Listing Through Life

picus (king of Latium, who married the beautiful nymph and songstress Canens and was changed into a woodpecker by the spiteful Circe, whose affections he had spurned) canus (gray)

Sunday, April 21, 2019 — 10:50 am

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

I located this woodpecker by its calls and drumming high up in a tree in an open section of woods. The calls sounded somewhat like those of a Pileated Woodpecker, but faster and higher pitched. For the 10 minutes or so that I observed it, it always stayed in the shade, making it hard to pick out details both with binoculars and with my camera. But I managed to see enough to identify it. Its back was very much the same color as that of the Green Woodpecker, but the head and underparts were pale gray, and the head only had two thin black markings and a small red cap.

coccothraustes coccothraustes (from kokkos, seed, and thrauo, to break,
to shatter)

Sunday, April 21, 2019 — 10:05 am

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

Panzerstrasse is a busy road. A bike path runs alongside it, and I had to walk along the bike path to get to the trails through the woods. I noticed two birds flying above the trees and thought at first glance that they might be Starlings because of their short tails and triangular wings. I managed to follow their flight until they landed in the very top of a tall tree some ways into the woods across the road. Through all the intervening branches, I managed these photos.

I did not identify them as Hawfinches based on these photos alone. Twice more during the same morning I spotted them high in the trees in the same general area. I got good looks, although they never stayed in one place for more than a few seconds.

One of my field guides says, “Very wary and shy and difficult to observe, spends most time up in canopy or seen flying fast high up between woodland-edge trees.” That was exactly my experience. It may help you figure out what’s going on the photo when you compare it to the picture in the field guide, in which the bird is perched almost the exact same way. You can make out the giant head and bill and the black chin patch, as well as the pale tawny breast.

turdus (thrush) philomelos (for Philomela, daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, who was violated by her brother-in-law Tereus and changed into a nightingale)

Sunday, April 21, 2019 — 9:45 am

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

The woods in Germany are absolutely crawling with Gray Red-backed Voles. Wherever there was piles of leaves, there were sure to be several voles scurrying about. They are less wary than North American voles, at least in my experience. I kept hearing them shuffling through the leaves and looking to see if they were ground birds. I finally decided to take a good look. In a patch of leaves about eight feet by eight feet, there must have been 12 voles running about. As I watched for an opportunity to photograph one of them, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye on the other side of the path.

I turned and saw a Song Thrush perched on a stick. I knew what it was because, when I’d studied the field guides prior to my trip, I noticed that it looked a lot like North American spotted thrushes. I snapped this photo. A second later, the bird hopped down to the ground, then took off into the woods. I had it in view for maybe five seconds.

dendrocoptes (from dendron, tree, and kopto, to strike) medius (intermediate)

Sunday, April 21, 2019 — 9:20 am

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

It is my opinion that this attractive woodpecker has a very stupid name. “Middle Spotted” doesn’t refer to the fact that the bird has spots in the middle of its chest or anything. It just means that there are also Great and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers.

Anyway, my European field guides warned me that the European woodpeckers are very wary and easily overlooked. I found that they acted pretty much like woodpeckers anywhere — occasionally conspicuous and generally easy to find if you listen for tapping and watch for their distinctive flight between trees. I ended up seeing five species in Germany.

The Middle Spotted Woodpecker was climbing and poking about a large tree in the woods. It’s red cap and lower belly and white face and shoulder patch are the key features. It moved about in this same tree for perhaps six minutes, then took off to parts unknown.

I spotted a second individual four days later on my second trip to the woods.