Listing Through Life

dryocopus (from drus, tree, and kopos, beating) martius (name for a woodpecker with a tufted crest)

Thursday, April 25, 2019 — 9:46 am

Boblingen, Germany — hiking trails through the woods along the Panzerstrasse

This bird was also on my “boy I hope I see one of those in Europe” list. When I was looking at the Gray-headed Woodpecker on Sunday, I heard another bird that I thought must be this one because its calls sounded like a large woodpecker.

I heard the calls again on this walk and was keeping my eyes open. There was a section of forest that had been cut and planted with new trees. They were very short, giving me a long view over the woods on the far side. The top of a dead pine poked above the leaves, and I could see a black “lump” near the top. One look through my binoculars convinced me I was looking at a Black Woodpecker. Which surprised me. I expected it to be the size of a Pileated Woodpecker. The field guide says it’s even a couple inches larger than a Pileated. But it sure didn’t “look” any larger than a flicker from where I stood. Perhaps there was a trick of perspective and the pine was much further away than it appeared.

Anyway, through my binoculars, I could see an all-black woodpecker with a red cap, a white eye, and a pale bill. It stayed where it was for several minutes while I watched. It did nothing but look around, call occasionally, and flap its wings a few times.

As I got closer, it was hidden by the taller trees. I never could find the particular tree it was in from any other angle, and I didn’t see the woodpecker again.

The bird is blurry in this next photo, but I include it because its the only shot that shows the full red cap of the male Black Woodpecker.

And that was it. I’d seen 41 new birds in Europe. I kept my eyes open to the very end, but never saw some that I thought would be easy finds —  like the Jackdaw (although through the car windows I did see smaller black birds hanging out with Carrion Crows that may have been Jackdaws. But I never could get a clear look). There were  others that I saw well enough to narrow the identification down to a couple species, but counting them just doesn’t pass the feel-good test. These included a probable Goldcrest that was so far up in a dense pine that I can’t definitively rule out Firecrest. I also saw a Marsh Tit or Willow Tit that was actually calling, but I didn’t realize until checking the field guide that the call was the way to tell them apart and I couldn’t trust my memory because I wasn’t paying strict attention.

My numbers were also limited by the fact that I only spent quality birding time in a single habitat — mature woods — except for the hour or so I spent in the cemetery. I’m sure I could have added several more species if I had a chance to wander through more open rural areas or along rivers, lakes, and marshes. It was also a couple weeks too early for some spring migrants.

Still, I’m happy with what I saw and achieved my long-time goal of birding where almost everything I saw was new.

certhia (small tree-dwelling, insect-eating bird mentioned by Aristotle) familiaris (familiar)

Thursday, April 25, 2019 — 8:10 am

Boblingen, Germany — hiking trails through the woods along the Panzerstrasse

One of the weirdest things about birding in Germany is how similar it felt to birding in the Midwest. The woods felt and looked very much like woods I’ve birded in many times. And the birds were often very like birds I know well.

Take this Treecreeper for instance. If I saw it in the United States, I would identify it as a Brown Creeper without hesitation. There are actually two very similar creepers in Europe. I’ve identified this one as a Eurasion Treecreeper and not a Short-toed Treecreeper because of its prominent white line above the eye and the details of the pattern of the beige markings on its wing. It was an active bird, rarely staying still for more than a second. It circled the trunk of the pine it was on and even crept out onto the branches.

The only thing that differentiated it from the Brown Creeper is that when it flew to another tree, it didn’t head to the bottom and spiral back up but would instead often land at the same level in the new tree. As I watched, it flew from this tree to another non-pine across the path, then back to this pine, then into the branches of another non-pine maybe 40 yards away. I later saw a second one near a flock of tits.

The photo above has been cropped a great deal from the original. Here is the original, to give you an idea of how well camouflaged Creepers are.

pyrrhula pyrrhula (worm-eating bird mentioned by Aristotle)

Thursday, April 25, 2019 — 8:00 am

Boblingen, Germany — hiking trails through the woods along the Panzerstrasse

On Wednesday evening, I developed a sore throat. I thought it might be an allergic reaction to the 100% pollen counts in the area. When I woke up on Thursday morning, I was in considerable pain. I debated whether I wanted to spend the morning birding as I’d planned. But then I remembered that this could very possible be my last ever chance to bird in Europe. I forced myself to get up and was out in the woods shortly after dawn.

At first, I didn’t see many birds. I could hear many, but I simply wasn’t finding them. I wandered quite a ways, beyond my furthest point when I explored the woods four days earlier. I saw and heard a small bird in the thick woods along the path and spent several minutes trying to identify it. I never did figure out what it was. But while I was making the attempt, another bird suddenly landed on a branch not far in front of me. It looked around, flew to another branch, looked around some more, then flew off into the woods. It was only in view for perhaps a minute, but that was long enough for me to identify it as a Bullfinch and get a few mediocre photos.

The Bullfinch is notable for its bright pink breast, short stubby bill, and lack of any neck to speak of.