I recently had a nice walk along the Aalbeck which is a protected area. Passing the bird park here I thought it is a long time I haven’t been to see the birds. I normally don’t like to see anybody in a cage but here are many birds also free to move even though they have for sure cut feathers at their wings, so they can’t fly away. Anyway, I asked some friends if they would like to come with me on one of the following days. And that is what we did.
I know the bird park from my childhood. And actually it was founded in 1973, around the time I started to live in Travemünde the second time. In 1983 the current owner bought the place for his own bird ‘collection’.
In 2009, it was closed shortly as the space for the birds had to be rebuilt.
Today there are living 150 owls (the biggest ‘collection’ worldwide), flamingos, exotic birds, cranes, parrots, many different waterbirds and many more, around 250 different kinds. The park has 70.000 square meters and is wetland. There are two main circular tracks, one mainly for the waterbirds and exotic birds’ aviaries, the other is mainly about the owls in their aviaries. For my taste they are pretty small. There are even a couple of Condors! The owls I highly recommend as they are very funny. It really is a very unique bird! The parrots are in bigger aviaries right at the entrance. Be careful: they talk! And some like to cuddle very much.
We spent more than three hours, I took more than 300 photos on this dry but cloudy day. A few are following the text. I am glad we went, it was such a nice afternoon. Especially for children it is a great idea as they can see also many local birds. BTW: many swans, ducks, cranes, geese are everywhere around in the wild of the wetlands of the protected area.
Vogelpark Niendorf, Schleswig-Holstein/Germany:
For further information:
Vogelpark Niendorf (in German)
An der Aalbeek
23669 Timmendorfer Strand/Niendorf
Opening hours: 10 am to 7.30 pm (summer) or dusk (winter)