The weather this past Saturday was windy, snowing most of the morning, feeling like the Siberian tundra. In the beginning I questioned myself whether deciding to dress up and go out birding was a good idea or not...
Then the birds showed up; starting with a small group of 3 Bullfinches, and following closely behind them was a flock of 9 Yellowhammers. At the same location (by Schladitzer Lake) were 2 more "first of year" (FOY) birds: a single Hawfinch (giving unusually pleasing views from a low tree branch nearby) and an adult White-tailed Eagle. It appears that Velvet Scoters are still in unusually high numbers around Saxony, and today this lake held exactly 20 individuals.
We (Michael, Ashwin and Andreas...or as we like to call ourselves now, "the Fantastic Four") spent a large part of the day searching fields for geese and swans (found one large group consisting of 175 Mutes, but no luck on the Whoopers) and geese. Along the way we came across many raptors in search of field mice, including at least 6 Rough-legged Hawks (larger number this winter than usual I'm told), 4 Kestrels, 5 Red Kites, 2 Hen Harriers, 1 Peregrine Falcon, and 20+ Common Buzzards. We also found several large flocks of songbirds, most notably a single flock of 300+! Fieldfares (along with several much smaller flocks and singletons here and there), 2 different flocks of Linnet with 100-120 birds each, and a smaller flock of Field Sparrows with 6 Reed Buntings mixed in. But the spectacle of the day (though not the best bird necessarily) were the flocks of wild geese. The first group we came by was far off, consisted of Bean Geese only (we believed) and was only about 500 birds...then we found the MOTHERLOAD of geese! 3 major flocks of 200-500 birds each, across one large field, for an estimated total of 1200+ Bean (~90%) and Greater White-fronted (~10%) Geese!
The best spot of the day though (which produced my favorite birds) was along the shore of Seelhausen Lake. Upon getting out of the car we scared up a flock of 5 Gray Partridges! This was a lifer for me actually, and so of course I was glad to refind them creeping towards a path shortly before flushing across the path and disappearing into the tall grass by the lakeside. Shortly later, while those with scopes were scanning through huge rafts of Tufted Ducks and Common Pochards for anything out of the ordinary I spotted a quite-closely perched adult Goshawk (so large it was probably a female) with her lunch pinned to the post she was perched on by those incredible talons...a partridge! (Guess there WERE at least 6 beforehand...)
In the lake were additionally 3 pairs of Goosanders, 21 Red-crested Pochards (12 male, 9 female), a pair of Wigeon, and several pairs of Goldeneye as usual.
Heading back to the car, all but completely frozen head to toe, we were greated by a gorgeous Great Gray Shrike.
The last bird of interest for the day was a single Brambling, discovered in small flock of Greenfinches perched in a tree.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Sunny Day North of Leipzig: RB Merg, RL Hawks, and lots of Finches
Today I joined my Saxon birding pals Ashwin and Michael, as well as a new face to me (but another avid Saxon birder like Michael) Andreas. Together we investigated the lake country north of Leipzig, concentrating around the famous Seelhausener See (on the border of the state of Saxon-Anhalt):
The weather was sunny and cold; both hindrances to lengthy, focused scanning by the waterside through raft upon raft of ducks to pick out the unusual ones...for example the 2 drake Scaup we had today among several hundred Tufted Ducks and Common Pochards!
We missed out target bird (Great Northern Diver) but we did have 2 Black-throated and 2 Red-throated Loons at one lake (name is disputable among the Saxon birders, hehe) and another single Red-throated at Seelhausener See.
For what the sun did to the visibility on the lakes for finding rare loons, etc., it made up for by seemingly inducing the appearance of winter songbirds in flocks, as summarized in the list below.
Here is a list of highlights:
2 Scaup (both an adult and young male)
2 Wigeon (a pair)
1 Common Scoter
3 Velvet Scoters
1 Red-breasted Merganser (hen, very rare this far from a coastal area!)
18 Smew (scattered sightings of 1-6 birds from several lakes)
30 Goosanders
2 Black-throated Loon
3 Red-throated Loon
2 Rough-legged Hawks
8 Red Kites
1 Sparrow Hawk
2 Kestrels
1 Kingfisher
1 Nuthatch
1 Great Grey Shrike
10+ Mistle Thrush
1 Willow Tit
4+ Goldcrest
1 Reed Bunting
3 Common Redpolls
also several flocks of Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Siskin all over.
Good birding to all,
Steve
P.S.: Yesterday morning (Jan 11) I had another flock of Waxwings at Albert Platz in Dresden (though not the same tree); this time it was a large flock of ~50-60! I just heard today of up to 200 were reported from Grosser Garten in Dresden, so I have to get myself there soon, hopefully tomorrow, to investigate.
The weather was sunny and cold; both hindrances to lengthy, focused scanning by the waterside through raft upon raft of ducks to pick out the unusual ones...for example the 2 drake Scaup we had today among several hundred Tufted Ducks and Common Pochards!
