My husband took these shots of an adult Hooded Crow grooming an adolescent on an opposite roof the other day. They remind me of being a child and trying to stand patient and still while my mother combed my hair and fussed over my clothes. 
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.
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!
As I was walking through the Tiergarten on my way to the store this morning, I noticed some bloody feathers in the snow. On looking up, I saw a Northern Goshawk (Habicht) high in an oak tree, eating.
are getting very loud, and starting to get on my nerves.
Unfortunately, today was not a day for wandering around in the park, but a day where I needed to stay inside and get some real work done on the computer. To help me out, some bird stayed outside, in the same spot, all day long, and sang for me. He chose to sing the same song for the entirety of the day. This song he chose consisted of only two notes, his favorite notes of the highest pitch, and never, ever, varied. It went something like this:
About once a month I walk past the zoo on my way to the Asian grocery store, where I fill up my backpack with food. On my way today I had the pleasure of seeing this Andean condor sunning himself on a snowy stump. He stood like this for some time, turning himself around in the sun. When he stopped his sunning and folded his wings onto his back he did so with all the grace of a frustrated traveler attempting to fold up a large road map. Perhaps aired-out wings are like aired-out bedding, more difficult to fold. Notice how the feathers have been clipped on the interior of his wings.
This is the view from my window today. It really is quite beautiful, but has put something of a damper on my thoughts of spring. The birds have been keeping at it however, and it seems that every day I hear more songs from the males. Today a male great tit was singing quite loudly while his comrades were finishing off the peanuts on my window box. He only has two notes, but he makes good use of them. The great tits, or Kohlmeise (which I’m calling them from now on, thanks to the tit problem), are very similar to the blue tits, or Blaumeise, except that they are larger and have black caps. They are very frequent visitors to our fat balls. Continue reading
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
