Monthly Archives: February 2013

Hunger

Blaumeise

HamletThe bird that I see the most of here in Berlin is the blue tit (Blaumeise). These are bright and lovely little birds with yellow bellies and blue little caps and distinctive facial patterns. They are remarkably acrobatic and seem to enjoy twirling around branches, falling and catching themselves, and hopping upside-down along branches, as if gravity would be of no concern if one is just chipper and bright enough. I am always happy to see them on these dark winter days; they fly about in utter defiance of any gloom. Continue reading

Little Grebe

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Today I returned to the congregation on the river and was surprised to find not only that the location and number of birds seemed to be the same, but also that all of the individuals I recognized from the day before were bobbing around in roughly the same places in the water. The splotchy hybrids were still keeping together on the far end of the group, and a recognizable coot with an injured wing was keeping close to the very same bit of shore as yesterday. The neat little group of tufted ducks must have been swimming all day to stay in the very same spot. So it appears that waterfowl are creatures of habit this time of year. I think that it is a lucky thing to find recognizable individuals among the masses, as it gives one a feeling of connection to an otherwise strange group of foreign creatures, all indistinguishable from one another. Continue reading

Waterfowl

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When I woke up this morning I had an itch to look at ducks. This time of year is good for finding rare or unusual ducks hiding out in larger groups of more common waterfowl. So today after coffee Ilarion and I walked along the Spree until we found a large gathering of birds bobbing around together in an elbow of the river not far from our apartment. Continue reading