10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2016

I am not entirely sure whether most birders outside Germany know or realize that Germany still has a decent population of one of Europe’s most attractive and desired bird species: the Great Bustard Otis tarda. Now that I might have wetted your appetite, here’s where and how to find them in Germany: 1.

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Germany Abandon Abandoning Abandonment 102

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

As in this quote by Mr. Andrew Breitbart: “Liberals in blue states just think that they are on the right side of history, and anybody that disagrees with them has to be a troglodyte or a neanderthal.” In the non-breeding season, Common Merganser all look pretty much like females.

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Birds Germany India 2018 234

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

The Chestnut Bunting is quite a beauty, particularly when seen from the right angle. Always interesting to see the same species both in Germany (in my parents’ garden) and in Shanghai. Not that easy to spot outside of the breeding season, though relatively quite common. Eurasian Siskin turned up in large flocks in October.

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2019 Japan Birds Owls 206

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2013

Therefore I have decided to right my wrong by providing first and foremost some avian eye candy, and not talk. It breeds in a broad and not quite coherent band from Iceland in the west through central Europe and southern Scandinavia all the way to eastern Russia, wintering in Africa, parts of India, and Southeast Asia to Australia.

Germany 181

Germany Russia Iceland India 181

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2016

The key to solving the puzzle of Germany’s large white-headed gulls was banding juveniles of all forms in their breeding colonies and the fact that some humans find immense joy in driving around garbage dumps, looking at birds with pricey scopes and trying to decipher tiny codes on plastic or metal rings of various shapes and sizes.

Kazakhstan 122

Kazakhstan Germany Ukraine Asia 122

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2022

Please keep that in mind if you ever think that Germany’s only contributions to the world are highways and world wars. If you take a feral pigeon, bleach it and then batik it using the right colors, the result might be a Pink-necked Green Pigeon (1). Next to me, a local birder tried to get a photo of a Common Iora.

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Singapore Birds Zebras Feral 242

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

Driving from France or Germany to Greece, you are likely to pass through my hometown of Belgrade and continue south following the E75 through the FYRO Macedonia. To reach Prespa Lakes, from Niki continue through Florina, from there right for Albania and veer right for the lakes. Have you read my blogs on birding Greece ?

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Greece Albania Macedonia Europe 179

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2015

Maintaining a firm focus on the bright side of taxonomy, a split always means vagrant potential, and the different forms must surely be diagnosable in the field then, right? Until a friend sends you pictures of a very small Great Egret in Germany in winter – with bright pink legs, a black bill and a turquoise cere.

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Asia Europe Germany Breeding 188

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2016

Right: Robert McCormick, by Stephen Pearce. Unlike Darwin, who was a self-funded gentleman naturalist on board, McCormick was bound to the Beagle by his duties and was furious that a civilian passenger on board had usurped his rightful position as ship’s naturalist. There are 11 species of birds that breed in the Ross Sea region.

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Russia Penguins Whales Whaling 184

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2021

Apparently, there are no Lesser Scaup around here, so even I can be fairly confident to get this species identification right. It seems that this year, at least one Greater Scaup is using Nanhui as a wintering ground. I was hoping to see a Siberian Rubythroat , as it is a beautiful bird and I had not seen one this season yet.

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Birds Humane Japan Ducks 253

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2015

It therefore comes as no surprise that it has been regarded as a subspecies of the Spanish Sparrow or the House Sparrow, or as a species in its own right. We currently are experiencing a rare time where all major taxonomic bodies tend to regard it as a species in its own right, the Italian Sparrow Passer italiae.

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Sparrows Italy Asia Austria 234

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2012

It also used to be a rather common bird in the South of Germany, but the German population has crashed and collapsed (almost?) If it still breeds in Germany at all, which it might do, it is so rare by now that pairs do not get reported to anywhere except to the relevant nature conservation authorities. For more than an hour.

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Cattle Germany Iran Breeders 121

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2016

Quite recently, it has started to expand inland, along the river Rhone and to the South of Germany, where it is now an uncommon but conspicious breeder. A different form ( atlantis ) which may or may not constitute a separate species, is found on the Azores, Fuerteventura, and the Canary Islands.

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Europe Spain Italy Ireland 134

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2020

And as the windblown birds settled down for the summer breeding season and the wind subsided, I found any concern for which way it was blowing died down with it. But none came. Flor de Pascua – The Weathercock (1921) by Dutch graphic artist M.C. And living birds still seem to appreciate weathervanes as perches!

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New York Farming Belgium Fowl 157

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2011

The Common Swifts have left Germany behind as their journey South has begun. Now, I can see how this may surprise some readers, but the underlying reasoning is quite comprehensible: Common Swifts breed in small crevices and cavities of cliff faces, and old buildings make for some terrific secondary habitat. That is early.

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Elephants Neglecting Europe Birds 170

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2014

They need to go north to breed and we will anxiously await the return of the adults and the juveniles later in the year. You have to have a lot of respect for all migratory birds when you imagine the lives they live and the incredible journeys they make to enable them to breed and to continue to survive in a changing world.

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Belarus Cameroon Taiwan China 162

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2015

With its proven track record of adapting and spreading in areas with cold winters such as Germany and England, it might even be able to colonize large portions of the southern United States. They were right! Outside of Florida, there are also growing populations in Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Houston.