We missed out target bird (Great Northern Diver) but we did have 2 Black-throated and 2 Red-throated Loons at one lake (name is disputable among the Saxon birders, hehe) and another single Red-throated at Seelhausener See.
For what the sun did to the visibility on the lakes for finding rare loons, etc., it made up for by seemingly inducing the appearance of winter songbirds in flocks, as summarized in the list below.
Here is a list of highlights:
2 Scaup (both an adult and young male)
2 Wigeon (a pair)
1 Common Scoter
3 Velvet Scoters
1 Red-breasted Merganser (hen, very rare this far from a coastal area!)
18 Smew (scattered sightings of 1-6 birds from several lakes)
30 Goosanders
2 Black-throated Loon
3 Red-throated Loon
2 Rough-legged Hawks
8 Red Kites
1 Sparrow Hawk
2 Kestrels
1 Kingfisher
1 Nuthatch
1 Great Grey Shrike
10+ Mistle Thrush
1 Willow Tit
4+ Goldcrest
1 Reed Bunting
9 Twite (lifer for Ashwin and
me)
300-400 Linnet (single huge
flock!) 3 Common Redpolls
also several flocks of Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Siskin all over.
Good birding to all,
Steve
P.S.: Yesterday morning (Jan 11) I had another flock of Waxwings at Albert Platz in Dresden (though not the same tree); this time it was a large flock of ~50-60! I just heard today of up to 200 were reported from Grosser Garten in Dresden, so I have to get myself there soon, hopefully tomorrow, to investigate.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
First 2013 Trip - Little Gull and lots of Waterfowl
Last Sunday (Jan. 6th) was my first true birding outing of 2013.
Two days before that, I had the luck of coming across a small flock (7-10) Waxwings, located first by ear from the top of a tree standing near Albertplatz in the Neustadt of Dresden! Michael Schulz once told me that one of the 2 best spots in Saxony for this species is the Grosser Garten ("Big Garden") in Dresden, especially in winter! (The other is in Torgau area in NW Saxony, just FYI.)
The weather was damp and windy, making it feel much colder than the temperature reading would indicate, but fortunately the hindering rain held off until we were 99.9% finished and wrapping things up. Michael Schulz (the Saxon birding guru), Ashwin Mohan and I headed out just over the border of Saxony into the state Saxon-Anhalt to the Geisetal area (famous for the largest established breeding colony of Bee-eaters in Germany, with over 10 breeding pairs estimated in 2010 and probably more this past year).
Gärnitz:
Overall a good selection of waterfowl and 1 nice rarity: an adult Little Gull was moving around within a large gull flock of mostly Herring and Common Gulls, but also with one young Caspian Gull mixed in as well. Other birds of note include:
1 Scaup (hen), 1 Gadwall (drake), 1 Common Teal (drake), a few Goldeneyes and many Pochards, Tufted Ducks, and Coots.
A Peregrine Falcon stole the show for a short while as he/she zoomed by scaring up all the gulls, while Michael was trying to get a photo of the Little Gull!
Geisetalsee:
50+ Velvet Scoters (this is an unusually large number, so I was told and can believe, and probably is not a good sign for the world's oceans along with the recent sightings of Razorbills off the coast as far south as Florida, on the west side of the Atantic.)
3 Black-throated Divers were lifers for Ashwin and I, and so it was fortunate that we had good views of them when they were at the surface.
3 more Scaup (1 drake, 2 hens)
2 Common Mergansers (both hens)
20 Smew!
150+ Goldeneye, and several hundreds of Pochards and Tufted Ducks.
We also swept the Grebes here:
2-3 Slavonian (the rarest), 2 Red-throated, 2 Least, 1 Black-throated, and several Great Crested Grebes.
Rundstädter See:
1 Common Scoter, 2 Red-crested Pochards were of note (and new for the day) here.
Also reported this day, though not seen by us, in another part of Saxony was a Yellow-billed Loon (the last species I need for my lifelist!)...very cool and rare bird; hope it sticks around until Saturday at least!
Happy birding in 2013 to all!
Best regards,
Steve
Two days before that, I had the luck of coming across a small flock (7-10) Waxwings, located first by ear from the top of a tree standing near Albertplatz in the Neustadt of Dresden! Michael Schulz once told me that one of the 2 best spots in Saxony for this species is the Grosser Garten ("Big Garden") in Dresden, especially in winter! (The other is in Torgau area in NW Saxony, just FYI.)
The weather was damp and windy, making it feel much colder than the temperature reading would indicate, but fortunately the hindering rain held off until we were 99.9% finished and wrapping things up. Michael Schulz (the Saxon birding guru), Ashwin Mohan and I headed out just over the border of Saxony into the state Saxon-Anhalt to the Geisetal area (famous for the largest established breeding colony of Bee-eaters in Germany, with over 10 breeding pairs estimated in 2010 and probably more this past year).
