Claudia's equinox birds (Sept. 2009)
Who: Claudia
Where: Kiel, Germany
Bird list: Birds of the Equinox 2009
Report:
This is my contribution to "Birds of the Equinox"! As last week was really busy, I chose a very accessible location for this event - Schrevenpark, Kiel, situated just 200 m south from where I live.
This park appears to be an eldorado for geese, wild and escaped ones. I really should read up on when an originally escaped bird can be considered wild, because some of the rare species appear to have bred there (e.g. bar-headed goose). Apart from that they produce interesting hybrids... Like, for instance, this family here, a greylag goose (Anser anser) and a chinese goose (domesticated form of swan goose, Anser cygnoides) and their hybrid offspring:
The family (greylag goose in the back, chinese goose in the middle and their offspring in front)
Chinese goose
Hybrid Greylag goose/Chinese goose
Another goose that does not really belong here is the bar-headed goose. I counted nine of them this time (although I am pretty sure that there are considerably more of them in Schrevenpark). I am pretty sure that this population derives from escaped geese, but it seems like they are breeding out in the wild now.
This barnacle goose here is the only one of its kind in Schrevenpark. As is the taiga bean goose shown beneath.
Weisswangengans (Nonnengans, vitkindad gås, barnacle goose, Branta leucopsis)
Saatgans (sädgås, taiga bean goose, Anser fabalis)
And no, that's not it yet. These egyptian geese are part of "Schrevenpark Goose Melting pot" as well:
Egyptian goose (Nilgans, nilgås, Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Last but not least, there were these whitish geese, mostly gathering with Canada geese - I suspect that they are snow geese (Schneegans, snögås, Chen caerulescens?) or some hybrid form, but I am not sure.
O.K., but now let's leave the geese behind, as I did actually see other birds as well, believe it or not. For eaxmple, about 20 black-headed gulls (Lachmöwe, skrattmås, larus ridibundus), all in winter plumage already, were around as well.
A species that I always find particularly fun to watch here is the common moorhen (Teichhuhn, rörhöna, Gallinula chloropus). As I have reported before on this blog, they breed downtown in Kiel, in Lake Kleiner Kiel, and possibly here as well. In contrast to the few ones I observed in Sweden, these here are not particulary shy and keen on hiding all the time... :-) Although they don't feel very comfortable in front of a camera lens.
Apart from those species it was pretty quiet in Schrevenpark that evening. A few blackbirds, a carrion crow, some wood pigeons including one juvenile bird, a blue tit, a great tit, some winter wrens, a coot, the obligatory "park mallards" and that was it. It was still fun and a welcome change to work, though. I'll leave you with some pics of Schrevenpark then...
Text and photos copyright © 2009 Claudia Staab, used with permission. Originally published at http://dagensfagel.blogspot.com/2009/09/birds-of-equinox-kiel-or-geesegeese.html.
