Birding in Germany (1 Viewer)

Hi
I will "have to" spend about a year in Germany starting this Spring/Summer
It's clearly a bit of a desert, judging from the lack of trip reports. I will be about 50 miles east od Dortmund, so a long way from Brandenburg's waters and cranes
Any hope at all? I can't even seem to find a bird news service ...
H-E-L-P!
Thanks

I've moved this to the Germany forum, where it's more likely to be seen by people who know about birding there.

berksbod said:

It's clearly a bit of a desert, judging from the lack of trip reports.

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I think that's just due to the fact that most of the traffic is in German, and/or on German sites. If you're staying a whole year, it might be worth considering to set up an account on ornitho.de (it's free), the site is available in English too. Bear in mind that some vulnerable species on ornitho are automatically "protected" and will never show up in your searches. But those are mostly eagles and grouse and they don't occur in your area anyway.
There's also this site, which is operated by the people who released the "Vögel beobachten in Deutschland" book series, consisting of three very interesting volumes covering the NW, NE and South, respectively. Might not be available in English, but worth checking out anyway (they should also be present in university libraries, if you have access to one).

I will be about 50 miles east od Dortmund, so a long way from Brandenburg's waters and cranes

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I'm guessing that's not far from Paderborn. One of our BF moderators (Andy Hurley I believe) is based there, maybe he can help with interesting sites in the region.
There are some "easy" continental target species for British birders that you should be able to see almost anywhere, i.e. Short-toed Treecreeper and Black Redstart. White Stork and Black Kite are not terribly difficult either, they should occur in the valleys next to rivers or other water bodies. Golden Oriole might be a bit trickier, I don't know much about its status in the region.

The Kellerwald-Edersee National Park in Hessen is also not too far away from that approximate area, might be worth checking out - it should have most of the native woodpeckers (i.e. Black, Green, Grey-headed, Greater/Middle/Lesser Spotted WP) as well as various owls (Eagle Owl, Tengmalm's, Tawny, and Pygmy Owl), Goshawk, Black Stork, Pine Marten, Wildcat, and maybe even the occasional Lynx or Wolf. Obviously some of these are very difficult to see, but they do occur in Central Germany.

The Rieselfelder Münster seem to be a popular destination with birdwatchers looking for wetland birds and migrant waders, should be a good start if you want to find a large number of species.

berksbod said:

Hi
I will "have to" spend about a year in Germany starting this Spring/Summer
It's clearly a bit of a desert, judging from the lack of trip reports. I will be about 50 miles east od Dortmund, so a long way from Brandenburg's waters and cranes
Any hope at all? I can't even seem to find a bird news service ...
H-E-L-P!
Thanks

Click to expand...

I can recommend Vögel beobachten in Norddeutschland by Moning and Weiss if you can read German. It looks like you'll be in Nordrhein Westfalen which is at the edge of the area this book covers. The other two in the series would probably be worth getting if you intend travelling around a bit. They are Vögel beobachten in Süddeutschland and Vögel beobachten in Ostdeutschland. It's an excellent series of books.

Ornitho.de is a very good as a way of keeping track of your sightings and contributing to atlas projects etc. Once you contribute a certain number of sightings you can use the search function and local hotspots will become apparent. I use its sister site in Switzerland.

All the best
Tom

edit. Looks like I cross posted/edited with Sangahyando. Good advice in his/her post anyway.

Hi,

berksbod said:

Hi
I will "have to" spend about a year in Germany starting this Spring/Summer
It's clearly a bit of a desert, judging from the lack of trip reports. I will be about 50 miles east od Dortmund, so a long way from Brandenburg's waters and cranes

Click to expand...

I'd also suggest ornitho.de and "Vögel beobachten in ...deutschland". If you're staying for a year, maybe you'll find the time to travel around a bit, so besides the obvious NW volume, you might want to have a look at the others when the occasion arises.

Regards,

Henning

A Brit 50 km east of Dortmund for a year will likely be in Paderborn/Gütersloh.
Some good suggestions were already given.

The farming areas around Soest are good for Montague's Harrier (breeding) and Dotterel (in August/September).
The hills to the south (Sauerland) and east (Weserbergland) hold interesting stuff like Pygmy Owl, Tengmalm's Owl, Eagle Owl, Black Stork, Nutcracker and Grey-headed Woodpecker (Middle Spotted and Black are usually not hard to find in the lowlands). Getting info on some of these species will be difficult as they tend to be suppressed. November and March are prime times for Common Crane migration (depending on the wind, you could see >10,000 in a day or none). The Lippe valley should be good for waterbirds, but as I have better areas nearby I cannot tell you where to go.
If you're interested in butterflies, you're not far from some excellent areas (observation.org can help you there).
Apart from intensively worked farmland which can be very poor in birds, NRW is definitely not a desert!

Steinhudermeer, just north of Hannover is a fantastic birding location. Some nice tall hides that look out over the reed beds. A good area anytime of the year.

Thanks everyone. That has lifted my spirits considerably! I'm shocked that you mention"suppression" Xenospesia ... I thought that only happened in Berkshire (my home area)

For special birds check ornitho.de

At top en für English
From brown buttons choice NW for Nordrhein Westfalen
Than DO for Dortmund

or town nearby like BO for Bochum, they reportet a White Storck today.

As a good one day site near Dortmund, I would highly recommend the Rieselfelder Muenster:

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.0249853,7.666779,14.42z

You can get the bus here from central Muenster (c20 minutes). The name of the bus stop is "Rieselfelder" (https://www.google.com/maps/place/R...xc829b91df2dae87a!8m2!3d52.0217013!4d7.666263). You can search times on bahn.de

Interesting birds here include Bluethroat, Hobby, Marsh Warbler and the site has attracted a wide variety of vagrants. Birding is easy walking along the square ponds, the largest of which (E1) is the most interesting and has two hides.

If you are around in May, the Soester Boerde east of Hamm regularly has parties of Dotterel.

The Rhine valley is also quite accesible by public transport, and there are some good sites for Rock and Cirl Bunting not too far from Cologne for example.

The high speed train network can get you to most places in Germany surprisingly quickly, so doing a day trip to Berlin for Great Bustard or Mannheim for breeding Purple Heron is not impossible. Let me know any target species.