Gärnitz:
Overall a good selection of waterfowl and 1 nice rarity: an adult Little Gull was moving around within a large gull flock of mostly Herring and Common Gulls, but also with one young Caspian Gull mixed in as well. Other birds of note include:
1 Scaup (hen), 1 Gadwall (drake), 1 Common Teal (drake), a few Goldeneyes and many Pochards, Tufted Ducks, and Coots.
A Peregrine Falcon stole the show for a short while as he/she zoomed by scaring up all the gulls, while Michael was trying to get a photo of the Little Gull!
Geisetalsee:
50+ Velvet Scoters (this is an unusually large number, so I was told and can believe, and probably is not a good sign for the world's oceans along with the recent sightings of Razorbills off the coast as far south as Florida, on the west side of the Atantic.)
3 Black-throated Divers were lifers for Ashwin and I, and so it was fortunate that we had good views of them when they were at the surface.
3 more Scaup (1 drake, 2 hens)
2 Common Mergansers (both hens)
20 Smew!
150+ Goldeneye, and several hundreds of Pochards and Tufted Ducks.
We also swept the Grebes here:
2-3 Slavonian (the rarest), 2 Red-throated, 2 Least, 1 Black-throated, and several Great Crested Grebes.
Rundstädter See:
1 Common Scoter, 2 Red-crested Pochards were of note (and new for the day) here.
Also reported this day, though not seen by us, in another part of Saxony was a Yellow-billed Loon (the last species I need for my lifelist!)...very cool and rare bird; hope it sticks around until Saturday at least!
Happy birding in 2013 to all!
Best regards,
Steve
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Bee-eaters, shorebirds, and some odd-ball waterfowl.
Date: Saturday, July 28, 2012, 7:30-12:00
Weather: warm and humid, with scattered rain showers (some with lightning and strong winds).
Highlights of the morning:
Stöhna (South of Leipzig, Saxony):
Geiseltal (Saxony-Anhalt):
I would like to just briefly apologize for the lack of updates on the blog this year so far; it is not that I haven't been birding! On the contrary, Ashwin and I have seen so many birds this year (I have already added 60+ lifers since March!) I felt that I could not keep up with my blog along with the increased workload of my PhD studentship. These sort of things happen, right?
But in the future, I hope to at least be able to write such short highlights of interesting sightings or findings.
I will work on posting a review of the spring/summer highlights soon, as well as my recent, life-changing trip to northeast Iceland with pics, so stay tuned!
Good birding!
Weather: warm and humid, with scattered rain showers (some with lightning and strong winds).
Highlights of the morning:
Stöhna (South of Leipzig, Saxony):
- A Honey Buzzard flew over the road in front of us and into the trees, on the way to Stöhna from southern Leipzig.
- a juv. each of Stonechat, Whinchat, and Bluethroat
- my first sitting (and silent) Wryneck!
- a successful family of Common Crane with 2 young!
- Shorebirds have started their southward migration for a few weeks now, and here is what we found today: 30+ Common Snipe, 20+ Ruff, 12+ Little Ringed Plovers, Greenshank, Wood and Green Sandpipers, and 2 Common Sandpipers. This is supposedly the best time of year for Temminck's Stints in the area, but no luck today...
- 4 juv. Marsh Harriers mixed in with several adults.
Geiseltal (Saxony-Anhalt):
- A swarm of 50+ post-breeding Bee-eaters
- a out-of-place Greater White-fronted Goose (maybe wounded as it looked healthy otherwise).
- Interestingly, a Bar-headed Goose and a Black Swan (no, not Natalie Portman!) in the same location...fugitive travel buddies?
I would like to just briefly apologize for the lack of updates on the blog this year so far; it is not that I haven't been birding! On the contrary, Ashwin and I have seen so many birds this year (I have already added 60+ lifers since March!) I felt that I could not keep up with my blog along with the increased workload of my PhD studentship. These sort of things happen, right?
But in the future, I hope to at least be able to write such short highlights of interesting sightings or findings.
I will work on posting a review of the spring/summer highlights soon, as well as my recent, life-changing trip to northeast Iceland with pics, so stay tuned!
