About this website

This site aims to document interesting gulls in and around Amsterdam. Even though I've tried to write the photo captions as informative as possible, my site does not aim to present a complete overview of all plumages of all gull species. I started it as a 'local branch' of the former Birdsnaps site, which has been revived in 2006 as the Gull Research Organisation web site. If you want to know more about gulls, and large gulls in particular, a visit to that site is very worthwhile!

Intensive observations have demonstrated that scarce species such as Yellow-legged Gull and Caspian Gull do actually occur in quite large numbers in the Dutch capital. In 2005 and 2006, colour ringed 2cy Baltic Gulls were observed (red CRK4 and CJC9), only the fifth and sixth record for The Netherlands. In 2006, also no less than three candidate Heuglin's Gulls were found.

Recognizing immature gulls isn't always easy, so birds that are more difficult to identify are extensively described in the captions. Besides gulls in Amsterdam and elsewhere in The Netherlands, this site also treats large gulls from NE Spain/S France and from Poland.

Furthermore, I've been lucky enough to witness the first succesful breeding efforts of Peregrines in Amsterdam from close by. Also some other interesting birds in Amsterdam have been included with pictures and/or sound recordings. Finally I have prepared illustrated reports of trips to Poland, Tunisia and Cyprus. All my pictures on this site were 'digiscoped' using a combination of Nikon Coolpix 4500 or Nikon P5100 and Swarovski AT 80 HD.

Comments or corrections? Please send an email to Ruud Altenburg.