Just over a month ago the afternoons and evenings here in Berlin were still filled with the beautiful songs of blackbirds, blackcaps and nightingales. Now our yard is much quieter, with the exception of a few noisemakers.
This robin wakes early every morning and begin its many tasks, one of them being clucking at the neighbor’s cat. The robin must have a little brood somewhere in the yard that needs plenty of feeding and defending. While I took this picture, it had been clucking at the cat for some time, despite having a collection of insects in its mouth.
This beautiful Common Redstart is still busy defending his territory around our apartment. His song is loud, repetitive and insistent, and therefore tiring after about 15 minutes, but he is still endearing thanks to his beautiful coloration and cheery tail-bobbing.
The Spotted Flycatchers are very quiet, yet are actively swooping around the yard whenever I look out. Here is one in a rare moment of repose.
In addition to these birds, there are some tantalizing songs coming from the treetops lately. I don’t know if they are new or if I just never noticed them before, what with the pretty constant noise of blackbird excitement over the last few months. Unfortunately the leaves are so thick that I can’t yet identify the singers, but maybe in the coming days…
Hi Adrienne, I agree about the transition from a month ago to now with birds no longer singing – although nice to see your Redstart is still in song. In our Devon garden we have many juvenile Goldfinches, Siskins and Blue/ Great Tits and young Robins, Dunnocks, Greenfinches and lots of House Sparrows. Sadly Spotted Flycatchers are quite uncommon in most of England although ubiquitous in parts of mainland Europe – including Mallorca where we were last month.
We loved Berlin so much in May that we’ve decided to come back! We’re visiting for a few days in September and look forward to walking through Tiergarten again – although we don’t expect to see as many birds as we did in May. We’re then touring Northern Germany to the Baltic coast finishing in Hamburg. No idea what we will see or where any bird reserves are – but that’s part of the excitement.
I believe we may see Cranes on migration and a few White tailed Sea Eagles live in the Mecklenburg- Vorpommern region but that’s about it.
Anyway, I’ll keep an eye on your blog until we’re back in Berlin.
Regards
Steve Hearn
Ps if you can record any of your mystery singing birds, I may be able to help