YOUNG BIRDER'S NOTES: 6 Weeks In Germany: Summary

Hello,

I just returned from a school trip to Germany, where I was an exchange student and stayed with a host family in Berlin. Though the main aim of the trip was to practice my dodgy German, I managed to get a lot of birdwatching in too. Over the first 5 weeks of the trip, I was able to visit a variety of sites in Berlin. Then all the exchange students from my high school gathered for a 5-day tour, where we visited Nuremberg, Salzburg and Munich, and I was able to see a few more birds.

Bird-wise, the highlight of the trip was easily getting close views of Black woodpeckers around Berlin, which turned out to be much less difficult to locate than imagined.

SITES IN BERLIN:

Along with sightseeing, I visited several major birding sites in Berlin. I was unable to get out into Brandenburg to visit locations such as the Gülpe See, but was still able to see a lot. I travelled using the public transport network in Berlin, which was very helpful: using the S-Bahn, U-Bahn and trams it was possible to reach basically any site with only a short walk.

Some sites I only visited once, but others I visited multiple times due to them being very productive. Due to my visit being in the middle of winter, certain migratory birds that would otherwise have been at these sites were absent. However, I still saw a variety of species.

Certain sites will be written about in their own posts, but others I'll briefly summarise here.

TEMPELHOF: An old decommissioned airport turned into a park. Easily reached using the City Loop S-Bahn (S41/S42). Get off at Tempelhof Station, and an entrance to the park is very near the station.

SCHLOSSGARTEN CHARLOTTENBURG: A fairly large park near the stunning Schloss Charlottenburg. Can be reached by a short walk from Westend Station, which is once more easily accessible with the City Loop (S41/S42). Here we saw many of the birds common in pretty much any wooded area in Berlin: great spotted woodpeckers, blue tits, great tits, eurasian nuthatches, wood pigeons and short-toed treecreepers. Marsh tits were also present. The lake in front of the palace had Canada geese, grey herons, mallards, Eurasian coots, mute swans and our only tufted ducks of the entire trip. Apparently this is a decent site for goshawks and middle spotted woodpeckers, however we did not see either.

TUFTED DUCK

Aythya fuligula

GREY HERON

Ardea cinerea

EURASIAN COOT

Fulica atra

CANADA GOOSE

Branta canadensis

MUTE SWAN

Cygnus olor

MÜGGELSEE: A large lake surrounded by forest, the most productive of the sites visited. To get here, take the S3 to Friedrichshagen Station, and get off there. Walk down or take a tram down the Bölschestraße, and at the end of the road turn right along Müggelseedamm (if taking a tram get off at the 3rd stop from the station and walk the rest of the way). Walk along Josef-Nawrocki Straße until you reach the entrance of a park overlooking the Müggelsee. From here, you can watch birds along a small section of the shore. The Spreetunnel takes you to an area of forest on the other side, where a trail forks left and right. Travelling along the leftmost trail is productive for birdwatching. You'll know you're on the right trail when you eventually reach the Rübezahl am Müggelsee about 30 minutes from the Spreetunnel.

TREPTOWER PARK: A massive area of parkland that looked somewhat promising but was entirely inferior to the forest in Müggelsee for birding. This park, the second-largest park in Berlin, can be reached easily by walking from the Treptower Park Station (once more accessible via the City Loop S-Bahn among other lines). The birds here were similar to the birds at Schlossgarten Charlottenburg, however I got good views of mandarin duck in the pond here.

MANDARIN DUCK

Aix galericulata

BERLIN ZOO: A visit here with a friend gave many close views of grey herons, great cormorants, mallards and Mandarin ducks, along with the only common moorhen of the trip.