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Los Angeles Miami San Francisco Florida 154

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

A Carolina Parakeet mounted in a museum in Germany Fritz Geller-Grimm. Some uncountable species, like Mitred Parakeets , are in fact way more numerous than some of the countable species and they are clearly breeding in well-established populations. There has to a logical reason. A pair of Hill Mynahs in Miami.

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Miami Parrots Research Birds 145

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2011

It is also familiar at inland sites in winter, especially reservoirs and refuse tips, and breeds in the relatively-Northerly regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. Yellow-Legged Gull These gulls breed around the Mediterranean and have yellow, rather than flesh-coloured legs. Get yours today!

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2011 Cyprus Species Deer 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2011

juvenile Parasitic Jaeger by Larry Jordan Jochen enjoyed a plover : My Best Bird of the Year is a White-tailed Lapwing I “twitched” in Germany in June. That was a cool bird sighting because the eagle had to swoop around among power lines and overpasses and high rise buildings, being right in the dead middle of the city and all.

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2011 Birds South Korea North Dakota 198

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

The chance that this was a real Turkey are not great, and the chance that Columbus actually brought breeding stock from Honduras to Spain is not great, so maybe, maybe not. Dates of first arrival listed by Schorger (1966) are: Italy 1520, Germany 1530, France 1538, England 1541, Denmark and Norway 1550, Sweden 1556.

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Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 216

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Oh, cheeky me left out another alternative for both cases, which brings us right to the origin of these sayings: the devil. Yes, Germans were a particularly supersticious breed in the days of old, and would not dare to use the word devil even when cursing.

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Germany Birds Hunters Owls 203

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

Germany is underrated as a birding destination. Nestled right in the middle of Europe, we have a little bit of everything, a nice cross section of Europe’s avifauna. Greater Rheas, a species the Germans call Nandu, are very popular in Germany and frequently kept in zoos as well as private enclosures.

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Germany Birds 2000 South America 258

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

The Kerkini Lake National Park is my favourite birding area in the whole of the Balkans and while I’ve been here in April and again (migration), September (migration), October (coffee break), December and January (wintering), this was my first time in the breeding season, in May. But nowadays, they, too, breed here, about 20 pairs this year.

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Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 202

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2011

The long answer – and that’s what you are here for, right? A locally famous one, if you are birding in Germany’s North-East, is the outhouse of the bird ringing / banding station on a small island called the Greifswalder Oie (page sadly only in German, but it has some pictures of the place). Where are the birds?

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Germany Birds Iraq Breeding 162

4 The Love Of Animals

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

Instead, he simply points at the cup on the right. What’s at play here, she concluded, is not some inner sense of right and wrong but a learned ability to act submissive when an owner gets angry. The Russians began by breeding a group of foxes according to one simple rule: they would walk up to a cage and put a hand on the bars.

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Wolves Fox Dogs Puppies 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2011

We have avian beauty right in our European back yards as well, and need not seek cover when encountering birders from far-away shores. Let us for once judge a book by its cover, and take a thorough look at a Black-headed Gull in breeding plumage. Jakob: whoa, you are perfectly right! You are trapped! They’re Back!

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2011 Birds Deer Europe 171

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2016

I recently saw and photographed what appears to be a Baikal Wagtail ( Motacilla alba-or-not baicalensis ) in Germany. Yes, most look almost identical, the distance was considerable for such a small bird, and the observation happened right after sunset. So it may turn out to be a bit of a big deal.

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Germany Sharks Morocco Europe 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2017

Birding in Germany was okay during the first half of the year but essentially came to an end in June due to several issues, most significantly a move to a different appartment within Heidelberg. You can see my birding activities abroad and within Germany on the maps at the top of this post. Great Bustard , Havelland, Germany.

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2016 Germany Italy Netherlands 102

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2018

Yet, it takes great logistical effort to organize the census all the way from Germany to Austria, Hungary and Serbia in the same day, to count on numerous volunteers and hope for the best February weather. The idea behind is simple, some birds may move and if counted within a week or a month, double counting is almost guaranteed.

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Hungary Serbia Austria Eggs 163

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2011

On the other hand, I quite enjoyed an array of Long-tailed Ducks at Irondequoit Bay, including one male in breeding plumage. They are not so incredibly rare in Germany anymore but this was the first I’ve seen around Heidelberg and the first anywhere since 2009. Wicked, right? Hat-tip to Stella.

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2011 Deer Birds Costa Rica 140

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2011

Breeding behaviour and plumage was very apparent, but John Wise , an ex-pat Brit now resident in Orlando, told me that the birds’ activities had been held up for a couple of weeks during a cold snap that saw frosts in Florida. Mike Mar 5th, 2011 at 1:32 pm Those egrets in breeding plumage are absolutely exquisite! Wicked, right?

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2011 Alligators Florida Deer 118

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2022

There was a breeding pair at Binjiang Forest Park this June. Interestingly, Black-winged Stilts display laterality – that is, they preferentially use one eye (the right one) to find prey. However, they sometimes claim to be the national bird of Germany due to their black-red-yellow color combination – this is not true.

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Birds Sparrows Protection Humane 204

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Hopefully, the winter time in Shanghai gives the Black-faced Buntings some time to relax from the challenges of the breeding season. I may have said this before, but thrushes always remind me a bit of German housewives – robust and reliable, but not particularly graceful (there is a reason I live in China and not in Germany).

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Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 230