Birding on the Rhine

[jdbirch]

Birding the Christmas Markets on the Rhine: Viking Jarl, Dec 6, 2013

Weather crummy – foggy, cold, drizzly; dark early. Did spend a couple hours in parks, kept my eye to the sky and my ears open.

Spent a couple of days in Amsterdam beforehand. Common Gull (Mew), Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed, Merlin, Wood Pigeon (all over) Greater Cormorant, Grey Heron, Jackdaw, Mallard, Coot, Rock Dove, Great Crested Grebe, Black-headed Gull, Rosy-ringed Parakeet (in trees along the canal cruise).

Kinderdjik: Cormorant, Common/Black-headed/Lesser Blackback/Herring Gulls, Great crested Grebe, Barnacle/Graylag/ Pink-footed Goose, Jackdaw, Blackbird, Coot, Gadwall, Mallard, Goshawk, Grey Heron, Magpie, Wood Pigeons in most trees.

Cologne: add a Shag to the above, as well as the usual city birds

Rhine towns: Mute Swans becoming common, heard a Tit but couldn’t find. Great Tits at Marksburg Castle. Only Blue Tit of the trip in Heidelberg, Nuthatch in Heidelberg

Speyer: Common Stork(!), Willow Tit, Raven, Carrion Crow, the only Starlings and House Sparrows of the trip.

Breisach: wake in the fog, surrounded by Mute Swans and Black-headed Gulls at a distance of 5 feet.

Post-trip: Marsh Tit in Rothenburg, Nuthatch in Rothenburg.