Birding during the Corona Pandemic - Spring 2020

The spring of 2020 will of course always be associated with the Corona Virus pandemic. Thousands and thousands of people have lost their lives and jobs and we have all been subjected to severe restrictions on our lives. Fortunately, the lockdown measures imposed in Germany allowed us to enjoy the great outdoors providing we remained in small groups, originally numbering only two people. Many people have commented on the effect on the absence of people, noise and pollution and the beneficial effect this had on wildlife. For my part it has been an extraordinary spring and having the time to visit my favourite sites more often than I otherwise would, has allowed me to see an amazing number and variety of birds, insects and animals. I can honestly say that this has helped to keep me sane.

Juv female Goshawk - Apelhorn

Juv female Goshawk - Apelhorn

Black Woodpecker - Apelhorn

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - Apelhorn

I like to visit Apelhorn, a former military training area near Langelsheim, in March to see Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. Sure enough at least one male was present calling from the mixed beech and oak forests. Middle Spotted, Great and Black Woodpeckers were also present, but what gave me most satisfaction was seeing a juvenile female Goshawk which cruised out from the forest canopy and proceeded to fly directly over my head giving me wonderful views. This superlative raptor is widely distributed but difficult to see unless you find some displaying. My second year bird was probably prospecting and will assume full adult plumage later this year.

Coal Tit - Apelhorn

Crested Tit - Oberharz

In April our lockdown came into proper effect and also coincided with the arrival of one of my favourite birds, the Wryneck. The first bird I saw was in the Grosse Bruch, a first for me, but quickly enough I had up to three on my local Steinberg and several more as I searched suitable habitat. Wrynecks are locally quite abundant which is great especially as their decline in other areas seems to be continuing. I must have seen or heard up to 20 birds this spring in all of the locations that I visit. A real surprise one morning was a flock of Waxwings feeding on Mistletoe berries on the Steinberg locating the next morning to the town centre before heading north for the summer. Black Redstarts also starting singing their wheezy little song from local fence posts and roof tops.

Black Redstart - Goslar

Wryneck - Grosse Bruch

Wryneck - Dromling

Wryneck - Dromling

An orchard - typical Wryneck territory

Waxwing - Steinberg, Goslar

The Drömling has been awesome this spring and, with so much time on my hands, I have visited several times including during the night hoping to hear Corncrakes. Alas and to my surprise I heard none but was rewarded at about 0400 one morning by the sound of a calling Little Bittern. I should also mention the noise of bird song in the night, when one's main sense is sound, is completely amazing. Nightingales and Grasshopper Warblers especially singing form every hundredth bush or piece of shrub. The dawn is also especially beautiful with the image of Cranes standing in misty meadows something I shall never forget. Along with Wrynecks, I have managed to see dozens of Icterine Warblers - I think that I am now 'zone-in' on their song and early in the mornings especially, they can be relatively easy to photograph.

Sun rise in the Dromling

A lone Crane in the Drömling

Icterine Warbler in the Drömling

Icterine Warbler in the Drömling

Barred Warblers have for a long time been a bit of a bogey bird for me and so I was really pleased to have been able to find and watch at leisure several birds.  They really are stunning with their striped breasts and bright yellow eyes and their display fights, often ended with a glide, are rather Cuckoo-esque. Red-backed Shrikes, perhaps the symbol of the Drömling, are always close to Barred Warblers the two birds seeming to enjoy a somewhat symbiotic relationship. Hobbies are always a joy to see and one winged its away across the meadows as I was watching my warblers.

Barred Warbler in the Drömling

Barred Warbler in the Drömling

Barred Warbler in the Drömling

Hobby in the Drömling

Hobby in the Drömling

In previous years I have seen River Warblers in the Drömling though I had not seen any for three years.  I was really pleased therefore, one morning soon after dawn, to hear their remarkable song. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see the bird, however, a week later at the same location I heard the bird again and this time was able to see it as it crawled, mouse-like in the undergrowth and later singing from inside a bush. Astonishingly, as I was walking back to the car I heard and saw another bird which had been ringed. So, after a 3 or 4 year hiatus, the River Warblers were back in exactly the same spot. A demur bird, decorated by a delicate necklace and in possession of one of nature's most remarkable song. Their westward march continues as several sightings have been recorded in the local area.

River Warbler in the Drömling; note the ring

River Warbler in the Drömling; note the ring

River Warbler habitat in the Drömling

River Warbler in the Drömling

River Warbler in the Drömling

Corncrakes are becoming increasingly scarce birds throughout much of their European range and Germany is no exception. Reasonably good numbers hang on along the Elbe valley and in other scattered locations and I was hoping or indeed expecting to hear some calling birds in the Drömling. Indeed Corncrake location was one of my aims this Spring. The good news is that I achieved my aim though not in the Drömling but a small piece of riverine habitat on the eastern outskirts of Braunschweig. Reports of a River Warbler here were soon followed by reports of 3 to 4 Corncrakes calling throughout the night. So I too visited the site and, for the first time in my life heard Corncrakes calling, indeed one must have been 1 meter from where I was standing. Most interestingly I heard a Little Bittern barking which was confirmed by a friend the following night. Its location is work in progress. The River Warbler, well he'd moved on.

Library picture of a Corncrake

Habitat SE Braunschweig containing 3 or 4 Corncrakes

I suppose that last of all I should mention Frose, a reed bed wetland 80km to the east of Goslar. This Spring Frose has been relatively quiet indeed somewhat disappointing. Good sightings including passage a Osprey and male Montagu's Harrier, some amorous Cuckoos, distantly signing Bluethroats, even more distant Garganeys and Wood Sandpipers, and not too much else!  No Savis Warblers, no booming Bitterns and indeed very few Grasshopper Warblers.

Red Kite at Frose

Black Kite in the Grosse Bruch

Cuckoo hanging out in the Dromling

A Frose Osprey

Last but not least, but because I saw them most recently, is a group of 3 or 4 Wood Warblers I stumbled across whilst cycling in the Oberharz. These are truly beautiful birds of colours of lemon and white with a sybaritic song so characteristic of sunlit deciduous forest glades. Fortunately I had taken my camera and was able to get these lovely pictures.

Wood Warbler - Oberharz

Wood Warbler - Oberharz

Wood Warbler - Oberharz

I started this blog by mentioning the context that the Corona pandemic provided for my activities this Spring. It has been an extraordinary time of worry, stress and for many, great sadness. For my part I can honestly say that the birds have kept me sane. When I'm out birding, in the middle of the night of morning, I feel focused and happy. The birds have provided a welcome distraction of potential boredom and unhappiness.