Good birding!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Spring has arrived in Saxony! (March 17)
It has been a while since my last post, result of becoming busier with PhD study and not having enough time to bird often (and even with time to bird, no time to post here). But when the temperatures rose suddenly 10°C Friday, March 17, I knew I had to get out in the field this weekend, so I went to one of my favorite hotspots near Dresden, with a decent range of habitat diversity: Moritzburg. The weather was sunny with a high of around 21°C (~70°F)
A walk around the western Schlossteich (Palace Pond) revealed several Tufted Ducks, 1 Common Pochard, First of year (FOY)White Wagtail, interestingly 4 Egyptian Geese among the scattered pairs of Greylags, and the most stunning to me: the Great Crested Grebes (FOY) in stunning alternate (breeding) plumage, and enacting courtship displays and chasing across the water's surface. There were 2 grebes still in mostly basic plumage. The only Green Woodpecker of the day laughed in the distance, and Chaffinches and Greenfinches were singing their hearts out everywhere. Along the trail through mixed woods to the western lakes (Higher and Lower Altenteich), we came across a single chattering Winter Wren, followed by Nuthatches, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, a single each of Coal Tit and Jay, a flyover Raven, and several Short-toed Treecreepers. Main misses of the woods (and the day) were Crested Tit and Firecrest. Arriving at the Unterer Altenteich Lake first, we quickly noticed and enjoyed the 3 pairs of Common Goldeneyes, along a few extra (bachelor?) drakes. The males' heads shone brilliantly iridescent green in the sun. Also present near this lake were 20-30 Coot (FOY), ´more Great Crested Grebes, a single adult White-tailed Eagle, 3-4 Goldcrests and 2 Chiffchaffs (FOY). Then came a shrill, spine-tingling call...a Black Woodpecker (FOY)! This was the first time I have even heard this species at this location. We managed to follow the repeated kliii-eh calls until we spotted it, and I had the greatest view yet of this magnificent bird. The moment ended all too soon, as it broke away from the tree and escaped into the deep woods.
Latter outside the woods and near the Schloss looking out over the East Schlossteich, no Mediterranean gull spotted among the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, but we picked up Goosander (2 drakes, 1 hen), and a magnificent Red Kite (FOY). Ended the morning with a respectable 45 species.
A walk around the western Schlossteich (Palace Pond) revealed several Tufted Ducks, 1 Common Pochard, First of year (FOY)White Wagtail, interestingly 4 Egyptian Geese among the scattered pairs of Greylags, and the most stunning to me: the Great Crested Grebes (FOY) in stunning alternate (breeding) plumage, and enacting courtship displays and chasing across the water's surface. There were 2 grebes still in mostly basic plumage. The only Green Woodpecker of the day laughed in the distance, and Chaffinches and Greenfinches were singing their hearts out everywhere. Along the trail through mixed woods to the western lakes (Higher and Lower Altenteich), we came across a single chattering Winter Wren, followed by Nuthatches, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, a single each of Coal Tit and Jay, a flyover Raven, and several Short-toed Treecreepers. Main misses of the woods (and the day) were Crested Tit and Firecrest. Arriving at the Unterer Altenteich Lake first, we quickly noticed and enjoyed the 3 pairs of Common Goldeneyes, along a few extra (bachelor?) drakes. The males' heads shone brilliantly iridescent green in the sun. Also present near this lake were 20-30 Coot (FOY), ´more Great Crested Grebes, a single adult White-tailed Eagle, 3-4 Goldcrests and 2 Chiffchaffs (FOY). Then came a shrill, spine-tingling call...a Black Woodpecker (FOY)! This was the first time I have even heard this species at this location. We managed to follow the repeated kliii-eh calls until we spotted it, and I had the greatest view yet of this magnificent bird. The moment ended all too soon, as it broke away from the tree and escaped into the deep woods.
Latter outside the woods and near the Schloss looking out over the East Schlossteich, no Mediterranean gull spotted among the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, but we picked up Goosander (2 drakes, 1 hen), and a magnificent Red Kite (FOY). Ended the morning with a respectable 45 species.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Zschorna Ponds - 2 species of Eagles, Kingfishers, Black Woodpeckers, and an odd Chiffchaff!
After an amazing 4-week vacation at home in Cape May, New Jersey, punctuated by several nice morning flights of warblers at Higbees beach, an amazing post-hurricane beachwatch that included 2 White-tailed Tropicbirds, and several Bridled and Sooty Terns, and a pleasant pelagic trip out to the continental shelf where Common Dolphins, Pilot and Minke's Whales, Loggerhead Turtles, Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks, an Ocean Sunfish, Bridled Terns, an immature Long-tailed Jaeger, and 2 Audubon's Shearwaters added much excitement to the already enjoyable show put on by 100s of Wilson's Storm-Petrels, and many Great and Cory's Shearwaters, the former giving awesome views close to the boat. Though it would have been great to stay in Cape May through the Fall, I had to get back to reality after this break and return to PhD work and the gym to combat the side effects of too much of mother's and grandmother's comfort food (not to mention Joe Battle's North Carolina ribs and Hemingway's seafood buffet)!
I am also excited to be back to start serious European birding, but also very busy at work so this is a belated report from over a week ago. Two Sundays ago (Sep 25), my colleague (now friend) Ashwin Mohan and I had an amazing birding experience (the best I've had thus far in Germany) at the Zschorna Ponds (Zschornaer Teichgebiet) just north of Dresden about 20 km or so. Neither of us have cars, and so we rode there on bikes, with some help by getting more than a 1/3 of the way there on the #7 tram's last stop north at the town of Weixdorf. We both separately discovered the website of the VSO (Saxon Ornithologists Club) which has chapters in different parts of the state of Saxony, including Dresden. They have information of general hot spots for birding, and an active forum for rare bird alerts as well as general sightings, all in German (thank God for Google Translator!) Seriously, though, I can say that this site has helped me learn many new German names for species, and I am going to try hard to improve my German this scholastic year. I also just contacted someone from the group for information on membership, monthly meetings, excursions and surveys/counts...there actually are a lot of potential experiences for learning and fun, but I digress...
