Amsterdam

Easter was spent in Amsterdam. Signs of spring were surprisingly few. A single singing Chiffchaff was the only obvious summer visitor but in the zoo there were (wild) heron nests with already half-grown young. The zoo has a huge Grey Heron colony with nearly every large tree holding a nest. There were also free flying Cormorants nesting low down close to paths and we saw a male engaging in a bobbing, wing shivering display for which he got no payback.
We also had Storks nesting on a church tower in the suburbs and a couple of Peregrines down town.

this Great Crested Grebe (toppdykker) on a canal surprised us with the size of the fish is successfully swallowed

Ring-necked Parakeets were very common in Amsterdam and frequently took food from feeders on balconies

Here is a video of nesting and displaying Cormorants just metres away from us in the Artis Zoo