The Grutto bird was chosen in 2015 as the national bird of the Netherlands. Every country has their national bird and the Grutto bird is the pride of the Netherlands.
There is a special reason why the Grutto bird was chosen as the national icon among birds of the Netherlands. They are in diminishing terms: namely in the 1960's there were more than 140,000 Gruttos in the country. By 2015, it was merely 40,000 in number. The main reason for this is the growing of the agricultural sector and therefore the reducing of the Grutto habitats.
The Grutto is brown in color and has a orange beak. The Grutto sound can be described with some imagination as utto utto utto, which the Grutto calls out in quick succession. The name Grutto derives from this sound. In summer, the black-tailed Grutto male has an orange-brown head, neck and chest. The beak is also orange on the head side. The flanks and belly are mottled. It has a long, almost straight beak. When the Grutto flies, the white stripes above and below the wings stand out. A Grutto measures 36-44 cm and has a wingspan of 62-70 cm.
As one of the precaution and conservation methods of Gruttos, the Dutch bird protection society (de Nederlandse vogelbescherming) has initiated partnerships with farmers in the agricultural sector. During the breeding season in the spring and early summer months, the agricultural activities are stopped to give more room for the Gruttos to lay eggs, nest and to reproduce. We took this video in the Boterhuis polder close to the city of Leiden in the Netherlands. This Polder (a drained water reservoir used for agriculture) is considered as a one of the special habitats that Gruttos regularly come to breed.
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