When we arrived at the Zschorna Ponds around 9:00am we started sifting through waterfowl groups on the western "Great Pond" (which, as the name suggests, was huge and I really wished i had my scope with me!). Most were Mallards, but we picked out 4 drake Common Pochards and a Great Crested Grebe. There were 8+ Grey Herons and a single Great Egret on a small sandy, lightly-vegetated island in the far SW corner of the lake, along with many adult and juvenile Great Cormorants. Also noted was a single Canada Goose in a flock of Graylag Geese, and after consulting the guide to make sure, we can assume that this was a lost member of an introduced population (photo below) but still interesting to note.While I was quickly jotting down some notes, Ashwin spotted our first Common Kingfisher darting across the water and into the edge vegetation north of us...and I saw a bird but missed it with the bins, ugh. (I was determined to find another one or come back and find this guy again...). Walking down the center road which separated the two main "ponds" (they were really lakes if you ask me, by there shear size, but...) White Wagtails were landing in the road and strutting, calling, and flying back up into the roadside habitat. We had a couple nice views of cooperative Chiffchaffs. They seem to respond to imitated ascending whistles, and can be somewhat inquisitive. Soon after that, Ashwin took notice to a flock of medium-large birds...I had an immediate guess (partly because I was expecting this, and partly because of the extreme "frying-pan" wings), and binoculars confirmed my guess: Northern Lapwings. This flock was made of 23, but later I kept tally of the various flocks, and many were around 20 but one was twice this number and...oddly to Ashwin and I at least...joined by a good size Starling flock?! Yes, interpenetrating flocks of Lapwings and Starlings. Is this typical, or has anyone comments about this behavior?
While finding 3 more Great Crested Grebes on the east "Wide Pond" (Breiter Teich), we both simultaneously saw our "Holy Grail Bird of the Day": White-tailed Eagle! It was a nice adult with short, wedge-shaped, pure white tail, and it soon was joined by another adult (we assumed this was a pair that nested near the lakes). We did not locate the nest, but saw the two fly together a short while and then did a short display like Bald Eagles I have seen in New Jersey, so I suppose it might be something common to the genus Haliaeetus. Later on we spotted a very distant eagle with flight feathers and tail much darker than the back, head and upperwing coverts. We got very excited when we realized it was another eagle-lifer: a Lesser Spotted Eagle!
When we sat down in a shady spot at the northeast corner of the Great Pond, to have lunch while keeping watch for new birds, just then we heard a nearby Black Woodpecker give its flight/alarm call "krruck-krruck-krruck..." We literally dropped our lunches to follow the calling. Shortly it responded with its shrill "klii-eh" call. Just as we located the tree we thought it might have been on, a group of loud, chattering cyclists rode by and flushed the bird! Ashwin had a very brief glimpse of the bird as it dove and flew directly away from us, but was not able to see the extent of red to sex the bird. We heard it call once more, but it was way off, and then we decided to give up for the moment. Walking out to a field, which the woods bordered, our bins came across a juvenile Common Buzzard with much white on its back and upperwing coverts as well as the head. Svensson et al. describe this pale variant as mostly found in northern Germany and southern Sweden, so this must be one of the southernmost areas this variant can be found (this weekend we found another one at another location to be mentioned in the next post). When we returned (seriously hungry by this time) to our lakeside lunch spot, and resumed eating, a small bright bird came from out of the bushes just right of us, and started flying directly across us and south along the shore, low over the water. I sort of knew what it was sans optics, but when I finally caught it in the bins...my God, how stunning this Common Kingfisher was! I still have not gotten over the shiny, azure-blue backside of this tropical gem. Finally while checking the woods edge and fields just north of the Grossteich, Ashwin started taking pictures of a cooperative Chiffchaff I whistled in. (giving a plain, slightly upturned "hweeet" with an emphasis on the end, seems to have the same effect on chiffchaffs as pishing has on chickadees or tits. Pictured below, we were perflexed by this bird, first thinking maybe it was a willow warbler (later, after reading descriptions of call notes, willow would be ruled out alone) but also the chest and underparts in general were too dusky and not light enough for willow, but the thing that made this individual bird not typical for a chiffchaff was the rather bold supercilium, especially in front of the eye. Most interesting from the picture below is that the bolder supraloral region is also noticably yellow and moreso than the rear part of the supercilium. This feature, along with the greenish-yellow tinted scapulars and wing coverts, after looking in Svensson et al., suggest an Iberian Chiffchaff!!! BUT, the brownish back and not-so-yellow underparts don't fit for a true/typical Iberian Chiffchaff. Then again, don't the bill and legs appear paler than is typical for regular Chiffchaffs? Primary projection (slightly longer in Iberian species) is unfortunately not clearly seen in the picture, and what is worse: we did not recall any vocalizations, which might have made the ID much easier than basing it on plumage details solely. Oy, does any reader perchance have any ideas/advice on the true identity of this bird? Comments would be GREATLY appreciated, and thanks in advance!
