What was going on during the middle of 2009?
In early Spring I was at the isle Greifswalder Oie for the third time. It was a different
situation as in Autumn, only a few birds were migrating. So I had enough time for
single individuals,studying their fragmentary (incomplete) songs “on the road”.

In June two friends and I made a trip to the middle of Norge and the west of
Denmark. It wasn´t my first time there, but the first time having more time to
participiate on the environment – I didn´t have to run from one tourist attraction
to the next like at the journeys with my parents in my boyhood.
However we had only a short time, so we went to well known hotspots – for this
first trip.

Since July 2009 most of the time I am at ships at the North Sea (German Bight)
working for a monitoring program especially for seabirds, migrating birds and
marine mammals.
Unfortunately the ships engines are almost running, so there´s no chance to
catch one of the rare given sounds of Tern´s, Gull´s, Skuas or one of the Trushes
migrating deep in the dark of the night – in a high quality.

SO LET´S START WITH THE GREIFSWALDER OIE – 01

This year Germanys Club 300 started a campaign to research Common Chiffchaff
Phylloscopus collybita calls. So I had one ear on this topic in spring.

Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita, calls and plastic song of two migrating
individuals, May 2009:

© Pic by Marcus Held

Furthermore I wanted to record some Sub- and Plastic Songs.

Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca, plastic song, at the same area where the
V2 rockets were tested during the World War II, May 2009:

With two colleagues I realised two Concerts in October 2009 with the topic: system-change.
For this event I´d record sites at Greifwalder Oie with a military history in context of it´s recent
usage. I correlated the short intervals of human use and the constant migration of birds
through the whole year..

Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica, singing it´s abstract song in it´s breeding colony in
a former military bunker, May 2009:

To my surprise I woke up by a singing Nightingale Thrush Luscinia luscinia in the morning.
So I picked up my recording stuff, but unfortunately the bird stopped singing shortly after my arrival there.

Nightingale Thrush Luscinia luscinia and it´s song, May 2009:

NORGE AND DENMARK – 02

BERGEN, NO

At first we had to meet Marcus, he was there for a half year. The first surprising thing he had shown
us were breeding Lapwings Vanellus vanellus in a park near the students hall of residence. At home
these birds became extrem rare, here it breeding under a park bench beside a football site!

A warning adult Lapwing Vanellus vanellus beside it´s nest. At the nestside almost people were going
along and there were also a lot of magpies have to feeding there hungry chicks…, June 2009:

© Pic by Marcus Held

A Winter Wren Troglodytes troglodytes with it´s fabulous song, here with a softer dialect than known from home in FRGermany, June 2009:

RUNDE, NO

© Pic by Marcus Held

This small island is a well known birding hotspot. For recordings it´s seems almost to much windy
but a wonderful place to get familiar with a lot of species and it´s sounds. Maybe the most impressing
thing there are the colonies of pelagic living birds like:
Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica, Razorbill Alca torda, Common Murre Uria aalge. Futhermore a
great colony of Black-legged Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla, Northern Gannets Morus bassanus and
a few Northern Fulmars Fulmarus glacialis.
It´s a shame that most of the juvenile Auk´s died by hunger, the sea is nearly fished empty by the
boundless greed of the fishing industry. Most of the catched fish is for feeding cows and pigs: a
small hint for environmentalists with a lifestyle based on animal products…

Beside the Seabirds on Runde there are a lot of Songbirds:
Rock Pipit Anthus petrosus, Meadow Pipit anthus pratensis, Twite Carduelis flavirostris or Northern
Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe.

At the top of the island you can see and hear a lot of Great Skua
Stercorarius skua and White-tailed Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla (we had up to 7 individuals).

Most of the island is a table land, so if you want to record something you need definitely a
wind cover for harder conditions. On the other hand a problem for recording are the wildlife
photographers, is nearly no place beside birds without the clicking and chattering of cameras.

Great Skua Stercocarius skua displaying in flight, June 2009:

© Pic by Marcus Held

Rock Pipit Anthus petrosus warning at it´s nestsite, June 2009:

One Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus had attack everyone came closer to it´s
nestside – the problem: it were 300m beside a main path, June 2009:

© Pic by Marcus Held

BØYABREEN, NO

© Pic by Marcus Held

Bøyabreen is a well know glacier, there mostly you can see busses full of tourist making photos
from each other in front of the glacier. Here we had hear the only Brambling Fringilla montifringilla
of our tour. In addition there were singing Redwings Turdus iliacus and Willow Warblers Phyloscopus
trochilus.

Song of a Redwing Turdus iliacus, June 2009:

TIPPERNE, DK

Tipperne is a well known birding hotspot at western danmark. After visiting this area I can imagine
how my home country had look like before the massive industrialisation of farming.
In Tipperne I had set my focus on looking for personal new species – so I don´t make a lot of
recordings. But this is definitely a place i will visit once more. Without the helpful guard of this
area maybe we had seen not so much – thanks a lot!

House Martin Delichon urbica in it´s barn breeding colony, in background working
farmers, June 2009:

NORTH SEA, GERMAN BIGHT – 03

At the tours there are three possible kinds to record birds: swimming at sea (giving a call
while brawl about food), in flight (songbirds giving contact calls – on day or night.
The third thing is giving contact calls while sitting on the ship – in this case it is possible
that a bird sing it´s song!

Two Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica singing while sitting in our office at ship, October 2009:

Pic by Patrick Franke

A sleeping place of Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo are located in the little wood.
It´s wonderfull to hear and see a flock of them, sitting down and clamouring through
the trees. There´s no stupid hunter or fisherman who attacks the birds…

Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo, December 17th, 2008:

One day a small flock of Bohemian Waxwings Bombycilla garrulus strayed around.
This should be an small foretaste for the weeks after my return home. Up to 150
individuals migrated through my hometown Leipzig in January 2009. But unfortunately
at bad acoustic surroundings…

Bohemian Waxwing Bombycilla garrulus, December 19th, 2008:

After one week I finally managed to record the long call of a Water Rail Rallus aquaticus.
Prior to this the individuals hid within blackberry bushes and were clicking all the day,
but rarely “cried” their pig-like long calls.

Water Rail Rallus aquaticus, December 26th, 2008:

After a short daylight period I had enough time to collate my recordings. Another recording
of a Deer Capreolus capreolus giving a alarm call is a nice one I found.

Deer Capreolus capreolus, alarm call, September 27, 2008:

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.

Goldcrest Regulus regulus, October 12th, 2008:

A tree, October 22th, 2008:

various migrating songbirds, October 12th, 2008:

© Pic by Marcus Held