“Not in your handbag, but always around your neck, otherwise you’ll be too late.” Members of the Vogelwerkgroep Alkmaar, which turned 40 this weekend, never leave home without binoculars. Years ago it started with a small club of bird enthusiasts, but now there are more than three hundred members.
Since Elias den Otter has been birding, a car journey has become a lot more dangerous, says the chairman of the Vogelwerkgroep Alkmaar in the Hilversum studio of NHRadio. Along the way, he and bird club mate José Tibbe are always on the lookout for something that flies. “We don’t want to miss a bird.” They are in the Lunchroom podcast together because there is something to celebrate at their club.
For forty years they have been keeping track of bird sightings, doing excursions and researching nesting areas in and around Alkmaar. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a carpenter or a scientist. We’re all about birds,” Tibbe describes the diversity of the now three hundred members.
How did the bird working group come about?
Tibbe: “A group of birdwatchers in Camperduin wanted to do some more research into which birds are in the area.” Then it was determined how large the area would be and what surveys were needed. Meetings followed.
“First it was a group of two to sixty and now three hundred members.” There are also members from the beginning. “They are still passionate birdwatchers who do it with a lot of love. And also who are very happy to pass it on to young people.”
Den Otter: “That dusty old-men image is gone. A third are women and we have younger members.”
He himself has only been living in the ‘most beautiful bird area in the Netherlands’ for two years. “Perhaps other bird groups will contradict me, but so much passes by in the area along the coast. Especially migratory birds from the north to the south and research. A truly unique picture.”
Watch every morning
Members of the Alkmaar group keep track of all spotted species in an observation app and Whatsapp group. Just last week, Den Otter therefore quickly jumped on his bike – because he never uses the car for bird watching.
“Every morning I look for something special flying. I saw that there were bee-eaters in the dunes. That is a kind of oversized hummingbird. Then I go. And I saw one.” José Tibbe, who has been a member for seven years now, is also amazed every day. “It’s a wealth here.”
Has anything changed in recent years, in terms of bird species?
“Yes, the biggest newcomer is the ring-necked parakeet that is now breeding here,” says Tibbe, Den Otter: “And also the bee-eater that I saw recently. And the stilt that I saw a few weeks ago. Their presence here can be seen separately of the drought in the South.”
The bird working group also does ‘protection’, which sometimes means that procedures are conducted against, for example, a farmer with a mega barn or people who want to build a dormer window in a place where swifts live.
“That’s not fun at all. But we try to do that in the most positive way possible.” Tibbe: “Just to be clear: you can build a dormer window, but if those birds are there, try to do this in such a way that they can continue to breed.”
What impact does bird flu have?
Den Otter: “At Camperduin there was a huge group of sandwich terns. Three thousand. And now there is hardly one of them left. That is tragic to see happen before your eyes.”
Yesterday, the Vogelwerkgroep Alkmaar celebrated its 40th anniversary with an open day, but the anniversary will also be commemorated in the coming period. More about the working group and its activities can be found here on their website. Listen here’s the whole podcast with the interview!