The Netherlands for Spectacled Eider
Spectacled Eider, by Olaf Oliviero Riemer (CC BY-SA)
Sites of interest
- Texel
Top target birds
- Spectacled Eider
- Black Woodpecker
- Bearded Reedling
- Red-breasted Goose
- Middle Spotted Woodpecker
- Long-eared Owl
Practical reasons for interest
- Public transit everywhere!
- Very quick trip
- Non-birders can potentially enjoy too, at least by splitting up during the day
Concerns
- Lots of travel and money for one target bird, perhaps better spent going for quick visit to nearby Neotropics (ex: Huatulco)?
- Cold weather (but what about later winter or early spring?)
- In 2024, Eider was reliable through mid-March, seen sparingly into early May (further north on island))
- Is a car still recommended for efficiently reaching birding sites? How realistic is transit/walking/cycling to sites in cold weather and compressed schedule?
- Is a scope necessary for seeing the eider and other key birds?
Itinerary thoughts
- Direct flight to Paris (cheaper than London, more foolproof than one-stop flights to Amsterdam) (though maybe this is stubborn and foolish of me), arriving in morning
- Eurostar train to Amsterdam (3.5h), then intercity train to Den Helder(1.5h), then ferry to Texel, and bus onwards
- 1-2 nights on Texel, by bus and/or cycling
- Ferry return, mainland birding, 1-2 nights?
- Train to Paris, return home
- 3-5 nights?
Resources
Birding
- Zoothera trip itinerary - Jan 2026
- Miceli - Nov 2021
- 10,000 Birds overview of the country
Transportation
- Texel by public transit - getting there
- Texel public transport - getting around
- The Man in Seat 61 - London to the Netherlands - though direct flights to London more expensive than Paris, taking the ferry would be fun!
- Texel climate