These hooded crows have a fine location on a newly trimmed branch of a weeping willow tree that extends over the Spree. Here they are feeding their chicks.
Crow’s Nest
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Monthly Archives: April 2013
Gathering
Our red squirrel
No, he’s not a bird. He’s our red squirrel! He flies around the trees, gives us inquisitive looks, and sometimes barks at us before running away. Occasionally I’ve seen two squirrels at a time in our yard, but usually only one, which I assume is this one. I have no idea if he is really a man, but we call him “squirrel man.”
Nuthatch
This nuthatch lives down the street from me, and appears to have a nest in the hole at the bottom right. He was popping in and out of it when I was returning from the grocery store yesterday.
The rear end of a nightingale
The nightingales are back! As of three nights ago we have been hearing their wild songs from our apartment, and a quick walk yesterday evening brought us by at least three of them belting it out with all they have. These little birds are notoriously difficult to photograph. They like to hide in thickets and dense foliage and prefer to sing only when the dusk is advancing. But thanks to my awesome new camera I was able to capture the back side of a singing nightingale last night. So here you have it, a nightingale’s butt:
If you’d like to hear his crazy song, it is recorded here. And here you can hear some strange croaking noises that he made.
If you’d rather not look at his butt while listening, here is a lovely picture of last night’s full moon.
Portrait of a Jay
I just received a fantastic new camera as a graduation present. Thanks mom! Now I can photograph the birds that previously I could only write about. To celebrate, I’ve been taking portraits of the denizens of our yard in the Tiergarten. First up is the jay, known here as an Eichelhäher, and known around our apartment as just “the Häher.” This is the same guy that buries his peanuts in my flowerpots. The first time that I saw his bright blue wings, I thought that he must be some kind of escaped exotic. But no, he is just a standard eurasian jay, and a beautiful specimen at that. He is clearly suspicious of my awesome zoom lens…
Arrivals from Africa
Suddenly the Tiergarten is full of new arrivals, many of them having braved the long journey from central Africa to arrive in central Berlin. Today I saw a wonderful little common redstart, just landed, hopping around eating insects in the Englisher Garten. Two days ago I saw and heard a lesser whitethroat, who supposedly also spends his summers in Africa and was jumping around on bushes near the Spree. And today I heard the lovely song of the male blackcap and saw his lady, with a dusty red cap, eating buds on a branch.
And to top all of this off, last night I heard the song of the nightingale for the first time this year. It is hard to believe that these little birds have the strength to fly over the Sahara and immediately start belting their hearts out as soon as they land in the city. I am very grateful to them, and I’m happy that they all arrived safely.
More nesting
Now that the terrible endless winter is finally over, the birds in Berlin have been incredibly busy catching up and building nests. Everywhere I see birds flying with materials in their mouths, but I am not quick enough to catch them on camera. Above is a female chaffinch gathering twigs for her nest in the Tiergarten, near the Neuer See. Her man was in the area foraging for food.
Near the S-Bahn tracks by my house a pair of magpies have been working from dawn until dusk over the last week to build their nest. I feel incredibly lazy compared to them. The nest seems to be completed now, and it is quite large. They are now spending their energy protecting it from crows. (The crows themselves have been busy. I spotted three crow’s nests today, with crows inside them.)
I tried very hard to get some photos or video of the magpies at work, but any time I got anywhere near the nest they would fly off and hide. So I left them in peace, but did manage to get this photo. They don’t reuse their old nests, or even the same trees. For the last three years these magpies have built nests in three different locations. I also noticed that they will not use old twigs, but instead painstakingly break new ones off the trees. I suppose that makes for a more sturdy nest, but it is quite a lot of work!
More listening
Today I noticed that my camera battery had died, just after I left the house to go observing. This turned out to be a good thing, as I decided to focus on listening again, and to see if I could identify not only every bird that I saw, but also every bird that I heard. I walked by the Spree, where in the past months the waterfowl would be hanging around in their usual spots. But now, thanks to the constant parade of pleasure boats that churn up and down the river as soon as the weather improves, there was hardly a duck or coot to be seen, and no more swans or grebes or moorhens at all. (Many of these seem to have relocated to the pond in the Englischer Garten.)
The tiniest bird in Europe
I’ve wanted so badly to get a photo of the tiniest bird in Europe, the goldcrest. Here is one flying away from me! And below a blurry image of him showing his bright yellow crown. I stood in front of this tree for some time while he hopped around, chirping provocatively, and these were the only reasonable pictures I have to show for it. He then flew up to the top of the tree, laughing.
