Berlin

I tried a birding few days in Berlin but unfortunately forgot my camera so just had my mobile. After studying  the labyrinth of tunnels of the U-bahn, S-bahn, railways and trams. I worked out a plan from my base near Wittenbergplatz U-bahn.

Must try google translate

First stop was Karow pools and Buch in the north east of the city. Karower Teiche nature reserve is well maintained and there are four reed fringed  ponds with good viewing platforms but not much good when I was there because the ponds were mostly iced over. I did see two great white egrets with mute swan, greylag, coots and mallards. There is good surrounding habitat with scattered bushes and small patches of woodland. The first bird I saw was a “tick” a short toed treecreeper, and checked the guide to make sure it wasn’t the common treecreeper, and there were plenty of them. Saw lots of greenfinch, chaffinch, siskin, yellowhammer, great tits, blue tits, marsh tits and the white headed long tailed tits. Also great spotted woodpeckers, nuthatches, jays and hooded crows. Having read Sean’s blog I checked the goldcrest, but no firecrest. I spent the afternoon at Bucher Forst, with a good number of mature trees and small ponds (iced over). This place will definitely be worth exploring later in the year. Saw much the same here birdwise and lots of drumming in the tall trees. Did see a middle spotted ‘pecker.

Next day was Krummer lanke in the south west of Berlin, here there are lakes, forests and woodland swamps and this place was just made for woodpeckers. The lakes were iced over again and the paths were very slippery, luckily no mishaps. Here I saw the Black woodpecker, middle spotted, lesser spotted and the great spotted, and the usual woodland birds I had seen the day before. There were about 40 mandarins in a stream that was flowing, always a nice sight. The afternoon I walked to Gunewaldsee further up, where I encountered many dog walkers. There were bird feeders here and middle spotted woodpeckers made an appearance in between the barking dogs.

Mandarins on the log

I tried the Tegel region in the North west the following day, next to the business airport. I first went to Flughafensee, there were large forest areas and a large lake, not all iced over. I made my way to the raised platform and hoped to see masses of wildfowl. Not in luck. I spoke with a German birder who told me they had mostly moved north closer to the sea. I was pleased he spoke English! I did see a bittern and cormorants in breeding plumage. My new German friend told me I was better going to Tegelersee. A couple of stops further on. I then had a long walk through the forest, and hoped it was worth it as the paths were getting muddy as the ice was melting slowly. I managed to see some wildfowl at last. Tufties, goldeneye, mallard and goosanders were about it. Oh, and hundreds of coots. I was amused to see a “sounder” of wild boar. I made my way back with sore legs and neck after looking up to see what ‘peckers were drumming. I counted at least 50, all great spotted, when I could spot them. I was hoping to see crested tits in the tall pine trees but not today.

My last morning I spent in the Tiergarten near Brandenburg, and arrived later than planned as I misread the map and travelled on the U-bahn rather than the S-bahn. When I did get there I was pleased because I recognised the wide roads and the Siegessäule victory statue from 20 years earlier when I ran the Berlin marathon. In the park there were plenty of finches, blackbirds and members of the tit family, great spotted (of course) and nuthatches. Also saw a red squirrel. The best, the last I saw and  a “tick” was a goshawk, that breed in the Tiergarten,  a wonderful bird, perched high up in the trees and calling. It must be the breeding season.

Not taken on my mobile!

I made my way back to the airport early, not wanting to take the wrong train again.