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A Birdy New Year! This article is about the parrots we have, not the ones we wish we had. Here in Germany, we don’t wish we had. Because we never have had. But now that we do have, and while we may or rather should wish we had not, we might as well roll with [...]

. “Poo Ponds” are normal here, but what happens everywhere else? Do you all help out the birds when you go to the toilet? Clare M, in a recent mail to all the beat writers   Yes, it is true. This, above, and of course Clare M’s fine original post about her poo ponds (not [...]

This is a short account of what happened one fine Monday around noon, March 21st of 2011, while I was at work. It won’t need many accompanying words, so I won’t deliver many. Suffice to say at the onset that it was a beautiful and blue Monday morning, as beautiful and full of migratory vibes as [...]

When my plane touched down in Frankfurt late in the morning on Saturday the 9th of May I was focused on finding my way to the shuttle that would take me to the Frankfurt Intercity Hotel where I would be staying for about twenty-four hours before getting back on a plane and flying to Kazakhstan.  [...]

It’s been awhile since I last decided to write about a birding excursion in verse so I figured it was about time. The Gulper See, the destination versified here, is a large lake and nature preserve about an hour-and-a-half’s drive northwest of Berlin. I decided to visit the Gulper See on Jochen‘s advice and I [...]

Here it is nearly two weeks since I returned from my European sojourn and I’m still writing about the birds I saw during my twelve-day stay. I can’t imagine what would happen if I ever visited a country like Peru where the number of species exceeds 1,800! I guess I should be wondering if our [...]

Waking up early was easy on my last day in Greifswald as I had slept well after over imbibing a bit the previous night (apparently whenever you order food or drinks or look like you need one proprietors of restaurants in Greifswald give you a free shot). Hendrik and I met up at a more [...]

Upon our arrival at Kieshofer Moor, where we hoped to find Middle Spotted and Black Woodpeckers, Jochen had to head home, leaving Hendrik and I on our own, but not before Jochen went over the map with us to show us the best spots to look. It was a great pleasure to meet Jochen in [...]

It took until the last day I was in northeastern Germany to see Eurasian Coots. I was worried I wouldn’t see one at all, but Hendrik and I tracked some down in some sewage ponds (don’t worry, the story will be told). We didn’t get the best looks but we did see them. Then, on [...]

Welcome to the latest installation of the award-winning, imaginatively-titled series of posts “Birding Northeastern Germany.” When we last left our intrepid trio of birders both the beach and the bombed-out pine forest had been pretty productive in terms of bird-life and we were about to depart on a wild goose chase after a hoped-for Pink-footed [...]

In addition to the birds I saw in Berlin’s Volkspark Hasenheide I also saw Eurasian Red Squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris). These are not the tiny North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) that I’m used to but bigger beasts with adorable ear tufts. I only saw a couple, and both were in the northwestern part of the [...]

It was still dark out when I walked down the steps of Pension “Das Sofa” and reached the cobblestone street. I was tired from the long drive up from Berlin and birding the day before. Bikes occasionally rumbled down the street, the bikers’ breath fogging in the cold air. Hendrik walked up, having locked his [...]

The Pochard is a diving duck of Eurasia, similar to the North American Redhead and Canvasback. Somehow, despite having visited several good locations like the Gulper See that should have had at least a few, no Pochard was kind enough to swim or fly through my field of view. Until today, that is, when, not [...]

You had to know that I wouldn’t be able to resist doing this post for long. Great Tits and Blue Tits are common wherever there are trees in Berlin, which is pretty much everywhere. Both the trees and the tits are in courtyards, back yards, parks, and on city streets. The pictures here were taken [...]

After the long drive from Berlin, made longer by the difficulties I encountered with my rented Mercedes’ navigation system (long story, but a cool car), I arrived in Greifswald ready for some birding! Fortunately for me Jochen had set me up to meet Hendrik, a crack local birder who previously lived in the U.S. and [...]

Despite the fact that I have been in Berlin for two full days now I haven’t seen very many species of bird yet. This is mostly because I have been spending my time getting to know the various species of beer and going to a wedding, which, by the way, was wonderful! Congratulations Mike and [...]