The pictures here are all from Ashwin Mohan (except for the pic of Ashwin of course, and the map of Zschorna ponds), and at the end is a complete checklist for the day. Good birding to all!
Cumulative Checklist:
A=seen between Weixdorf and Zschorna.
B=seen at Zschorna Ponds.
Total number of species: 45
A: B:
3) Mute Swan 65-70 1
4) Mallard x x
5) Common Pochard 4
6) Great Crested Grebe 5
7) Great Cormorant 35-40
8) Gray Heron 6 8
9) Great Egret 1 1
10) Little Egret 2
11) White-tailed Eagle 2
12) Marsh Harrier 1male
13) Common Buzzard 1 4
14) Lesser Spotted Eagle 1
15) Eurasian Hobby 1
16) Northern Lapwing 80-100
17) Common Sandpiper 2
18) Black-headed Gull x
19) Common Wood-Pigeon x x
20) Common Kingfisher 2
21) Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 2
22) Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 2
23) Black Woodpecker 2 1
24) Green Woodpecker 2
25) Eurasian Magpie x
26) Hooded Crow x
27) Common Raven 1
28) Barn Swallow x
29) Great Tit x x
30) Eurasian Blue Tit x x
31) Eurasian Nuthatch 2 1
32) Short-toed Treecreeper 6 1
33) Chiffchaff x x
34) European Robin 2
35) Black Redstart x
36) Eurasian Blackbird 1-2 1
37) Song Thrush 1
38) European Starling 400+ 200+
39) Gray Wagtail 1
40) White Wagtail x x
41) Yellowhammer 2
42) Common Chaffinch x x
43) European Greenfinch 3
44) European Goldfinch x
45) House Sparrow x x
I am also excited to be back to start serious European birding, but also very busy at work so this is a belated report from over a week ago. Two Sundays ago (Sep 25), my colleague (now friend) Ashwin Mohan and I had an amazing birding experience (the best I've had thus far in Germany) at the Zschorna Ponds (Zschornaer Teichgebiet) just north of Dresden about 20 km or so. Neither of us have cars, and so we rode there on bikes, with some help by getting more than a 1/3 of the way there on the #7 tram's last stop north at the town of Weixdorf. We both separately discovered the website of the VSO (Saxon Ornithologists Club) which has chapters in different parts of the state of Saxony, including Dresden. They have information of general hot spots for birding, and an active forum for rare bird alerts as well as general sightings, all in German (thank God for Google Translator!) Seriously, though, I can say that this site has helped me learn many new German names for species, and I am going to try hard to improve my German this scholastic year. I also just contacted someone from the group for information on membership, monthly meetings, excursions and surveys/counts...there actually are a lot of potential experiences for learning and fun, but I digress...
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| Click to enlarge map. |
So there we were, getting off #7 at Weixdorf around 6:30am, about 20 minutes from sunrise (just enough light that we did not need to turn on our lights) and we headed NW to Zschorna while passing through a few quaint little villages like, Medingen, Grossdittmansdorf (love the name, don't you?), and Radeburg. Between the villages, we rode past plowed fields and forest edges where we picked some nice birds and natural spectacles. At the interface of a field and some house, where we stopped quickly to check the passerines in the conifers (which turned out to mostly be Great Tits and Chaffinches), a Hobby flew over our heads, out over the fields, in its typical direct, stiff, and fast but relatively-slow-flapping-for-a-falcon flight style. At another field we stopped to observe a male Marsh Harrier Ashwin had first picked up sitting, perhaps finishing a freshly-caught breakfast, flying low over the field. At the same place, we watched a huge flock of European Starlings in a tight pulsating ball of 300-400 synchronized birds, which, after a few minutes broke up and slowly dispersed on the plowed field. We found this lively wood's edge on both sides of the road at the bottom of this small hill with Short-toed Treecreepers, a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on one side, and then a blood-rushing, shrill "klii-eh" from the other side...we turned to each other at the same time with wide eyes..."Black...Wood...pecker?!" I whispered excitedly. We heard it call a 2nd time, yep, it was definitely a Black Woodpecker; unfortunately we did not see this one. This was a "semi-lifer" in my book: a bird I could identify by voice but still have not SEEN yet, so not a true Lifer in the traditional sense. A bit further down the road, and Ashwin stopped in front of me abruptly,checked some small birds he spotted going overhead: two of them were Yellowhammers (coolest name for a bunting, eh?!). Other birds we had on the way (trying not to stop and linger too long) included: large flock of Graylag Geese, a second calling (distant) Black Woodpecker, a Green Woodpecker, and 3 egrets (1 Great, and 2 Little).
