Tag Archives: NABU Berlin

Activities and hobbies

Birdwatching x 3: 7, 8 and 9 March

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On 7 March a visit to Tierpark, my favourite zoo in the world, and Europe’s biggest landscape zoo.

There was not a whole lot going on, except the herons were busy building nests in the highest treetops, flying to and fro with building material. Such majestic and elegant flyers.

The hightlight was the black woodpecker – one of the rarer types of woodpeker, at least in Berlin – which I spotted towards the end of the afternoon on my way out.

I saw many great spotted woodpeckers. The first photo is of one flashing its characteristic red rump, and the second of a couple of pigeons, even more common, looking as if they were thinking of starting a family.

On Saturday 8 March a birdwatching walk with Volkshochschule Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Lichtenrader Wäldschen, led by ornithologist Enrico Hübner. The special focus was on woodpeckers, since apparently, all five Berlin woodpeckers had been spotted in the area. We saw many “Buntspechte”, a couple of Mittelspechte, one Scwarzspecht, and one Grünspeccht – the latter very high up. We saw and/or heard a total of 29 birds. I got one bad photo of the Grünspecht. The forest was quite dense so even without leaves on the trees, it was difficult to take photos.

On Sunday 9 March Landschaftsfriedhof Gatow and adjoining fields

“Spandau each month on the 9th”: Bezirksgruppe Spandau des NABU Berlin, led by Christine Kuhnert.

Very exciting – a cemetery I did not know existed, and lots of birds to see. I definitely want to go back, perhaps very early in the morning to the fields, and then enter the cemetery when it opens at 7.30.

Here is a not very good photo of a jay (Eichelhäher) and a kestrel/Turmfalke, and one of a raven/Kolkrabe of which we saw quite a few:

And a first for me: Yellowhammer/Goldammer. So beautiful:

The first two is of a chaffinch/Buchfink. I am not sure about the next two:

The long-tailed tit/Schwanzmeise I have seen many times but never managed to get a half-way decent photo. These are the best I have taken so far:

The next bunch probably need no introduction, except the last one which I was told was a Rotmilan.

Buzzard/Mäusebussard (the same on all three photos):

2023: Bring it on

Back to Tempelhofer Feld for another NABU tour of the old plant nursery (Alte Gärtnerei)

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The route on MapMyWalk here.

As usual with NABU, an interesting hour walking around the area which is still up for development. We saw quite a few different birds, among them a hawk a couple of times, but I did not get any good photos.

On the way to Leinestraße U-Bahn station, one of the others showed me a tree where three owls were getting their beauty sleep. The were so well camouflaged that I would not have spotted them myself. The best photo I managed (still not good) was with my phone.

Also took some photos for my ongoing series on garbage in trees, and – close to home – started a new “project” on demotion sites, inspired by photos by Daniel Poller which I saw in Amtsalon the other day.

And finally, the white croci are in full bloom in Besselpark, starshaped, in honour of the astronomer after which the park is named: Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784-1846).

2023: Bring it on

29 January NABU guided tour of Rummelsburg Biotop

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Again, too much of the national favourite passtime: standing still, occasionally interrupted by some very slow walking. I have never had too much patience for that when it is exaggerated, and nowadays I don’t seem to have the metabolism for it either, so by the time my bone marrow was frozen to the core and nothing much was happening, I had to leave the group and walk the length of the biotope. On my way back I saw that they had only just started walking.

Here is where the biotope is.

Before seeing it in NABU’s event plan, I did not know this place existed. It was interesting, and slightly surreal, to see such wild, untouched nature in such a small area so close to very built-up areas.

2023: Bring it on

One Sunday, two parks

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The morning started off like this but quickly turned to a solid gray sky.

When I left my home to go to a NABU birdwatching event in Tiergarten with Derk Ehlert (probably the most knowledgeable person in the world when it comes to wildlife in Berlin), it still seemed rather dark, and it had started to rain slightly, so I wondered whether I would be the only person turning up. Wrong again. I always forget how Berliners completely ignore the weather. I counted over 60 (sixty – six-zero) people.

In his inimitable style of a combination of boundless knowledge, sunny disposition, enthusiasm and humour, Derk Ehlert kept us entertained for 1,5 hours. I saw several birds I had never seen before. One of them a “Mittelspecht” – the most rare and endangered of the three types of woodpeckers in Berlin. Due to the rain and the lack of light, I did not take any photos.

Just two with my phone of the water which was red. I could not hear the explanation properly but it was a natural phenomenon and not some sort of an environmental catastrophe.

I then went on to Tempelhofer Feld in the hope of hooking up with Lisa K. and her gang of Sunday walkers (every Sunday starting at noon or 13.00, usually about eight to ten km, e-mail her here in English or German if you want to get on her mailing list) – and that worked out well. I also managed to take these photos, despite the poor lighting conditions:

And on this one, the bird is blurred, but I would not have noticed the little flowers if I had not taken this picture:

After the walk, we (about 12 people) had a meal in Restaurant Seerose at Südstern, with a buffet of vegetarian and vegan dishes, a hearty, healthy and tasty meal at very reasonable prices, and a chance to chat with the others. Altogether an excellent day despite the weather.

Here is where I was on MapMyWalk.