Whithin October 2008 Marcus and I were at a ringing station on isle
“Greifswalder Oie” in North FRGermany.
For me, this offered a complete new view/hearing on this topic.
At my hometown Leipzig, the bird migration only appears with
large flocks of greater birds like Cranes or Geese. Now there were
mainly songbirds. One of the most frequent appearing birds on the island
were goldcrests Regulus regulus - their high pitched calls were anywhere.

During the hourly “control-walks” along the nets, i notice a sound, seemingly
of geese, always from the same direction. Once a day, Marcus told me
about a tree nearby the nets that sounded like White-Fronted-Geese Anser albifrons
or kind of New Music!?

The acoustic highlight for me was two days of heavy migration
of trushes. At morning. i walked a bit around, as i noticed hundreds
of ascending Blackbirds Turdus merula, Song Thrushes Turdus philomelos,
Mistle Thrushes Turdus viscivorus, Fieldfares Turdus pilaris, Redwings Turdus iliacus
and a single Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus.

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12. October 2008, Regulus regulus

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22. October 2008, a tree

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12. October 2008, migrating songbirds

Picture by Marcus Held

Within the last weeks we went to an area called “Geiseltal”
near merseburg, FRGermany.
It was a brown coal pit till 1994. Now the area will be changed to
a immense water landscpae for all kinds of sports.
Some animals which life there today would disappear.
One of the fine species there are the Bee-Eaters Merops apiaster.
There´s a breeding colony and at the last times we saw up to 60 birds…

Pictures by Marcus Held

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On spring 2008 the ornithologist Reinhold Brennecke (Haldensleben, near Magdeburg, FRGermany)
told me about a Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra he watched for 3 years, which singing like
a Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella. At the Forum of “Verein Sächsischer Ornithlogen” (VSO) i read
a report about the same topic. On early summer i visit the described place and had the luck to see and
hear the bird. Actually it was a Corn Bunting (on Dick Forsman´s homepage i read 1 month ago about nearly
grey Yellowhammers!)
While our SINGWARTE camp in July 2008 Marcus Held and i went out to record the singer.
The bird sang 2 different kinds of songs. A nearly equal Yellowhammer and a mixed
Yellowhammer/Corn Bunting song. The mixed one starts with Corn Bunting like short single sounds,
followed by a Yellowhammer part (typical first part double sounds in Yellowhammer song). The song
of our Corn Bunting ends with the typical short Corn Bunting sounds.

Miliaria calandra typical song

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Miliaria calandra atypical song, mixed one

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Miliaria calandra atypical song, nearly equal to Yellowhammer

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Emberiza citrinella typical song

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End of July 2008 i visited the Drömling, a great area of grass- and moorland northerly
between Braunschweig and Magdeburg (FRGermany).
At the fields i recorded the Common Quail Coturnix coturnix and at a homestead 4
Barn Swallow´s Hirundo rustica singing (Passer montanus in background).

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At times i am birding at a park (formely grassland and then brown coal pit) in Leipzig called Halde-Dölitz-Dösen. On 2008, 12th July´s morning i encountered a family of Golden Orioles Oriolus oriolus.

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Yesterday i recorded a family Black Kite Milvus migrans as something unexpected happend…

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picture by Marcus Held

Yesterday i recorded a Common Swift Apus apus close to my window:

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Last year a Leipzig birder pointed me to 2 birds that sing atypical. They were optically identified as Sylvia borin and Sylvia atricapilla. A detailed article was published in the society´s periodical “Mitteilungen des Ornithologischen Vereins zu Leipzig e.V. #14″. Please find the recordings and sonagrams below:

Sylvia atricapilla, typical Song

Sylvia atricapilla, atypical song

Sylvia atricapilla, atypical song

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Sylvia atricapilla, atypical Song

Sylvia atricapilla, atypical Song

Sylvia borin, typical song

Sylvia borin, atypical Song

Sylvia borin, atypical Song

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