Outside it rains cats and dogs, but inside the greenhouse of the Bird Care World of Birds in Erica it is warm and dry. And busy! Because there is an open day. Everyone gets a bowl of seeds on arrival to feed the exotic birds. And they are quite busy with that.
“Yes, we have more than 1,800 paaai varieties,” says Ciska Visser of World of Birds laughing. And they are extensively admired by young and old. Many visitors are curious about all kinds of richly colored birds, but some people come for a very specific goal. “Those are the visitors who brought their birds here because they could no longer take care of it. They often come by every open day,” Visser explains.
Jeroen van Veen from Meppel is such a visitor. He comes today especially for Parrot Chico. “We always had two, but when his girlfriend died it wasn’t going well with Chico. He was clearly lonely. We then decided to bring it to the daycare here, so that he could be among peers.”
That turns out to be a good move, because no matter how hard Van Veen his former pet calls: Chico does not come. “I am happy that he can be here in such a beautiful environment,” Troost van Veen himself.
Today’s open day is also an emotional day for the employees and volunteers of the bird shelter. It is a big event that founder Michel van der Plas is not. In November last year the founder of the bird shelter suddenly died. Van der Plas was the face, heart and soul of World of Birds. His death at the age of 54 came as a shock for the whole of bird-loving the Netherlands.
Van der Plas turned his hobby into his work. In 1996 he came to Drenthe with his wife. The shelter is in a short time what is now World of Birds. “It’s getting used to without him,” says Visser. “If people asked in -depth questions about bird care, we could always go to Michel. Then you miss his knowledge, but of course we also miss him enormously as a person.”
Despite the lack, everyone at World of Birds puts everything in its power to continue their work. “It is a moving train that continues. The birds need care every day. But we do it the way Michel would have wanted it,” Visser concludes.