News · 28. Mai 2016

Somehow my visit of Lake Neusiedl must have had an effect on my birding activities, since I saw quite a lot of superb bird species in the first days after I had arrived from my holidays. It started with a trip to the Großer Wörth, where I hoped to connect with a Little Bittern, a species that I hadn't seen at Lake Neusiedl. I had just set up my scope, when I looked on the water in front of the observation tower and detected two long-necked birds crossing the lake, unfortunately too fast for...

News · 23. Mai 2016

Finally, after two non-birding days it was time for the second round at Lake Neusiedl. Unlike the first time I did have a car and was therefore much more mobile. Also new was the small guide of the birdlife in the Seewinkel (the area between the eastern shore of Lake Neusiedl and the hungarian border) which helped me to plan this second day a lot. Nevertheless, despite of these differences I started where I had stopped on the other day at the hut for taking some photos. It had been so exciting...

News · 20. Mai 2016

Fortunately, I could leave the bad weather behind in the Alps on the next day and enjoy the sun ever since until I returned to Franconia. The first day at Lake Neusiedl - Austria's birding paradise - started as you can see above and soon after taking this picture I was already on the ferry to the other shore of the lake, where I hoped to use my first full birding day properly. Since the lake is very shallow (on average only 1,5 m), the ferries can only transport pedestrians and cyclists, which...

News · 19. Mai 2016

Almost two weeks have passed since the last update of Birding Franconia. Of course this break has a reason: my holidays in Austria. Although they actually weren't primarily birding holidays, I hoped to get out a little bit and to see some of the alpine species which only turn exceptionally up in Germany. Well, for this the weather should have been a bit better, but more of that later on. In fact, I'm going to publish three blog posts about my birding trips in Austria in the next time, one about...

News · 12. Mai 2016

Attentive readers might wonder after reading the headline what the famous fifth symphony of Beethoven has to do with birding. Well, according to an anecdote the popular composer was inspired to this symphony by a small passerine with a weird melancholical song, which he had heard on a walk outside of Vienna: the Ortolan Bunting. And indeed, with a bit of fantasy you can still recognise the song of the latter in the main motive of the symphony. Now it should be evident what bird is featured here...

News · 10. Mai 2016

Eventually, the day has come that I had enough time to visit the nature reserve "Lange Rhön" again. The large plateau in the border triangle Bavaria - Hessia - Thuringia is definitely among the best birdwatching sites of Franconia and beyond. I had awaited this day for a long time, since my last visit was rather disappointing because back then not many birds were visible in the fog. My plan was to arrive early so that I might still have chances to see displaying Snipes and Woodcocks, but I had...

News · 06. Mai 2016

Finally, the announced birding break is over. Unlike expected I was a couple of times outside, but still I didn't have enough time to post here. So in a few days I'll report about my other sightings, but today the indisputable highlight is featured here, a bird I never awaited to see again. It was Monday evening when I paid the landfill near Gaustadt a visit, a nice little site with breeding Whitethroats, Red-backed Shrikes and others. Honestly, if I had expectations then only to get some nice...