Listing Through Life

pica pica (magpie)

Tuesday, April 18, 2019 — 7:21 pm

Boblingen, Germany — Herdweg and Sudetenstrasse

On my way back through the town, I spotted an Eurasian Magpie on the roof of a house. It looked just like the Black-billed Magpies I often get in my yard in Colorado, except that the bill appeared a little stubbier. I snapped a quick photo, but there were people in the yard and I didn’t want to be obvious.

I spotted a handful more over the course of the week, but only from the car as we drove one of the German or French highways.

phylloscopus (from phullon, leaf, and skopos, seeker) trochilus  (wren)

Tuesday, April 18, 2019 — 7:10 pm

Boblingen, Germany — Alter Friedhof (Old Cemetery)

I spotted this nondescript warbler in the trees along the cemetery fence. I hadn’t spent much time studying the European warblers because I figured they would take more study than I’d have time to give. But this Willow Warbler was very cooperative, allowing me to get several photos and take a video. It looks very like the Common Chiffchaff, but sounds very different. It was doing a wing dance while it sang.

sitta (bird like a woodpecker mentioned by Aristotle) europaea (European)

Tuesday, April 18, 2019 — 7:00 pm

Boblingen, Germany — Alter Friedhof (Old Cemetery)

I was walking toward the cemetery gate, getting ready to walk back to the apartment when I saw this bird fly up into a large tree. It didn’t stay long, but it was obviously a nuthatch, gray above, pinkish-orange below with a black eye stripe.

I saw more in the woods by Panzer Kaserne, but it wasn’t until the final day that I finally got these halfway-decent pictures. I’m pretty sure the ones in the photos were a pair that was nesting in that box.

troglodytes troglodytes (cave-dweller)

Tuesday, April 18, 2019 — 6:45 pm

Boblingen, Germany — Alter Friedhof (Old Cemetery)

This was one of those rare times when I was looking at a bird I’d never seen before but didn’t know I’d never seen it. The sole wren in Europe used to be considered con-specific with the American Winter Wren, but when the Winter Wren was split into Winter and Pacific Wrens, this bird was also split off into its own species. It looks very much like the North American species.

I saw it duck into a hedge and figured it was a wren. I probably wouldn’t have bothered taking photos except that it hopped cooperatively on top of the hedge and posed.

I spotted another one in the woods near Panzer Kaserne and heard others singing the species’ enthusiastic tumble of notes.

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) viridis (green)

Tuesday, April 18, 2019 — 6:25 pm

Boblingen, Germany — Alter Friedhof (Old Cemetery)

I located this striking bird by its woodpecker-like calls. It was on a branch in a large tree, hidden in the shadows. It’s well named, with a green back and light underparts with a green tinge. Its rump was yellow. It had a red cap and a black and dark red face.

It flew off not long after I spotted it. I followed and soon found it on the ground among the graves. As I watched, it hopped out into the path, giving me a great look.

I didn’t spot another one, but at least I got good looks at the one I did see.