Birding in Germany

It's been about 2-3 weeks since my return from Frankfurt. Professional work aside, it was a really good nature-immersion experience. Two sites comprised the bulk of this immersion: the Palmengarten in Frankfurt (Palm Gardens) and a small part of the Black Forest where I hiked in Baden-baden.

Weirdly enough, my urban birdwatching experience in Palmengarten was many times richer than the one in the Schwartzwald. There was a stretch in the Palmengarten, tucked away at the very border between the gardens and a small public road, while walking from the children's playground to the tropical greenhouse, which yielded the richest density of urban birds I have had the fortune to experience. 

It reminded me, in some ways, of the tree outside a hotel room in Gangtok (the hotel was called Mt. Himalayan and the room overlooked a farm). Early in the morning, around 7am, that tree was inundated with hundreds of birds- warblers, redstarts, tits- it was a breathtaking sight and utterly overwhelming. The number of birds was so high and they were so active that it was impossible to focus on any one of them long enough to identify. 

My experience in Palmengarten at one point was like that- the sheer diversity, number, activity and unfamiliarity made it near impossible to do much more than to take down brief descriptions and hope to God that they were sufficient to identify them afterwards. This was also the first time I felt the need for more technology in my birdwatching: I desperately wished for:
A) a voice recorder to take down descriptions because I couldn't move my eyes away from the birds for fear that they would disappear. 
B) a camera to be integrated within my binoculars... why are there no devices like this yet? I don't want a camera with binocular-vision, I want binoculars with a mini-camera. There is a subtle, but important, difference, I feel.

The stately entrance to PG- don't these trees look rather eerie?

This Mallard duck was taking a bit of a snooze:

So many pretty flowers like this one abounded- even in the cold!

Hello fall colors! 

The iNaturalist app tells me this is a Shelgoose:

Nitish, my colleague, friend and temporary Mitbewohner tells me this is called thatha poochi in Tamil and iNaturalist corroborates, calling it "Old Man's Beard"...close enough translation.

The most common birds in urban Frankfurt- the common blackbird

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Common moorhens like this one were almost as common to find as humans, ambling along the various walkways of the gardens

These Egyptian geese were among the first exotic birds I saw at the gardens.  

   

These are both different species of tit. On the left is the Eurasian Blue Tit. On the right is the Great Tit- found in large numbers in urban parks in Frankfurt as well as in gardens in Baden Baden. Check out that little stripe down in the middle-almost like it's wearing a tie! RHS pic from Nat Geo.

The Eurasian Jay- what a striking creature! This bird kept fighting with both crows and blackbirds. Saw at the top of a large tree in the children's park at the gardens

This bird gave me goosebumps when I first saw it- this is the treecreeper. With its curved beak and sharp claws it crawls up the side of trees, looking for insects. This is only the 2nd or 3rd time I have seen this bird in my life, the first time being in the Himalayas (McLeodGanj)

The common linnet. Almost as common as the European Robin!

Oh you beautiful creature! This is the Great Spotted Woodpecker

The Long-Tailed Tit... what a tiny beak!Must be the smallest beak among all the birds I have ever seen!

The White Wagtail... I don't recall much about this bird, frankly.

This is a provisional identification: This is a willow warbler. It looks like a few birds I noticed at the gardens, but I can't be sure. Pic credit: eBird

In Baden-Baden, while hiking all over the place (I think I hiked 5h in total! I was almost light-headed with hunger by the time I returned to the town!), these birds were there simply everywhere- on the sidewalks, on roads, on trees lining the roads etc:

The male Eurasian chaffinch. The female is a duller brown/olive green. Pic credit: eBird

My eBird checklist is here. Ever since I got a certificate from a group called The State of India's Birds for my piddling little checklists, I feel compelled to create them. So, it's doing its job in motivating people, clearly. 

Finally, since we are talking about Germany: check out this flagon below. 

No, it's not a German beer... but a large steaming cup of Eritrean Tea!

Pic credits: Those that have not been credited are either mine or Wikimedia Commons