Tag Archives: blackbird

From the Balcony: Redstart, Robin and Flycatcher

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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.

RobinThis 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.

Common Redstart

 

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.

Spotted Flycatcher in Repose

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…

Goshawk in the Tiergarten

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ChaffinchAfter so many days of rain I was so happy to finally have the chance to wander through the Tiergarten this afternoon. In my search for shy creatures I found a shady clearing where I could photograph this little chaffinch undisturbed by dogs and bicycles.

At the edge of the clearing a blackbird was belting it out as usual, his song mixing with that of a very loud blackcap and a few other blackbirds in the area. I was snapping away when all of a sudden the chaffinch was missing from my viewfinder, the blackcap was quiet, and the blackbirds’ songs changed to a series of short, high pitched notes.

The sound reminded me of something, and I remembered this post that I read the other day describing the call that American Robins make when a hawk is nearby. This gave me the brilliant idea that I should stop staring at the barren ground through the viewfinder, remove my face from the back of the camera, and look up. And lo and behold…

Northern Goshawk

right above me was a Northern Goshawk. It only stayed for a few seconds before flying off as silently as it arrived. The blackbirds immediately returned to their loud songs, but I couldn’t find my chaffinch again.

More listening

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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.)

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Visitors

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HawfinchThe last few weeks were abnormally cold and snowy here in Berlin. These conditions not only meant that the birds were hungry, but also that I didn’t get out much to observe them. To remedy this situation I covered the window boxes on my balcony with sunflower seeds every morning, and soon found that I had many visitors. Above is one of a troop of hawfinches that would appear every morning.

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The first blackbird

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Yesterday was remarkable, as the sun shone for the entire day. I honestly can’t remember when that last happened. It could have been December. Yesterday I also heard the full, exuberant song of the blackbird for the first time this year. In the twilight, perched on a tree not far from our balcony, he sang for a while, occasionally echoed by another blackbird farther off. I can only think that he must have been as happy as me to finally have a sunny day, and he gave it a fitting end. Here is a recording of part of his song.

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Greyness, and a wren

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Crows in greyness
The last few days have been exceptionally grey here in Berlin. So to cheer myself up yesterday I went to visit my old colleagues at Allianz Climate Solutions for lunch.

Allianz tower I used to work near the very top of this tower, the tallest building in Berlin. I had an incredible view from my office and would see many birds, migrating or hanging around in the Spree, making concentration rather difficult! After lunch yesterday I decided to spend some time with the birds that I used to only watch from afar. Treptower Park is right next to the tower, so I took a little walk there. Continue reading →

Signs of Spring

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This is the post I meant to put up yesterday, but life got in the way a little bit…

snowdropsToday, for the first time this year, I heard the voice of the male blackbird. During the spring and early summer one hears them constantly, and they certainly sing away in the dead of night. But by late summer they quiet down and the only noise that I at least can hear them make is a rustling around in the leaves. As I was returning from the post office yesterday I stopped to watch a female blackbird in the hopes of getting a good shot of her (I didn’t) when I heard the familiar voice of the male for a brief few seconds in the bush. Like a jolt it transported me to spring! Afterwards I came across these snowdrops and the daffodil shoots pictured above and was firmly convinced that spring might actually be a possibility. A week ago I wouldn’t have been so sure. Continue reading →

An Hour’s Walk

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Flying Coot

Today was the first full sunny day in as long as I can remember. We have had a few hours of sun here and there over the past few weeks, but it has always passed quickly and never seems to totally dispel the gloom. But today was different, and I took advantage of it by taking a meandering route on my errands. First I stopped by the gathering in the Spree, to check on the usual crowd. I didn’t see the little grebe this time, but everyone else was there. A man on the opposite bank was throwing bread in the water, so the whole mass of birds slowly moved into his vicinity, making quite a ruckus on the way. The coots are very funny when they decide to fly. They begin by running along the water, kicking it up behind them, and flapping their wings like mad. When they finally alight it seems a marvel that they can fly at all. Above is a photo of one of the coots about to take off. Continue reading →