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This page is a part of the www.fotosaves.com.ar website, with thousands of photos of birds of Argentina

Visit to Germany
15th - 20th August 2010
Copyright (C) 2009 - Alec Earnshaw
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Here is a sample of photos taken during a week-long business trip to Bruchsal, in south-west Germany.

I was 3 days in Bruchsal for a course. I then had a free day there, and my plane following evening from Frankfurt.
A highlight of the trip was to have met Klemens and Ariane, "friends of friends" but who are now FRIENDS. They were incredibly kind to me. Klemens is a highly-skilled birder, and they took me out on two afternoons to wonderful places to see birds, and we had a great time. I'm deeply endebted to them.

The places I was able to visit for some birding are:
- Brief streamside strolls in downtown Bruchsal
-
Quick visit to the castle grounds in Bruchsal
- Evening walk to Walthersee, a lagoon in the northern suburbs of Bruchsal
- Afternoon at NSG Wagbachniederung, a nature reserve near Waghäusel, some 15 km NW from Bruchsal "as the crow flies"
- Afternoon drive through parts of the Black Forest
- Hurried visit to Frankfurt zoo, where I got decent photos of some common birds, as well as of some caged animals

Thanks for visiting this page - Alec Earnshaw
Site gateway: www.fotosaves.com.ar


PHOTOS
(Click o the photos to enlarge)


Bruchsal
Bridge with flowers, just a block or two from the hotel

Street view

The stream running through the town, and around the Bierhaus!
Here were some Mallards, Woodpidgeons, the Grey Wagtail and a trout.
The schloss, or castle, by day...
...and by night.
A roof, as seen from my hotel room.

There were some nice buildings, but I only snapped this dome.



Walthersee
View of the lagoon known as Walthersee. Actually it seems to belong, or is used, by a private helath club. There are sun decks near the entrance, but there is a kind of nature trail all around the lagoon. Here were 2 Great Crested Grebes, each with 2 chicks, Coots, Greenfinches, Blue Tits, Blackbirds, and I saw 2 or 3 LBJs dissapear into the reeds, which might have been reedwarblers, as it seemed the right habitat.
North of the lagoon, next to cultivated fields, I saw my first Yellowhammer.
Water lilies
Flower
Leaf


NSG Wagbachniederung
Natureschutzgeviet = Natural protected area, right?
or... NSG for short!

Entrance sign at NSG Wagbachniederung

View of one of the lagoons at the NSG. From this spot, with Klemens & Ariane, we saw a number of shorebirds: Lapwing, Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Grenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Ruff and Dunlin. Other birds: Cormorant, Gadwall, Teal, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Red-crested Pochard, Canada Goose, Goshawk, Marsh Tern, Swift and others.


Black Forest
I took the train from Bruchsal to Baden-baden (changing at Karlsruhe). Here I was picked up by Klemens and Ariane, and we then drove southeast along the "high Black Forest road" towards the town of Freudenstadt.

We made a stop at Schliffkopf from where I took these forest panoramics

Schliffkopf viewing point
Fields of heather at Schliffkopf. Here we saw: Nutcracker, Common Crossbill and Crested Tit, the last 2 being lifers. On the road before we had seen Common & Honey Buzards, Raven and Coal Tit, all lifers, or at least sightings confirmed by an expert, as I must have seen Comon Buzards before.
Later we stopped at Ruhestein
A wind farm in the black forest. These devices might seem "eco-friendly" but many large birds are killed in collisions, since the speed of the blades near the tips is extremely fast.
Klemens told me there is no natural forest left in Germany. The Black Forest now is virtually pure spruce, used for wood. An insect, found only were there is pure spruce, is helping to diversify the habitat, as it harms the trees and so causes openeings for other species to take hold.

WILDLIFE
Following is a selection of 78 photos covering 21 species of birds as well as 1 mammal, 1 fish, 1 slug & 4 butterfly species

Birds from Bruchsal


Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos
Most duck species were in eclipse plumage at this time of year, so not easy to identify
Photo 6 is a juvenile. Photo 7 & 8 are hybrids with other species




Moorhen
- Gallinula chloropus



Woodpigeon
- Columba palumbus




Grey Wagtail
- Motacilla cinerea




Birds from Walthersee and nearby areas

Great Crested Grebe - Podiceps cristatus
Photos 6, 7 & 8 are of the chick



Grey Heron
- Ardea cinerea


Blackbird
- Turdus merula
A fledgeling (?) in a small ochard


Yellowhammer
- Emberiza citrinella
A female, and a Lifer!



Birds from NSG Wagbachniederung

Little Grebe - Tachybaptus ruficollis


Mute Swan - Cygnus olor



Lesser Black-headed Gull - Larus ridibundus
Immature


Willow Warbler
- Phylloscopus trochilus


Birds from the Black Forest

Just about everything I saw this day was a lifer!

Common Buzard - Buteo buteo

Tree Pipit - Anthus trivialis

Black Redstart - Phoenicurus ochruros
1, 3 & 4: juveniles - 2: female - 5: male



Blue Tit - Parus caeruleus



Coal Tit - Parus ater
Adult with juvenile - and Lifer!



Common Crossbill - Loxia curvirostra
Female - and a Lifer as well!




Wild birds photographed at Frankfurt Zoo

Collared Dove - Streptopelia decaocto


Carrion Crow - Corvus corone corone



House Sparrow - Passer domesticus
Male & female (or juv.?)




Other aninals...

Roe Deer
Seen at NSG Wagbachniederung


A trout?


Slug
Red slug - Arion rufus - Seen in numbers on a path near Walthersee, many of them flattened by shoes, tires, etc.


Butterfly 1
Pieris rapae, seen in the Black Forest


Butterfly 2
Pieris napi, seen at Walthersee


Butterfly 3
Yellow Shell - Camptogramma bilineata - Geometridae - a small moth Seen at Walthersee


Butterfly 4
Red Admiral - Vanessa atalanta, seen at NSG Wagbachniederung




ZOOLIFE
Following is a selection of 67 photos covering 22 species of birds as well as 4 mammal species & 2 reptile species


Captive animals photographed at Frankfurt Zoo


BIRDS

Little Grebe - Tachybaptus ruficollis



White Pelican -
Pelecanus onocrotalus


Chilean Flamingo - Phoenicopterus chilensis

Scarlet Ibis - Eudocimus ruber


Boat-billed Heron - Cochlearius cochlearius


Demoiselle Crane - Anthropoides virgo


Goosander - Mergus merganser


Red-breasted Goose - Branta ruficollis


Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos


Pintail - Anas acuta


Shoveller - Anas clypeata


Shelduck - Tadorna tadorna



Red-crested Pochard - Netta rufina

Goldeneye - Bucephala clangula


King Vulture - Sarcoramphus papa

Coot - Fulica atra


Sunbittern - Heliornis fulica



Avocet - Recurvirostra avosetta


Curlew - Nimenius arquata


Egyptian Plover - Pluvianus aegyptius


Lesser Black-headed Gulls - Larus ridibundus


Common Bee-eater - Merops apiaster



MAMMALS

Sumatran Orangutan - Pongo abelii


Okapi - Okapia johnstoni


Black Rhinoceros - Diceros bicornis



Patagonian Mara - Dolichotis patagonum



REPTILES


Long-nosed Viper - Vipera ammodytes
(South-west Europe)



Argentinian Long-nosed Tree Snake - Philodrias baroni
(N. Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay)




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