Mittwoch, 10. Dezember 2008 geschrieben von Patrick
Every Autumn during the last years I tried to go to a wonderful
place called Wildenhainer Bruch at the “Dübener Heide”. There´s a
watching point from which you can hear at this time Cranes, Red Deers,
different Orthoptera or watch a Sea Eagle without disturbing.
This Autumn i only managed to make this single recording.
27. August 2008, Red Deer Cervus elaphus, Common Crane Grus grus and Pholidoptera griseoaptera.
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.
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…
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.
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).
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.
The Slender Blue-winged Grasshopper populates warm and dry open spaces. It is adapted to it´s life on the ground very well. During the several ectysis of the larvae the color and texture of the Slender Blue-winged Grasshopper imitates the characteristics of it´s habitat to camouflage.
The acoustic behavior of this grashopper is not very distinct. So it was a delight to capture the behavior of two rivalling males fighting it out in a kind of tournament.
The videoclip is very short an the soundquality is not the best but the situation is worth to show.
SINGWARTE - A Nature Sound Recording Camp took place from June 26-29 2008 in
Süplingen (Sachsen-Anhalt near Magdeburg, East Germany). Please find here a few
pictures and a recording of Locustella naevia:
