Listing Through Life

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.

garrulus (chattering, noisy) glandarius (of acorns)

Sunday, April 21, 2019 — 9:14 am

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

In my experience, Eurasian Jays are skittish birds that never let me approach closely and almost always managed to get a branch or two between me and them. And although I did finally get a good look at several, I never got a good photograph.

The first one was the boldest, landing briefly in the middle branches of a large tree in the woods. Before I could get my camera to focus, it took off. But you can still see its basic pinkish-brown color, with black and white wings and face and a blue patch on the wing. They also have a white rump, and on a few occasions when I flushed one off the ground, its size and rump color made me think “flicker.”

I saw them frequently, if not well, along the trails. They seemed to generally be in pairs.

phylloscopus (from phullon, leaf, and skopos, seeker) collybita (money-changer, from its song resembling the chinking of coins)

Sunday, April 21, 2019 — 9:00 am

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

Right next to the Panzer Kaserne Army base is a fairly large forest preserve with hiking trails. On Sunday morning, I took off with my binoculars and explored.

In a small patch where the trees were low, I found a small nondescript warbler that was olive above and off-white below, with a yellowish eye line. It looked a lot like the Willow Warbler I’d seen in the Old Cemetery on Thursday. But it was singing a very different song.

Once I connected the song to the bird, I heard, and found a few more during my two mornings in the woods. I also realized that a Chiffchaff was the bird I couldn’t identify on Rubble Hill our first morning in Germany. I never did get that one on film, but I recorded its song. Obviously, the song explains the bird’s odd name.

milvus milvus (kite)

Saturday, April 20, 2019 — 2:35 pm

Zurich, Switzerland — A4 west of town

I was watching carefully for Red Kites everywhere we went, and I think I’d seen a few earlier on our trip. But I was certain about this one. It was flying over a field along the highway just outside Zurich. It banked at just the right time, giving me a good view of its forked red tail and long, pointed wings.

The only photo I was able to get of a Red Kite was in the woods near Panzer Kaserne as one flew low over the trees. In the photo, you can see the forked tail with a little of the red from the topside showing around the edges. You can also make out the black wingtips, the white center panel, and the dark wing pits.

I also saw them on our drive south of Strasbourg, France and from the ramparts of Hohenzollern Castle in Germany.