost the demonstration continued with the trainers educating the crowd about various birds of prey.

Check back all week for more from Valkenburg. If you're interested in the Aachen area, we'll write about it on our travel blog in two weeks.

Australia in Holland

Behind the Hotel de Gouden Leeuw (the golden lion) in the neighboring town of Voorschoten is a set of bird enclosures. We have no idea why they are there ... an attraction for the hotel, or a personal collection, perhaps? In any event the emus were very curious. Love the Trump hairdo.