News · 31. März 2016

March was a very productive month for me, especially over the last week, but my trip into the Fichtelgebirge this morning dwarfed any of these last days. Franconia's highest low mountain range is sadly also one of the least visited birding destinations in Germany, although the dense spruce woods hold several top breeders like Capercaillie, Ring Ouzel and surprisingly Three-toed Woodpecker. In fact, I could find only five species lists on ornitho.de for this area which is quite miserable. Time...

News · 28. März 2016

Most birders have a bird whose arrival marks the start of spring for them: Swallows, Wheatears and many more. For me it's the Bluethroat, a melodious gem which breeds in reasonable numbers along the valley of the river Main and is always a joy to hear and see. So I was delighted that yesterday the first individuals were seen at my favourite site the "Großer Wörth". The main problem with this species is that the chances of seeing one are only good for a few weeks, since afterwards they stop...

News · 26. März 2016

Yesterday it was raining all day which caused that bird migration paused. So I thought - in hope of better wetter - that today should theoretically be rather good for a migration count. However, when I went to my local patch this morning, the clouds were still hanging quite low and no bird was flying over me. Instead, almost every bush was filled with singing birds, whereby the most seemed to wait for better weather conditions. Most conspicious were the numerous Redwings (see pictures below)...

News · 22. März 2016

Finally, a whole morning of birdwatching. Originally I had planned to spend the day in the Fichtelgebirge, a mountain range with a huge birding potential, but the weather forecast reported snow fall there, so I spontaneously changed my plans. Instead I went to the valley of the river Main north of Würzburg, where I hoped to connect with my first Rock Buntings in 2016. My first destination was the "Grainberg", which is also featured in the guide, because it is to my knowledge the most reliable...

News · 18. März 2016

I hope that all birders agree that there is no better way to enjoy a sunny and wonderful afternoon than to go birding, especially when you have a site like the "Luisenhain" nearby. As I´ve visited the latter quite frequently over the last weeks and posted regularly about my sightings there, I think it´s not necessary to write much about my walk, because the species list isn´t very different to the one of my visit before that. Nevertheless, today I want to highlight a special bird for me,...

News · 16. März 2016

Two or maybe even three weeks ago the first Lapwings had reached Franconia, but until this afternoon I hadn´t even seen a single one. So it was very frustrating for me to see reports on Lapwings on ornitho.de every day over these past two weeks. Finally, yesterday news reached me that about 400 Lapwings were seen resting on a field near Augsfeld, a small village at the Großer Wörth, accompanied by a Golden Plover. So it isn´t difficult to guess what I did today. Of course I couldn´t resist...

News · 13. März 2016

As mentioned a week ago I want to use the year 2016 for discovering new sites, which might even be featured in the next edition of the guide. Today I finally had a bit more time than usually and so I visited one of these "new" sites: the "Sauerstücksee" south of Schweinfurt, only a few kilometers northeast of the "Garstadter Seen". Honestly, I can highly recommend this site, because along the 2 kilometers of the circuit walk you go through many different habitats and you have good chances to...

News · 10. März 2016

Finally after several days of cold and foggy mornings there was a sunny day here in Bamberg. Having been fortunate enough to have a bit of spare time on afternoon I went once again to the Luisenhain. Generally, the species list doesn´t differ much from my last visits, but due to the improved light conditions it was a real joy to photograph birds. Even the elusive Middle Spotted Woodpecker nicely posed for a couple of shots. As it is very easy to get close-up shots of a large row of birds, I´m...

News · 08. März 2016

The last few days were quite eventful and I was really surprised that I had been able to go regularly out birding, although the weather had proven to be difficult in this period. It all started on Friday with harsh easterly winds, a grey sky and a bit of rain. As the weather hadn´t looked very promising in advance, I decided just to visit the Sander Baggersee, where I didn´t need to walk far away from the car. However there were almost no water birds on the lake apart from 12 Goldeneyes, a...

News · 03. März 2016

Once again there was an unexpected but hoped for gap in my schedules and so I spent a nice hour with birdwatching in the Luisenhain. The popular park at the southern edge of Bamberg is the perfect place nearby for photographing woodland and parkland birds, because the most birds have adapted to the regular appearance of humans and are therefore very confiding. So it took no more than five minutes to spot the first motive, a Nuthatch. Without even taking notice of my presence it came as close as...