Quiet Sunday morning walk

So spring must officially be over. The weekend has been really hot and sunny. I went for a stroll in Tantolunden this morning. It was surprisingly quiet, but with some warblers at least semi active. The Garden Warblers (Trädgårdssångare, Sylvia borin) I had hoped for were however either quiet or simply not there.

On the way back I saw a Lesser black-backed gull circling over a trash can. That sort of sums the whole trip up - not overly exciting. :-)


Lesser black-backed gull -- Silltrut -- Heringsmöwe -- Goéland brun -- Larus fuscus

Meanwhile in Stockholm

Meanwhile in Stockholm I havn't been able to do as much birding as I had hoped to do. A fair attempt to rise early last Saturday was cut short when I realized that the rain was pouring down at 5:30 in the morning and that the bed was just two steps away from the window.

I have however managed to take a morning stroll through our old patch in Tantolunden. The weather was better then and I enjoyed the plenty of spring birding. Late May is a really good time to get out and enjoy nature, even if it is just the old park area in your home town.

The highlight if the walk was probably the warblers and the European Goldfinches that I heard and saw. All the trees seem to be in bloom as well, making a beautiful backdrop to any walk in the park.



Bird of the day: European Goldfinch - Steglits - Stieglitz/Distelfink - Carduelis carduelis

Moorhens in Kleiner Kiel again

Took a stroll through Kiel again today. The weather is beautiful, it's warm and sunny, although the wind brings in a cool fresh breeze now and then. I stopped to order a "Radler" (mixture of lemonade and beer, very refreshing) at "Alter Markt" downtown - the response was a blank look. I remembered just in time that that kind of drink is called "Alsterwasser" or just "Alster" in Northern Germany. Well, flexible as I am, I ordered that one instead. :-)
Anyway, this is a birding blog, so here you are. Some pics of the moorhens again that are breeding in Kleiner Kiel.





Bird of the day:
Common Moorhen - Rörhöna - Teichhuhn - Gallinule poule-d'eau - Gallinula chloropus

Kleiner Kiel in Kiel

Kiel does not cease to surprise me birdwise. Anders already mentioned the breeding moorhens with now five fledglings in a previous post. The same lake harbours a couple of greylag gees that today paraded in the lake with their six fledglings.





On a side note: Three days in a row I noticed two to four long-tailed tits close to or on the campus - of course I never carried a camera then. I really hope to be able to capture them on film some day!

Bird of the day:
Greylag Goose - Grågås - Graugans - Oie cendrée - Anser anser

New rythm

Oh, these days have been busy and the blog has had to wait. Today is actually the first night in almost two weeks that I came home from work at a normal time and have a regular evening ahead of me. Well, "regular" in the sense of our new rythm, staying together, but living apart. Friends and colleagues wonder what it feels like, but I cannot tell yet. I guess I think it's working just fine so far. :-)

Looking through the image archive I found these images from our Easter birding tour. It was a day full of contrasting weather. The Whooper Swan was basking in bright sunlight at Styran, south of Stockholm. From there we continued south to the coast, where the weather shifted into very dense fog with a chilling slow breeze.




Bird of the day: Wooper Swan -- Sångsvan -- Singschwan -- Cygne chanteur -- Cygnus cygnus

Migration south

This post, our 600th, marks a shift for this blog and in our lifes. After 6 years of living together, the team has split up geographically. Claudia has migrated south, to pursue a career in the field of epigenetics. She will do this as a postdoc at the Institute of Toxicology and Pharmacology for Natural Scientists, University Medical School Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel. She starts today and I have just returned to Stockholm, after having spent a great weekend in Kiel.

Needless to say, my expectations weren't high about a town that was basically a pile of stones and rubble at the end of the war and that is now an important commercial sea trade center in the Baltic region. However, as it turned out I had to review my prejudices. Kiel was sunny, full of green parks and generally a nice place to walk around in.

There is even a very nice beer garden in a lovely park. Apparently there is only one decent beer garden in Kiel, but that one is very good. We enjoyed fresh asparagus, good beer and nice scenery there.

Birding wise Kiel was surprisingly rewarding. We will get back to you on that subject now that Claudia will do her blogging from there, but there was a lot of warblers and general bird life going on all over the place.

Moorhens were breeding downtown in the large pond called Kiel See. The fledgelings were already out and about and we saw them on several occasions.



Bird of the day: Common Moorhen - Rörhöna - Teichhuhn - Gallinule poule-d'eau - Gallinula chloropus