Diario de inasiebert

Observations from February 10th, 2018

In Heidelberg, we’ve had about five weeks of grey sky with low hanging clouds and often fog by now. However, the days are getting longer, and more and more often, there’s birdsong in the air. Time to get out and bird!

The temperature on the weekend was barely above 0 degrees, but it was dry. I decided to take a walk in a part of the so-called “Handschuhsheimer Feld” where I often go but haven’t been to in quite a while. This place is intensely used by horticultural farms to grow lettuce, vegetables, fruits and flowers, most of them in greenhouses. Only some farmers grow wholefood products. On the fringes, there are also garden plots. The area is confined by the Heidelberg district of Handschuhsheim, the university campus, the river Neckar and a road leading to the nearby autobahn. It measures about 300 hectares.

Although this doesn’t sound like a great ecosystem for wildlife, I’ve observed about 42 different bird species and lots of insect species there over the last two years since I’ve started observing nature. An environmental impact analysis from 2005 states that 67 bird species have been verified in this area (21 of them on the Red List). The analysis was done to examine different places to build a new bridge crossing the Neckar and linking the university campus to the autobahn.

On my latest visit, I kept to the part close to town. As usual, I observed many House Sparrows – so far, I don’t know any other area where they are this plentiful. I regularly see several flocks of at least ten to twenty sparrows. Mainly, they are on or close to farms. Carrion Crows, tits and chaffinches are also very common. I watched the first Common Starlings – or maybe even ones that have stayed. Last winter, I’ve observed starlings in December and January.

The (at least to me) more unusual birds were Eurasian Bullfinches. Up to this winter, I only had two sightings of them, but since then, this number has tripled. I also watched a Great Spotted Woodpecker that I have never seen in this area before. I think I repeatedly heard a Green Woodpecker, but I couldn’t find it. Since I’ve seen one before three times, I know that this species is present.

Rose-ringed Parakeets also like the area, especially the tall, old trees next to a riding club. There was a big puddle underneath, and I watched the parakeets sliding down, hovering above the water and then flying back. One of them finally landed and drank. In Heidelberg, we have a lot of parakeets, supposedly hundreds. So I’m pretty familiar with them, but this behavior was new to me.

My visit to the area this time took slightly more than one hour and covered only a small part of the area. Nevertheless, I watched 15 different bird species and a Brown Hare. I’m looking forward to my next outings there, especially once the migratory birds are back.

Observations from February 11th and 13th, 2018

There is a very interesting area of gardens for nature observers between Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim and the neighbouring town of Dossenheim, The boundary to the west is a well-used road; to the east are the wooded hills of the low mountain ranges of the Odenwald. The area measures roughly about 1500 by 400 meters.

There are many different fruit trees and a few small vineyards. The German Society of Nature Conservation (Naturschutzbund Deutschland/NABU) maintains a garden as well as an old vineyard on a steep slope. The gardens are populated by lots of wildlife – even boars forage there.

@redhat regularly goes there and recommended the area to us because of its biodiversity. Wildlife can be hard to watch, though, because the paths between the gardens are also popular with bikers, joggers and dog walkers.

On the first of two consecutive visits in February, the sky was grey and it was hardly above 0 degrees Celsius. We took a walk from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. We had the area pretty much to ourselves, and it was like “Finches’ and Woodpeckers’ Day”. We watched Hawfinches, Greenfinches, Bullfinches, two Bramblings in a flock of Chaffinches at a feeding and a Goldfinch. Next we observed two Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. A few meters along, a Great Spotted Woodpecker was foraging. Another one was perching at the top of a tall conifer. Finally, we also got to see a Green Woodpecker which we mostly only hear.

To top it all off, we observed our first Common Redpolls. At the first sighting, I got a great look but couldn’t take a picture. It took us a while to find them again – the gardens offer lots of sources for feed and, of course, many gardens are designed so that passersby can’t get a good look inside. When we were about to give up, I saw small birds with a hint of red. Two or three Redpolls were darting around in shrubs. One finally remained still just long enough to take a nice picture.

Even though the weather was quite difficult for distinguishing birds in the distance, we were rewarded with lots of great and seldom sightings. Altogether, we observed 17 bird species and a Eurasian Red Squirrel.

On my next visit two days later, the sky was clear, and the sun was finally shining. Still, it was only 4 degrees Celsius. I went to the gardens at about the same time as on the first visit. But as hard as I looked and listened, birds were less active than on the visit before. I only got 12 species, most of them common, and no winter guests. This time, tits were in the majority: Great Tits, Blue Tits, a Long-tailed Tit and a Crested Tit at a feeding.

At the end of my walk, I watched a Honey Bee sitting in the sun, flying in circles and sitting down again. Only a few centimeters away, there was a European Firebug on a stone wall. I was quite surprised to see the first insects so early, especially when the temperatures had been hardly above 0 degrees Celsius for several days. Maybe spring is not far away anymore!