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ê MIDDLE SPOTTED WOODPECKER Arguably the most attractive European woodpecker
THE URBAN BIRDER VISITS
FRANKFURT GERMANY
➤ Ingo Rösler for information on the gulls and Little Owls of Frankfurt. ➤ Addition information from Nanette Roland of Leica Cameras AG us.leica-camera.com ➤ Also thanks due to Kosmos Verlag kosmos.de
David Lindo continues his birding tour of Germany by searching among the skyscrapers in Frankfurt
More information on birding in Frankfurt: ➤ BirdLife Germany birdlife.org/news/ country/germany David Lindo
DAVID SAYS Birding in Frankfurt is near virgin territory. Enjoy it!
ê YELLOW-LEGGED GULL These are the common breeding large gulls in Frankfurt
Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and Firecrest all contributing to the arboreal vibe. If you want proper urban woodland you would have to visit Frankfurt Main Cemetery, the city’s largest burial ground. The tranquil atmosphere here and abundant trees are a guaranteed recipe for birding success. Opened in 1828, it has had plenty of time to become naturalised and many of the statuesque graves and mausoleums have been entwined with the bushes and plentiful undergrowth. The sounds and traces of woodpeckers are prominent avian features of this place, as many of the older trees contained nest holes or the telltale mini excavations, where the birds had been extracting larvae and other titbits from behind the bark. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Europe’s smallest
Ostpark
FRANKFURT
86 November 2017
Schwanheimer Düne
woodpecker just slightly larger than a sparrow, is present here. As are Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. Midway in size between the Lesser Spotted and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, this much redder bird is completely unknown in Britain. Their range is expanding westwards so the hope for many birders is that, one day, we will be able to enjoy this little beauty across the Channel. Because urban birding in Frankfurt is near unknown, as a visiting birder there will have to be an element of exploration to look for suitable sites. One place to try is along the River Main, that runs through the city. Apparently, Gesetzte Markierung bei Schwanheim, which is situated by the river, is a reasonable place to check for gulls. It is a regular site for a particular pair of gulls: a female Yellowlegged Gull, coupled with a much larger male Yellow-legged x Great Black-back Gull hybrid, itself the result of a very rare pairing. The female is well known within the Frankfurt birding circles as a Yellow-legged Gull who has a specific preference. As strange as it sounds, she had a history of only mating with Lesser Blackback or Great Black-back males. Yellow-legged Gulls have a particular history in Frankfurt. A few years ago a small colony decided to patronise the roof of a post office building. At that time, there was great excitement among the local birding community as this species was a rarity and represented the city’s first breeding attempt. There were skylight windows that opened onto the roof so an agreement was struck between ornithologists and the building owners not to open the windows during the breeding season and otherwise disturb the gulls. Unfortunately, the agreement was dishonoured and the windows were opened, resulting in the colony’s mass desertion. The birds tried again elsewhere the following year and were successful. The breeding colony in 2016 was 82 pairs. However, the roof that they chose to nest on is being rebuilt, meaning that no birds bred in 2017. Let us all hope that they find somewhere for the seasons to come. Finally, another place to try is Schwanheimer
Düne, downstream of where the gulls are. Here, and further downstream, you are met with more suburban landscapes, with areas of arable land. One of the key birds here is the Little Owl. In 2017, there were 91 known pairs in the city that fledged 160 chicks, many nesting in boxes provided for them. At an old riverside WWII US airbase, that has now been converted to restaurants and as apartments for newly arrived refugees, you can discover breeding Peregrine. The nearby scrubby areas attract breeding Icterine Warblers and Marsh Harriers can sometimes be encountered hunting. Frankfurt urgently requires intrepid birders to make sense of the birding opportunities.
Reference guides: ➤ Collins Bird Guide – Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney & Dan Zetterström. ➤ Photographic Guide to Birds of Europe, North Africa & the Middle East – Frédéric Jiguet & Aurélien Audevard.
KE Y SPECIE S LITTLE OWL The Little Owl is a familiar species in the UK, south of northern England. What is less well known is that this is an introduced species which was originally from the warmer parts of Europe, Northern Africa and Asia east to the Korean Peninsula. They were first unsuccessfully introduced in Yorkshire in the 1840s. Subsequent introductions succeeded and by the 1920s they had become established in England and Wales. It is interesting to note that there have been records of Little Owl prior to the 1840s that may have involved genuine vagrants from Europe. However, they were also kept as household pets back then for their abilities as cockroach catchers, so escapees could not be discounted. Little Owls belong to the genus Athene – a Greek goddess whose many titles also includes the Goddess of the night, from which the Little Owl takes its name. There are only four recognised representatives of the genus worldwide. Aside from our familiar species, there is the Spotted Owlet that resides in Asia along with the critically endangered Forest Owlet that was rediscovered in central India as recently as 1997. The final species is the famous and much photographed terrestrial Burrowing Owl of the Americas.
David Lindo
David Lindo
é EGYPTIAN GOOSE GOSLINGS Probably the commonest goose species in the city
David Lindo
Background: Mauritius Images GmbH/Alamy
F
rankfurt is a city that, plain and simply, is not on the urban birding map. At first glance, it is a city littered with skyscrapers that would require the skill of a Jedi to find any bird life. A more prolonged look would reveal a surprising amount of green. Indeed, if viewed from the top of one of the skyscrapers, many blocks of green would be revealed, interspersed among the concrete, steel and glass. Ostpark, in the eastern part of Frankfurt, is one of the city’s largest parks. It is the usual mix of mown lawns, big trees and it has a lake encircled by reeds and willows. During mid-summer, Carrion Crows pepper the lawns. Among them, although not too close, are White Wagtail families chasing after insects. Black Redstarts are common breeders that can be looked for almost anywhere in the park. There is an island in the middle of the lake that houses a small heronry. Young Grey Herons stand in their nests impatiently waiting for their lunch, while beneath them Cormorants preen and pant. The shoreline of the lake is usually festooned by a couple of hundred waterbirds. They are mostly Egyptian Geese with their well-grown young but, among their number, both Greylag and Canada Geese families loiter, the exposed ground around them liberally scattered with their excrement. It is a classic case of overpopulation within a confined area. As with most classic inner-city parks, there is an element of woodland habitat in Ostpark. During the summer, you could expect Spotted Flycatchers,
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