Just a block or so south from my appartment, on the way to the northern shore of the Elbe river, my ear picked up what sounded like a mixed flock of passerines, and sure enough, I discovered a feeding flock around a series of amply supplied feeders including Great Tits, Blue Tits, 2-3 Greenfinches, a few House Sparrows, a Jay and gorgeous "chink-chink-chinking" Chaffinches...and then a flock of noisy and nimble birds, feeding from the thinest branches of birch trees (exactly as they are depicted in their plate in birds of Europe (Svensson et al.)), which upon closer inspection revealed themselves to be Siskins (the Eurasian species of course). This was my first long-overdo lifer of the day, which already made my day, however it got much better a few minutes later when I stumbled across my second lifer: a single adult Brambling!
I previously learned that flocks of these guys roam around central and southern Europe in winter and then summer in the Nordic countries and Russia in the summer, but I did not exprect to find one here in the city! The orange chest of this male, along with the dusky-tipped yellow bill and pale-fringed clack head feathers (2 features of the winter basic plumage, as in breeding plumage the males have all black heads and bills) caught my attention first, but when it took to a short flight to nearby branch, revealing a distinct white rump, at that moment its ID was clear to me! Size and shape are extremely similar to Chaffinch, but according to Birds of Europe Brambling single-specie flocks are more compact than Chaffinch flocks. Unfortunately I could not test this with one bird, so I'll be keeping an eye out for flocks of both species in the future.
When I was satisfied with these birds, and nothing new was popping up, I continued on south another block until I reached the Elbe. At the shoreline, a quick scan revealed hundreds of Black-headed Gulls (it's funny how I hear so much about this specie on Jerseybirds, I don't get it?) and Mallards, 4 Mute Swans (2 pairs?), a gaggle of Greylag Geese, and innumerable Eurasian Coots. In the mix on my side of the river were 15 Mandarin Ducks. This bird gives me a headache because I don't know whether to count them; they were escapees of course, but also clearly have established a local population...either way though, they are gorgeous. A nice sign of spring coming (or winter at least coming towards the last stretch) was the various amounts of black feather coming in on the heads of the Black-headed Gulls. The photograph below shows this diversity. One bird (left of middle, back) has almost a completed hood (save for a few white specks at front of face, just above the bill) and completely black primary tips, another (left, front) has more white on the front of the face but still has the partial eyering and white-tipped primaries showing, a third bird (middle, back) does not have any sign of an eyering yet but a good amount of black "splotching" is evident, and the rest still have mostly basic plummage with the ear patch and mostly white heads:
I can't wait for April for two reasons:
(1) I will be an official PhD student at TU Dresden, and will receive a Semester Ticket which (for a low price) will give me unlimited free transportation for 6 months within the State of Saxony, which means every weekend with good weather I will not be birding the city parks, but rather the mountains and countryside, to find more diversity and get back into shape through serious hiking :) and...
(2) I am planning a 4-day trip, over Easter break, to explore the Sumava mountains and forests in Southern Bohemia in the Czech Republic, which is quite close and cheap (esp. if I can get someone to come along) but should be an awesome few days! The unique combination of Central/East European mountains and early spring mean one thing: go find calling Owls, Woodpeckers, and lekking Grouse!!! (of course these birds are more-or-less residential, but they can be very difficult to find outside of a relatively short window of Late March - Early May, when they are more easily heard giving their calls. I hope to see (among others) Black Grouse, Capercaillie, Hazelhen, Tengmalm's Owl (just love that name), Ural Owl, as well as Black, Grey-headed, White-backed, and Three-toed Woodpeckers. My goal for this trip will be 10-15 lifers, but I believe it will be more about quality than quantity (I never was one much for list-building anyway, someone always has a larger list, but you can believe that you have the best experiences overal! Besides how can you enjoy birds when you are thinking about the next one already? The World Series of Birding is the exception, of course...). The forests in this area, on the border with Germany (Bavarian Forest) and Austria, was depopulated and closed off under communism, which was very beneficial for the wildlife. Also the mountain range, covered in primeval spruce forests, supposedly are some of the most geologically oldest ranges in Europe...
Well, before I get too excited, too soon, I should get back to my work-related studies. But good birding to all, and get out to enjoy the signs of the transition into Spring; it has already begun!
