Thursday, March 10, 2011

Robin The Bird


One of the wonderful things that I like about living in Netherlands is the existence of animals be it birds, ducks and swans that freely roam the ground looking for food and happily swimming in the canals. I am a "kampung" girl and I love nature and greens. I did not expect to find it here in Amsterdam and The Hague, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I have lived in 3 places now and even in the centre of Amsterdam, ducks and swans are easily spotted. Even the canals have fish in them. I had seen a big fish, at least a foot long and longer than the ducks, unfortunately it was a dead fish floating in the water and that was how I know how big it was, because the ducks were feeding on it. At one time, at my previous house in Amstelveen, I spotted and managed to capture a picture of a hedgehog (it had spiky things like a porcupine). Can you imagine that... it was not a wooded area at all, there was only a little bush and I walked by the place everyday to the school and to the supermarket.

Here at my current house, I like to watch for birds and wild rabbits. The birds are always there in my garden looking for food. There are red robbins, green robins and the normal brown ones. There are pigeons and also black birds with white wings. This black and white birds look like "burung gagak" to me. At one time there were a lot of bright green birds, at least 25 of them (yes I tried to count) and these birds were sitting on the tree right in front of the kitchen window. The amazing thing is I was sure they were parrots because of the beaks. I could be wrong of course, afterall what do I know about birds anyway, but they sure looked like one. I saw them for a few days, then they dissappeared, maybe they were migrating somewhere.



Red robin - picture courtesy of Mr Google

The red robins at the house are not as bright as this one though :D It is very difficult to get pictures of them, they are very wary of the slightest movement.

Yellow robin - from Mr Google

But the ones at the house look more bright green rather than yellow.
Hoping to entice them to make a nest around our house we bought this bird house a few months back and hang it on the apple tree. I have seen them going in and out but they never stay put. Every once in a while, we put leftover bread or biscuit for them.



DS putting pieces of biscuits in the bird house a few days ago, hoping to entice them to make a nest. We haven't given up yet.



The bird house

And look who has come calling today........



A white pussy cat is paying a visit !!!!


No wonder the robins do not want to stay there..... As much as I would love to get my hands on your white fur (for the right reason, mind you...), don't you dare come close to my birds again...

:D


10 comments:

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Mother of Ilham,
Burung adalah makanan kucing! Err....Dutch birds can read? purrr....meow!

i amsterdam said...

Dear Angelina,

They sure speak and read err Dutch.. cheerp..cheerp..cheeriuppp!!

Cheqna said...

Oh at least u know a little bit on birds..what I know most is telur burung puyuh cos I love it, hehe...

and a memory of my mum cooked it for me when I was busy studying.. :-)

i amsterdam said...

Cheqna,

That's what i like to do on a sunny day like today, observing them. I managed to get a good picture of the red robin at the bird house this morning, but when i tried to enlarge it, the whole thing dissapeared from the camera. My camera is acting funny :(

Dear.. dear.. not too much of telur puyuh... too much cholesterol i think.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Cute birdhouse you have there. Looks like your cat visitor is patrolling your birdhouse.How wonderful there are many wildlife living harmony in the city.We named our sons after soccer players. Ilhan is a Turkish name.

i amsterdam said...

Malay-Kadazan girl,

No..no.. the robins do not like that kind of patrolling !!! :D

You must be football fans then :D I wonder who is Rayyan? Another Turkish?

TK said...

Cantiknya the bird house. Those are lovely birds especially the red robin. I have seen people taking photos of birds here kat kawasan pantai. Some people love to snap photo of birds birds because they are lovely creatures.
BTW, last week my daughter bought a toy bird for our cat. Cats do love birds..sebagai makanan..Nak buat macamana..

i amsterdam said...

TK,

It is actually quite fun watching the cat and the birds. They sure know how to play hide & seek :D

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Kebetulan pula...yup Ilhan football Turkish player World Cup 2002. I was not even married yet back then, but I instantly like the name and decided to name my first son Ilhan. Rayyan is my husband choice, I think one of UK football player as he was adamant that the name must at least has meaning.

i amsterdam said...

Malay-Kadazan girl, what a coincidence !!