I’m not a birdwatcher. I know the difference between sparrows, blackbirds, gulls, starlings and parrots, but my knowledge of birds doesn’t really go much further. Maybe I can point out some more (the hummingbird or a woodpecker), but I can’t tell you the difference between the various bird families. Nor explain it. There are plenty of birdwatchers and hobbyists who can inform you.

At work in Amsterdam, I often walk during my lunch. You get out and you’re on the move. But recently, the gulls that sit here above my employer’s car park have young gulls in their nests. I always thought that all birds lay eggs in the month of May, but it just goes to show that my bird knowledge is limited in that respect as well. The breeding period of gull is from May to August (I googled it).

Besides the fact that gulls are protected animals in the Netherlands, they are also very protective of their own chicks. This results in aggressiveness towards the people walking by. And me in particular. It has happened a couple of times that a gull flew in a dive towards me, above my head. After a few days I found out that when I keep looking at the ground, the seagull keep flying in the air. Just keep my fingers crossed and let us hope that these gull chicks grow up pretty fast.