Wo die Vögel sind?

Urban birding: Berlin, 16th - 18th December 2011

Why fly when you can take the bus? Hooded crows (Corvus cornix), Berlin 17.12.11

It was great to be back in Berlin for Rob's birthday this weekend. I'd forgotten how much I love the place; the way modern buildings sit alongside brutalist tenements and tree-lined avenues lead on to expansive soviet squares. Currywurst was a new thing for me, since my vegetarianism recently evolved into something not...quite...vegetarian. But hey, it was a holiday. And it tasted good. Anyway, birding didn't feature at all on my companions' agenda for Berlin, but between the bars and musuems I still managed to sneak in a bit.

One of the first things I noticed were the Hooded crows; flying over or poking about in the street. This close relative of the Carrion crow (Corvus corone -which is thought to have evolved from Hooded, rather than the other way round) is fairly uncommon in England, though can be found throughout Ireland and northern Europe. Those who think corvids are ugly might like to a take a closer look at this one.

Gulls were more of an attraction for me on a frozen walk along the East Side Gallery - a remnant of the old wall now tarnished with really crap art. Black-headed, Common, Herring and at least one Yellow-legged gull dipped in and out of car park puddles in an adjacent lot while others swirled over the nearby River Spree.

Berlin is a city full of green spaces, from small town squares to the majestic Tiergarten in the west. A supremely hungover walk through the beautiful Volkspark Friedrichshain in Prenzlauerberg on Sunday ticked numerous boxes - it was quiet, it had weird sculptures and I'd also heard it was a good area for Hawfinch. I didn't find any of the latter but I was totally smitten with a flock of (northern) Long-tails flitting between the impressive old poplars on bunker hill. The 'northern' race of Long-tailed tits (caudatus) have all white faces as opposed to the ones we see in the UK which have a dark-black nape/crown - the 'western' race or europaeus. They're generally resident birds, not migrating far so it's pretty rare to see caudatus ssp in the Britain.

All-white. Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus caudatus ssp)

At the top of the hill I froze for a moment as I thought heard the tell-tale whirring of a Waxwing overheard but whatever it was, it was lost in the wind and the pounding in my head. Blue tit, Great tit, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Goldfinch were all active throughout the park, accompanied by the occasional Goldcrest. Out in the open, rooks hobbled about and the shrill alarm calls of blackbirds rang out. The ornamental lakes held Mallard and a large number of Mandarin (above). Say what you like about the latter, there's no doubt they bring a touch of colour to surroundings.

Ok, so a freezing northern city in the middle of winter isn't going be a birding goldmine but it sure beat a trawl around another godawful christmas market. Oh and my trip wasn't complete without a visit to the amazing Berlin Ramones Museum! Bird is the word:

Surfin' bird - Joey Ramone. The Greatest. Berlin Ramones Musuem, 18.12.11