YOUNG BIRDER'S NOTES: 6 Weeks in Germany: Garden Birds of Berlin

In parkland and gardens throughout Berlin, several species were extremely common. I did a lot of birding from the window of my room in my host family's house, looking out onto their garden and photographing birds approaching their feeder.
Flocks of great tits and blue tits were omnipresent, as were Eurasian tree sparrows and house sparrows. Occasionally a flock of long-tailed tits would sweep through the garden and visit the feeder. Pine trees at the far end of the garden were visited by Eurasian jays and hawfinches, and a large tree in the centre of the garden was host to many short-toed treecreepers, Eurasian nuthatches, great spotted woodpeckers and once a single green woodpecker. A pair of blackbirds also inhabited the garden and, along with European robins, were often seen perched on the ground scratching through leaf litter. Once a Eurasian sparrowhawk flew through a nearby family's garden, but I was unable to get more than a glimpse of it.
Eurasian magpies and hooded crows were constantly flying overhead, along with wood pigeons. All 3 species were abundant throughout most of Berlin. A single carrion crow was seen once, but the crows in Berlin were almost entirely hooded.
The cemeteries in Berlin were all well-wooded and therefore great for birding. A visit to the cemetery in Karlshorst gave me good looks at many of the aforementioned species, along with my first Goldcrest, and some chaffinches.
Red squirrels were common in parkland, and particularly good views of some were had at the Schlossgarten Charlottenburg.
Anywhere there was water, black-headed gulls, mallards and Eurasian coots were abundant. In the skies above Berlin wheeled common gulls, Caspian gulls and Eurasian herring gulls, though often they were too distant to identify accurately. Occasionally I would be amazed by the sight of a Northern goshawk flying high overhead, sometimes being mobbed by crows.