The footage shows the early days of the Bird Park Avifauna. The park seems to have been part of the Van der Valk group since time immemorial. Nonetheless it was a different entrepreneurial family (Van den Brink) that founded the park in 1950. In this brief historical documentary founder Gerard van den Brink looks back on the early years.

The toco toucan (Ramphastos toco) that was used to adorn the posters of the initial opening of the park in 1950 as a logo for their family business, was adopted as a logo by the Van der Valk concern when it took over business. This logo that has identified the Van der Valk hotels and restaurants ever since, and is therefore familiar to every Dutchman. But why did they adopt the toco toucan as a logo? Valk in the family name Van der Valk translates into falcon, which would be a more obvious choice to symbolise the chain of hotels and restaurants. As a matter of fact the family was indeed looking for a symbol for the family business, but right after the end of WWII many people had bad memories of the raptor symbolism the Nazis used. Therefore the falcon as a symbol was out of the question, while with the purchase of the bird park Avifauna their toco toucan symbol became part of the family business. The toucan also better suited the Van der Valk family spirit, being a beautiful, large, tropical bird that is cheerful and welcoming, according Gerrit van der Valk, one of the sons of Martinus van der Valk - the founder of the family business.

(Source and credit: TIVI producties (https://www.tiviproducties.nl/); copyright TIVI producties; the usage is considered fair use and therefore an example for exception to copyright)

• In 2008, TIVI Productions made a short four-part series about the history of the park for Bird Park Avifauna. In 4:3 format, because the film had to be played in a beautiful exhibition space on a nostalgic old-fashioned television set with, of course, a square image. The exhibition is still there!
• The other parts can be seen here:

Avifauna in de jaren 60-70 (https://youtu.be/4AzVkx0IIs8?si=Gk0d4sTuslAOzvMo) Avifauna's vogelcollectie door de jaren heen (https://youtu.be/lmeOh-7R8s4?si=b0JA3Uz8qj-YnSLi) Het masterplan van Avifauna (https://youtu.be/5AMFH4NZn-0?si=E_9VXplKi5xHpEyg)