Some good and some bad news from Avifauna : 2 Steller's sea-eagles have been hatched Bald eagles are sitting on eggs A Eastern black-billed stork which was bred last year at Avifauna was planned to been put on display in the park on monday escaped directly after being released in his new enclosure. Several sighting were reported but yesterday the bird was found dead near the Birdpark
Great news for hummingbird enthusiasts; Avifauna now has two new species; Fork-tailed woodnymph (Thalurania furcata) and White-chinned sapphire (Hylocharis cyanus).
On July 18 Avifauna celebrates a very special event. Their breeding-pair lives on this date 40 YEARS together ! They were recieved in 1973 and have lived all the time together. With 12 young produced they also delivered an important contribution to the international breeding programm. In the last couple of years they still do some displaying but for real nesting they are probably to old.
You´re right, would be helpfull to know about which species this deals : it's their pair of Great Indian Hornbills ( Buceros bicornis ) !
Visited yesterday after a long break ( about 10 years I guess ) Avifauna. Before I went, I had made a 'wish-list' ( Zootierliste can often be very helpfull ) and most of the species on my list were seen and most of them also photographed. With the Hummingbirds this proofed to be quite difficult because it was a very sunny day and the Hummingbird are kept in glass-fronted enclosures ! Evenso I managed to make some nice pictures which I will load-up in the Gallery as soon as possible ! With the Kiwi I was less lucky, this is also kept in a glass-fronted enclosure in a nocturnal-house but inhere it was so dark and the glass did not allowed me to make any useble photo ( ). However, the animal was very active and we had at least some very good views of him/her ! The 3 sections of the Tropical House ( yesterday realy tropical ! ) are very good but several birds have managed to went to other sections which makes the geographic theme of these sections not correct ( Superb starling and Wattled starlings in the Pantanal ? ) but even so it looked all very fine ! I had heared they had planned to make 3 enclosures in the Pantanal-section for larger birds but only saw 2 Tucan-enclosures. I don't know if a third aviary for Hyasith macaws still is planned or if it has been canceled ? Quite a lot of young birds seen ( the 2 young Steller's sea-eagles, a Violet turaco, several young Australian Thick-knees to mention some ) but failed to find any Black-billed ( Oriental ) White storks. Does anyone know if they are still there ? Al to gether a very hot and very fruitfull day ( 1000 + pictures ) !
2 endangered Visayan Tarictic Hornbills which already hatched for some time have got their ring. Photos on their Facebook-site : https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...441.1073741833.137886932950579&type=3&theater
A second pair of Visayan Tarictic Hornbills have produced young ! For this pair it is the first time they have bred.
More Hornbill-news : a Wreathed hornbill young has left the nest, a second will hopefully follow soon !
The Vogelpark Avifauna, in Alphen aan den Rijn, has the unusual benefit of having a hotel right next door to it, run by the same organisation. From what I can discover, it seems like a fairly middle-ranking hotel, unremarkable apart from its location. Has anyone stayed there? Is there unhindered access between the hotel and the bird park (that is, after closing time)? Planning a trip, and any help would be gratefully received!
I hope I can answere your questions. First of all Van der Valk (the company who owns the hotel and Avifauna) is the biggest en one of the most well known hospitally-chains in the Netherlands. In general all there hotels are pretty good, nothing really special but a good place to stay. You will have free entrance to Avifauna if you will stay there but I'm pretty sure you wont be able to go there if the park is closed. Any more questions?
