Heligoland

Well it was already two weeks ago, when I was in Heligoland, so I'm sorry I write just today.
It was an incredible trip, I actually LOVE Heligoland and I'm sure I'll return soon. In the 4 days I spent there I saw 98 species, of which 25 were totally new, 3 were new for Germany and 8 are rarities on Heligoland (6 in Germany).
I'll tell from those rarities first:
On the first day, when I just had arrived I found (before I had even seen any Chiffchaffs) a Yellow-browed Warbler:

As I went on I found a group of birders watching this Western Bonelli's Warbler

We also found a Hume's Leaf Warbler of which i didn't get a picture and also this other Yellow-browed Warbler.

I saw several (at least three different) Black Guillemots during my time on Heligoland

There was also one Little Auk

There were 2 Lapland Buntings during all the time on the NE beach and on my last day I found another 3 in another place (Oberland: higher elevated, grassy part of the island)

There was a Richard's Pipit during the whole time in the harbour region called Kringel

And this Thrush Nightingale was on the minigolf place during my whole stay, but i only saw it twice.

There was also loads of other rarities i missed just by one day or because i didn't know of them: Sabine's Gull, Pallas' Leaf Warbler, Red-flanked Bluetail, Siberian Chiffchaff and Pallid Harrier. Other rarities or uncommon birds that are on the island right now, or which I missed just by a few days can be seen here. I was on the island from 13th till 16th October...

Migration time

It's migration time and I see many migrating birds this days.
There were already the Honey-Buzzards migrating through a few weeks ago.

During a weekend in Eckernförde on the shore of the Baltic Sea I also saw groups of Common Eiders migrating

The first groups of Cranes are moving south

And the first groups of Greater White-fronted Geese are arriving

There's also a lot of passerine migration and I often see White Wagtails, Tree and Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches and Chaffinches in flocks flying south. The last Swallows are passing through and almost all Flycatchers and Warblers have already disappeared.

Now the winter birds should slowly appear and hopefully I can add some nice birds to my lists.

Rutting season

The rutting season as begun for the Red Deer, therefore I now always hear them when I'm in the Brook, last time I went I did also manage to see a few.

There were also some nice other animals, for example 2 Common Shrews, which were new for me, aswell as the Common Blue Damselflies, which I finally could identify for sure. I'm quite sure, I saw them before, but I never tried to hard to get a picture and I didn't pay to much to the blue-coloured Damselflies, since I was missing only this blue species for a complete list of the blue-coloured ones...

I found a new area species for me, as a group of about 60 Wigeons was swimming and feeding on a lake, near to the Brook.

I found another Tawny Owl, then the one I saw last time. It's the Tawny Owl on the cementary and it's the easiest owl in the region, eventhough it may sometimes disappear for a few days.

I saw a White-tailed Eagle, like almost always in the Brook...

...that made those 3 Great Egrets fly out of there cover. Another new area species for me.

Another bird of prey I saw was this Honey-Buzzard, I'm seeing them quite often in the last time

This Crane family had I seen already twice before, ...

...whilst I only had heard from this Crane family until I saw it for the first time that day.

Nice day...

Trip to Heligoland!

Heligoland is Germany's only deep-sea island and it attracts a whole bunch of rarities every year. Especially in the migration period there's a very high chance to find a rare bird and furthermore Heligoland is the only breeding place of pelagics in Germany.
Therefore I absolutely wanted to go to Heligoland already 1 year ago, but in fact I didn't go...
But this year I'll go and chase for pelagics and rarities. I'm missing 22 species in Germany to get my Germany list this year on 200 species. With the help of Heligoland I think might be possible to be done.
The trip will be from 13th of October until the 16th, which is about the best time for rarities. I have big hopes and I'm already very anxious, so I look on this page almost daily, where the recent rarities are uploaded...

Tawny Owl and tame passerines

Today I went to the Duvenstedter Brook in hope of some migrants and I got some: 4 Wheatears, tons of Chiffchaffs and a quite early male Siskin. Other good birds were 6 Cranes, 6 Stonechats, 2 Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, 2 Ravens and 1 Goshawk. Other nice animals were 1 Hare, 4 Fallow Deers and I heard the bellowing of a male Red Deer, which are now coming into their rutting season.

The Chiffchaffs and a young Robin were very confiding, they seemed almost tame and so I got some nice pics:

But the bird of the day nevertheless was this Tawny Owl that was being mobbed by some songbirds and fled into a barn and soon after came back out and sat in this window through which it had flown in. It was at eye-level and quite close. I love owls and hadn't thought of finding one in midst of the day.