Since then, it has been possible to experience how these elegant birds breed, mate, squabble, and raise their young up close, via two livestream cameras in the middle of a spoonbill colony in Nieuw Land National Park. The livestreams make the hidden world of the spoonbill visible 24 hours a day on the website Beleef de Lente of Vogelbescherming Nederland.
The spoonbill 'at home' in Nieuw Land
The large white spoonbill with a spoon-shaped bill breeds in colonies, often joining other colonial birds like gulls, herons, and cormorants. They have long felt at home in Nieuw Land National Park. In the 1990s, the colony in the reed marsh of Oostvaardersplassen was even one of the most important colonies in the Netherlands. The Lepelaarplassen are even named after the species. The colony was absent for a long time, but since 2025 they have been breeding there again. Since 2014 they have also been breeding on a breakwater in Lelystad. Amidst the gulls and elder trees, they find a safe breeding spot. A strategic place, as they can fish in the surrounding wetlands, with Marker Wadden and Oostvaardersplassen being the most important.
Following flight paths live
The spoonbills in Nieuw Land National Park show like no other species how the different areas of the national park are connected. Some spoonbills carry a GPS transmitter, allowing their flight paths to be accurately followed on the site of the national park.