Birding, Lists

Ten birds seen in my parents’ garden in Northern Germany and in Shanghai

April 24, 2025 by Kai Pflug 1 Comment

Eurasia is a vast stretch of land – the distance between the westernmost point in Europe (Cape Roca, Portugal) to the easternmost point in continental Asia (near Vladivostok, Russia) is roughly 10,000 kilometers. And yet, many of the bird species are remarkably similar throughout this landmass.

Personally, I am reminded of that when seeing birds in Shanghai that I have seen in my parents’ garden in Northern Germany (Visselhoevede, to be exact). Here are ten such birds. The left-hand side photo was taken in said garden, the right-hand side photo in Shanghai.

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Eurasian Siskin

Brambling

Hawfinch

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Common Crane

Eurasian Jay

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Black Redstart

Barn Swallow

Long-tailed Tit

P.S. I might write less self-indulgent posts again in the future.

Written by Kai Pflug
Kai has been living in Shanghai for 21 years. He only became interested in birds in China – so he is much more familiar with birds in China than with those in Germany. While he will only ever be an average birder, he aims to be a good bird photographer and has created a website with bird photos as proof. He hopes not too many clients of his consulting company read this blog, as they will doubt his dedication to providing consulting services related to China`s chemical industry. Whenever he wants to shock other birders, he tells them his (indoor) cats can distinguish several warblers by taste.