Urban birding
David Lindo’s tour of German birdwatching sites culminates with a visit to Berlin, where he marvels at the many Goshawks this cool city has to offer
David Lindo reveals all there is to know about birdwatching in Berlin
Berlin is the capital of cool in Germany, with the likes of the late great David Bowie included as a past resident. It is also pretty cool for birders, too. There should be a petition to subtitle the ‘Welcome to Berlin’ signs with ‘The Goshawk Capital of the World!’ About 80 pairs live within urban Berlin, increasing to more than 120 in the wider metropolis. It is, indeed, the best place on the planet to watch this amazing predator. Incredibly, most Berliners are blissfully unaware of the avian treasure that inhabits their city. The public outreach by the local conservationists is sorely lacking. If this phenomenon had occurred in Britain it would be a very different story. A good place to start your search for Goshawk is the city’s equivalent to London’s Hyde Park, the Tiergarten; the well-wooded 250-acre inner city park is among the largest urban gardens in Germany. The typical birds of the park, other than the Goshawks, are Hooded Crows, Hawfinch and Black Redstart while, during the breeding season they are joined by Icterine Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Nightingale and Redstart. But the Tiergarten is not the only place within Berlin in which to raise your binoculars in the general direction of birds. The city’s cemeteries make for interesting exploration. The cemetery near Kreuzberg Station, just south-east of the Tiergarten, is a good example. It is a classic old wooded necropolis in a quiet neighbourhood and is the haunt of Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Firecrest, Goldcrest and both species of treecreeper. It also has its obligatory pair of Goshawks. Indeed, the birds here are much favoured by local photographers. Apparently, the male is very used to humans and will allow quite close approach while the female is much more distrusting. A summer visit to this necropolis will also result in seeing Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher. Perhaps the top site in Berlin is Tempelhofer Feld. It was formally Berlin Tempelhof Airport until the late 1990s when it was dedicated as a public park. It is a large area of nearly 1,000 acres containing fenced off scrubland, grassland and
the defunct runway dissecting the park. There is plenty of jogging, kite flying and, during the summer, picnicking, that goes on here, so it is wise to visit this site in the mornings. Along with resident Kestrels and Buzzards, Ravens can be occasionally seen as there are now up to 15 pairs nesting in and around the city. As little as 10 years ago, this huge corvid was virtually unknown in Berlin. During the winter, if you are lucky, you might catch sight of a Short-eared Owl quartering the grassland. As previously mentioned, sections of the scrublands have been fenced off or to more correctly state it; there are fenced off areas that have become populated by scrub. Tree Sparrows are rare here, however, you are much more likely to find breeding Lesser Whitethroat, Icterine Warbler and Chiffchaff during the breeding season. A birder’s treasure trove If The Force is on your side you may even find a pair of Red-backed Shrikes. There are also large areas of grassland again fenced off that had been left to flourish. This habitat has proven irresistible to a sizable colony of Sky Lark with some 70 pairs, breeding Wheatears, plus, a sole pair of Corn Bunting, yet another Berlin scarcity. Tempelhofer Feld has an impressive species list despite the small number of birders that cover it. Scarcities and rarities have included Rough-legged Buzzard, Red-footed Falcon and Quail. Berlin is potentially a birder’s treasure trove and with careful checking there is certainly a good chance of finding more interesting birds. Secretive Corn Crakes breed at a couple of locations on the outskirts of the city, and there may be other undiscovered populations elsewhere. One under-watched place to explore is Flughafensee, a relatively large lake near Tegel Airport to the north-west of the city. It is a site that could hold many surprises. Little Bittern has reappeared after a long absence of several years, plus a Slavonian Grebe overwintered recently. Aside from Ravens there has been another newcomer to the Berlin city scene: the Caspian Gull. This species is very similar looking to the Herring Gull (and Yellow-legged Gull) and, as such, is seen as one of the ultimate identification challenges for birders. It is often referred to as a ‘birder’s bird’. The species is slowly spreading west from its eastern origins and has recently started breeding on the roof of an inner city shopping mall.