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| female Green Woodpecker |
When we arrived at the Zschorna Ponds around 9:00am we started sifting through waterfowl groups on the western "Great Pond" (which, as the name suggests, was huge and I really wished i had my scope with me!). Most were Mallards, but we picked out 4 drake Common Pochards and a Great Crested Grebe. There were 8+ Grey Herons and a single Great Egret on a small sandy, lightly-vegetated island in the far SW corner of the lake, along with many adult and juvenile Great Cormorants. Also noted was a single Canada Goose in a flock of Graylag Geese, and after consulting the guide to make sure, we can assume that this was a lost member of an introduced population (photo below) but still interesting to note.While I was quickly jotting down some notes, Ashwin spotted our first Common Kingfisher darting across the water and into the edge vegetation north of us...and I saw a bird but missed it with the bins, ugh. (I was determined to find another one or come back and find this guy again...). Walking down the center road which separated the two main "ponds" (they were really lakes if you ask me, by there shear size, but...) White Wagtails were landing in the road and strutting, calling, and flying back up into the roadside habitat. We had a couple nice views of cooperative Chiffchaffs. They seem to respond to imitated ascending whistles, and can be somewhat inquisitive. Soon after that, Ashwin took notice to a flock of medium-large birds...I had an immediate guess (partly because I was expecting this, and partly because of the extreme "frying-pan" wings), and binoculars confirmed my guess: Northern Lapwings. This flock was made of 23, but later I kept tally of the various flocks, and many were around 20 but one was twice this number and...oddly to Ashwin and I at least...joined by a good size Starling flock?! Yes, interpenetrating flocks of Lapwings and Starlings. Is this typical, or has anyone comments about this behavior?
While finding 3 more Great Crested Grebes on the east "Wide Pond" (Breiter Teich), we both simultaneously saw our "Holy Grail Bird of the Day": White-tailed Eagle! It was a nice adult with short, wedge-shaped, pure white tail, and it soon was joined by another adult (we assumed this was a pair that nested near the lakes). We did not locate the nest, but saw the two fly together a short while and then did a short display like Bald Eagles I have seen in New Jersey, so I suppose it might be something common to the genus Haliaeetus. Later on we spotted a very distant eagle with flight feathers and tail much darker than the back, head and upperwing coverts. We got very excited when we realized it was another eagle-lifer: a Lesser Spotted Eagle!
When we sat down in a shady spot at the northeast corner of the Great Pond, to have lunch while keeping watch for new birds, just then we heard a nearby Black Woodpecker give its flight/alarm call "krruck-krruck-krruck..." We literally dropped our lunches to follow the calling. Shortly it responded with its shrill "klii-eh" call. Just as we located the tree we thought it might have been on, a group of loud, chattering cyclists rode by and flushed the bird! Ashwin had a very brief glimpse of the bird as it dove and flew directly away from us, but was not able to see the extent of red to sex the bird. We heard it call once more, but it was way off, and then we decided to give up for the moment. Walking out to a field, which the woods bordered, our bins came across a juvenile Common Buzzard with much white on its back and upperwing coverts as well as the head. Svensson et al. describe this pale variant as mostly found in northern Germany and southern Sweden, so this must be one of the southernmost areas this variant can be found (this weekend we found another one at another location to be mentioned in the next post). When we returned (seriously hungry by this time) to our lakeside lunch spot, and resumed eating, a small bright bird came from out of the bushes just right of us, and started flying directly across us and south along the shore, low over the water. I sort of knew what it was sans optics, but when I finally caught it in the bins...my God, how stunning this Common Kingfisher was! I still have not gotten over the shiny, azure-blue backside of this tropical gem. Finally while checking the woods edge and fields just north of the Grossteich, Ashwin started taking pictures of a cooperative Chiffchaff I whistled in. (giving a plain, slightly upturned "hweeet" with an emphasis on the end, seems to have the same effect on chiffchaffs as pishing has on chickadees or tits. Pictured below, we were perflexed by this bird, first thinking maybe it was a willow warbler (later, after reading descriptions of call notes, willow would be ruled out alone) but also the chest and underparts in general were too dusky and not light enough for willow, but the thing that made this individual bird not typical for a chiffchaff was the rather bold supercilium, especially in front of the eye. Most interesting from the picture below is that the bolder supraloral region is also noticably yellow and moreso than the rear part of the supercilium. This feature, along with the greenish-yellow tinted scapulars and wing coverts, after looking in Svensson et al., suggest an Iberian Chiffchaff!!! BUT, the brownish back and not-so-yellow underparts don't fit for a true/typical Iberian Chiffchaff. Then again, don't the bill and legs appear paler than is typical for regular Chiffchaffs? Primary projection (slightly longer in Iberian species) is unfortunately not clearly seen in the picture, and what is worse: we did not recall any vocalizations, which might have made the ID much easier than basing it on plumage details solely. Oy, does any reader perchance have any ideas/advice on the true identity of this bird? Comments would be GREATLY appreciated, and thanks in advance!
