The Uckermark is situated about 80 km northeast of Berlin. This space is simple to succeed in from Berlin by prepare. Attention-grabbing chook species might be noticed within the Uckermark at any time of yr.
Birdwatching in winter on slippery roads (picture: Elke Riedel)
An entire record of the birds of the Uckermark might be discovered right here.
In autumn, giant flocks of Bramblings migrate via the Uckermark. Ring finds show that they arrive from Scandinavia and Siberia. Generally these flocks are combined with Chaffinches. Bramblings normally overwinter in southwest and western Europe.
Brambling (picture: Klaus von der Borch)
The Hawfinch is widespread as a migratory chook, winter visitor, and in addition as a breeding chook. It normally provides itself away within the treetops with its piercing “zig” name.
Hawfinch
Throughout a gaggle tour, a participant discovered a younger Hawfinch on the bottom that had not but fledged and was not being cared for by its mother and father. My son Jakob took over elevating it after I defined to him that younger Hawfinches couldn’t chew so painfully. Jakob had been there when Hawfinches had been ringed just a few instances and had seen the blood blisters on my fingers. The discharge of the younger Hawfinch into the wild was profitable.
Jakob feeds the younger Hawfinch
Commentary in a Hawfinch habitat
The Eurasian Nuthatch is a typical chook within the forests and parks of the Uckermark. The German identify “Kleiber” comes from the German phrase “kleben” (to stay collectively), because the Nuthatch blocks the doorway to its nest gap in order that solely it may well nearly slip in. To do that, it makes use of clay, wooden mulch, items of wooden, and tiny beetle elements. One in all my present research entails the DNA metabarcoding of those beetle samplings.
Eurasian Nuthatch
The Eurasian Jay additionally lives in forests, parks and teams of bushes. This species is distributed in a number of subspecies throughout Eurasia. The Eurasian Jay can completely imitate the calls and songs of different chook species. As a newbie, an Eurasian Jay prompted me to shortly run out of a forest to depend the supposed Larger White-fronted Geese – but it surely was solely an Eurasian Jay imitating the calls of Larger White-fronted Geese. In September/October there’s a giant inflow of Eurasian Jays from northeastern Europe.
Eurasian Jay
The Goldcrest may also be present in forests, ideally in coniferous forests. Together with the Frequent Firecrest, it’s one of the smallest birds in Europe. A Goldcrest weighs round 5 grams. A chook weighing 5.5 grams is already thought-about fats. It’s an unimaginable achievement that Goldcrests ringed in Germany fly so far as Italy (cross the Alps), Spain, and even so far as Algeria in North Africa (cross the Mediterranean). The furthest distance between the ringing location and the placement the place it was discovered once more was 2.196 km! Its superb, excessive name is normally not audible to older chook watchers.
Goldcrest
A uncommon resident chook in Germany is the Crested Lark. A number of specimens might be present in giant livestock stables or on giant flat roofs of commercial estates or buying facilities.
Crested Lark (picture: Silke Nessing)
The Lengthy-tailed Tit is present in Germany within the subspecies Aegithalos caudatus europaeus. In western Germany, this subspecies has pronounced stripes above the eyes. In jap Germany, together with the Uckermark, white-headed Lengthy-tailed Tits and intermediate birds (with solely faint head stripes) are discovered. Because the subspecies Aegithalos caudatus caudatus, which additionally has a white head, lives in jap Poland, Belarus, and northern Europe, discipline ornithologists confuse these two subspecies. I’ve by no means caught and ringed white-headed Lengthy-tailed Tits of the subspecies Aegithalos caudatus caudatus – solely dozens of white-headed Lengthy-tailed Tits of the subspecies Aegithalos caudatus europaeus (supply).
Lengthy-tailed Tit of the subspecies Aegithalos caudatus europaeus
The Yellowhammer is a typical chook of open land and forest edges. Throughout the breeding season, its typical tune “si-si-si-SÜÜÜ” might be heard from far-off. The tune is paying homage to Ludwig van Beethoven´s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, op. 67, 1st motion – Allegro con brio. A lot of my chook watcher purchasers have been capable of keep in mind this chook properly as a “Beethoven chook”. In winter, Yellowhammers typically collect in bigger flocks and might then be discovered close to cattle stables and feed silos.
Yellowhammer
The marginally bigger Corn Bunting is a uncommon breeding chook in Germany. Nevertheless, right here, within the Uckermark in jap Germany, it may be present in good numbers. Its tune is paying homage to a “bundle of keys” or a coin that you simply twist on a desk. The Corn Bunting doesn’t require any particular habitats. As a ground-nesting chook, it’s proud of a path or roadside with wild crops, unhealthy land with a bush or a tree as a singing place. On a distribution map of the Corn Bunting in Germany, you possibly can nearly nonetheless see the previous border between western and jap Germany. Japanese Germany is wilder and there are extra badlands and unkempt roadsides – that is good for the Corn Bunting.
Corn Bunting (picture: Klaus von der Borch)
Open land within the Uckermark area, Germany: good habitats for Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting
