Avifauna Bird Park

Avifauna opened at Alphen aan den Rijn in 1950 and was the first dedicated bird park in the world, laid out as a landscaped garden with ponds, streams and planting rather than a row of aviaries, holding several hundred species - flamingos, pelicans, storks, penguins, birds of prey, parrots and a large tropical hall with free-flying birds. It runs European breeding programmes for a number of threatened species and has been involved in reintroduction work. Flight demonstrations run daily. The park is family-oriented with a boat trip on the Oude Rijn and playgrounds, and it is one of the standard Dutch outings for young children. Archeon, the archaeological open-air museum, is in the same town, and the two are often combined. Alphen sits in the Groene Hart between the four big cities.

History

The park was set up in the garden of the Ten Rhijn estate by its owner, Van den Brink, and opened on 17 May 1950 as the first bird park in the world, with a toucan on its posters and later its logo. It became a foundation in 2013, and its first mammals, three species of prosimians, arrived in 2014 (Wikipedia, Vogelpark Avifauna).

The main sights

• Several hundred bird species - flamingos, pelicans, penguins and raptors.
• A garden layout - ponds and planting rather than rows of aviaries.
• A tropical free-flight hall - birds loose in a planted glasshouse.
• Breeding programmes - European work on threatened species.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Before you go

Busy in school holidays. Flight demonstrations run at set times. It is a bird collection, with the questions that raises about keeping birds. Combined with Archeon it is a long day.

Nearby

Archeon is in the same town; Leiden is west and Gouda south.

Key facts