The pictures here are all from Ashwin Mohan (except for the pic of Ashwin of course, and the map of Zschorna ponds), and at the end is a complete checklist for the day. Good birding to all!
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| NE corner of Grossteich (Kingfisher/Lunch spot) |
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| Canada Goose hanging with flock of Graylag Geese. |
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| White Wagtail in the road that runs down between the two main lakes. |
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| Field on edge of woods (just north of Breiter Teich) were we found the pale juv. Buzzard. |
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| Odd Chiffchaff: note the very yellow supraloral region, and the greenish wing coverts. |
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| Ashwin scanning for Kingfishers. |
Cumulative Checklist:
A=seen between Weixdorf and Zschorna.
B=seen at Zschorna Ponds.
Total number of species: 45
A: B:
1) Graylag Geese x x
2) Canada Goose(introduced) 1 3) Mute Swan 65-70 1
4) Mallard x x
5) Common Pochard 4
6) Great Crested Grebe 5
7) Great Cormorant 35-40
8) Gray Heron 6 8
9) Great Egret 1 1
10) Little Egret 2
11) White-tailed Eagle 2
12) Marsh Harrier 1male
13) Common Buzzard 1 4
14) Lesser Spotted Eagle 1
15) Eurasian Hobby 1
16) Northern Lapwing 80-100
17) Common Sandpiper 2
18) Black-headed Gull x
19) Common Wood-Pigeon x x
20) Common Kingfisher 2
21) Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 2
22) Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 2
23) Black Woodpecker 2 1
24) Green Woodpecker 2
25) Eurasian Magpie x
26) Hooded Crow x
27) Common Raven 1
28) Barn Swallow x
29) Great Tit x x
30) Eurasian Blue Tit x x
31) Eurasian Nuthatch 2 1
32) Short-toed Treecreeper 6 1
33) Chiffchaff x x
34) European Robin 2
35) Black Redstart x
36) Eurasian Blackbird 1-2 1
37) Song Thrush 1
38) European Starling 400+ 200+
39) Gray Wagtail 1
40) White Wagtail x x
41) Yellowhammer 2
42) Common Chaffinch x x
43) European Greenfinch 3
44) European Goldfinch x
45) House Sparrow x x
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Summer Birding News - Warblers, Flycatcher and Stork
Biggest news is that I found out the other day that a fellow Indian PhD student at IFW Dresden just happens to also be a birder. Totally blown away! Thought I would never find another of my species over here :)
He told me about a nice location just behind our workplace where he recently found Reed Warblers. I was quite eager to discover this new spot, and find a new lifer. Today around 6pm I ventured there on my own, and discovered tree-lined fields of wild grains, wh=ith excellent views of Dresden city. When I reached the top of the hill a short 10 minute walk west revealed at least 4 singing male (Common) Whitethroats (Sylvia communis) as well as 2 singing Reed Warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus). That made 2 lifers, yes! The only other noteworthy sighting was a flyover Kestrel.
Other new yearbirds recently:
Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa stiata) - no joke! I was having a beer with friends in a Biergarten in the early evening, after work, and a single bird flew out of a tree for a minute to perch and call from a wire RIGHT overhead! It might have been the most odd and unplanned lifer ever! Luckily I was sober enough to ID it, without bins too because it literally was overhead, but buzzed enough to get extremely excited about it amongst nonbirder friends, who thusly became freaked-out.
White Storks - 3 spotted from the train I was on last Sunday (June 5) in Brandenburg countryside on the way back to Dresden from a visit to Berlin. I spotted 2 in flight, and the other was nearby landed in a plowed field. Still working on finding a Black Stork; one of these days!
Good birding and butterflying to all, and stay as cool as possible this summer!
He told me about a nice location just behind our workplace where he recently found Reed Warblers. I was quite eager to discover this new spot, and find a new lifer. Today around 6pm I ventured there on my own, and discovered tree-lined fields of wild grains, wh=ith excellent views of Dresden city. When I reached the top of the hill a short 10 minute walk west revealed at least 4 singing male (Common) Whitethroats (Sylvia communis) as well as 2 singing Reed Warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus). That made 2 lifers, yes! The only other noteworthy sighting was a flyover Kestrel.
Other new yearbirds recently:
Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa stiata) - no joke! I was having a beer with friends in a Biergarten in the early evening, after work, and a single bird flew out of a tree for a minute to perch and call from a wire RIGHT overhead! It might have been the most odd and unplanned lifer ever! Luckily I was sober enough to ID it, without bins too because it literally was overhead, but buzzed enough to get extremely excited about it amongst nonbirder friends, who thusly became freaked-out.
White Storks - 3 spotted from the train I was on last Sunday (June 5) in Brandenburg countryside on the way back to Dresden from a visit to Berlin. I spotted 2 in flight, and the other was nearby landed in a plowed field. Still working on finding a Black Stork; one of these days!
Good birding and butterflying to all, and stay as cool as possible this summer!
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