Over the last two weeks I’ve visited the quarry ponds of the Upper Main valley quite a lot of times. The reason for this weren’t particularly the masses of migrants there, as some might presume. There was virtually no migration. On every of my visits I found the very same birds and I just continued to do so, since I hoped to witness the day, when a sweep of new migrants would come from north. Yet this hasn’t happened for the last fourteen times and so I definitely needed a change. My choice fell on the “Goldbergsee” west of the town of Coburg.
Due to the long and hot summer the water level there is currently pretty low. The consequence are extensive mudflats on the
shore of the “Biotopsee” in the northern part of the area, which have proved to be a magnet for waders. Like in the other sites around the composition of different species hasn’t changed much
over the last days but it hosts yet a greater variety. Naturally, I focused mainly on the already mentioned waders and spotted quickly the first Dunlins, Snipes, Greenshanks and Wood Sandpipers. On the northeast corner, which is by the way the most distant part of the site, I detected another Stint, that I couldn’t identify
immediately. After a few minutes I was sure to have seen all notable field marks and could safely name it as Little Stint. Of course there was more to
see than just waders: As usual there were plenty of ducks, namely Pintail, Shoveler, Garganey and Gadwall and an
Osprey was trying its luck in catching fish.
All in all, I could be very pleased with the result. Only the distances were quite long, which makes taking good pictures
extremely difficult. Nonetheless, I should get my money’s worth even in this respect. On the way back I passed another sandbank that was really close to the path. A quick sweep with the
binoculars produced at first a single Snipe. As I took some photos, I noticed however, that there wasn’t just this lonely individual but five more plus a Dunlin
and a Ringed Plover! When I checked the pictures back at home, I realized that I’ve taken nearly 300 shots at this place. You can see a small collection below:
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