Just as with last year's Laughing Gull in Hamburg, the final days of 2019 yielded an awesome rarity for birders and twitchers in one of Germany's metropolises. This year it was a Yellow-billed Loon that would turn up on the outskirts of Berlin on Dec 28th and linger into the new Year to be admired by bird enthusiasts from near and far.
Besides the Loon, many other great birds turned up in Germany in 2019, some of them showing beautifully for hundreds of birders, others disappearing right after the discovery. Some individuals still leave room for discussions, especially about their provenance, others were so kind as to show up several times along their routes through Europe, leaving little doubt about the birds' abilities of travelling hundreds or even thousands of kilometers around the world and turning up in the weirdest places, far away from their usual ranges.
In the following I try to give an overview about the most astonishing bird finds of 2019 in Germany. Afterwards, it's your turn to decide, which bird you think deserves to be awarded first place as "Best rarity in Germany 2019".
If the poll doesn't let you vote please click here. I hope this works
Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii)
On December 28th a Yellow-billed Loon was found on Müggelsee, in the outskirts of Berlin. It's still showing awesomely to this day and was thus already successfully twitched by dozens if not hundreds. While it may not be the rarest find of 2019, with a little more than 100 previous records in Germany, rarely has there been one so easy to observe and so accessible, so perhaps you think it should be rewarded for this showiness.
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| © Wolfgang Püschel |
Falcated Duck (Mareca falcata)
Falcated Ducks in Europe are always subject to discussion, as the question about their provenience quickly arises. Even though they are common in captivity, this individual, observed between November 24th and December 15th on Forggensee in southern Bavaria has all the credentials it can have as a vagrant to Central Europe. It bears no rings, has no damages to the feathers and is as shy as the many other wild ducks surrounding it, many of which could've have supported it as carrier species.
So, even though Falcated Duck is still only in category D (uncertain provenience) on the German list this beautiful drake might perhaps become the trigger for the German avifaunistic commission to reconsider the about 10 previous records of unringed Falcated Ducks in Germany. The Dutch show that a different approach is possible. Do you agree?
King Eider (Somateria spectabilis)Falcated Ducks in Europe are always subject to discussion, as the question about their provenience quickly arises. Even though they are common in captivity, this individual, observed between November 24th and December 15th on Forggensee in southern Bavaria has all the credentials it can have as a vagrant to Central Europe. It bears no rings, has no damages to the feathers and is as shy as the many other wild ducks surrounding it, many of which could've have supported it as carrier species.
So, even though Falcated Duck is still only in category D (uncertain provenience) on the German list this beautiful drake might perhaps become the trigger for the German avifaunistic commission to reconsider the about 10 previous records of unringed Falcated Ducks in Germany. The Dutch show that a different approach is possible. Do you agree?
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| © Ingo Weiß |
When this adult male first showed up on October 6th in Schleimünde at the Baltic Sea it didn't draw much attention as it seemed to be off limits to twitchers. But after a while it was noticed that the bird could indeed be seen from the nearby shore with a good scope, leading hundreds of interested birders to try their luck. Given that its associated with just a handful of Common Eiders, finding it poses no big problem under favourable circumstances. Perhaps you think, such obligingness and beauty should be rewarded?!
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| © René Schaack |
Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata)
On January 22nd a drake Surf Scoter from North America was discovered just north of my former home island Spiekeroog in the North Sea. Unfortunately it didn't stay for long and couldn't be refound by twitchers who came the next day, but given that there are still only 11 previous records of this beautiful duck in Germany, I believe it deserves a spot in this list :)
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| © Klaus Hinsch |
Last year I proudly presented the second (acceptable) Black Scoter for Germany, which had been discovered at Schöneberger Strand. However, as 2019 shows, the species has possibly only been overlooked before. 2019 saw not only one, nor two, but three different Black Scoters in German waters. A bird on April 3rd, offshore from Sylt was a one-day wonder and the bird from Schöneberger Strand returned from December 10th onwards. But the star bird of 2019 was the drake at Geltinger Birk that showed beautifully from November 9th till December 22nd, among a pod of many other cool seaducks to be seen by hundreds of lucky birders, many of whom combined it with the King Eider nearby.
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| © Johannes Martin |
Definitely the most unexpected species for Germany in 2019 and probably not on many people's radars. Unfortunately, this incredible find was only observed by a single birder on May 31st in Buch, Bavaria. The likelihood of a rarity committee ditching it in category E (likely escaped from captivity) would have been great, but incredibly this bird was observed several times along its way from its normal range in the Middle East towards the northwest (Croatia May 14th, Belgium June 11th, Netherlands June 19th and June 23rd), giving it much more credibility and showing that in Birding one should always expect the unexpected.
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| © Leon Wischenbarth |
News broke on July 13th that Germany's 3rd Stilt Sandpiper could currently be observed at Meldorfer Speicherkoog. A few lucky lads, who had come for the Pelican got lucky, but many twitchers on their way to the North Sea coast soon received the disappointing news that it had disappeared after just an hour. Incredibly, a week later it was refound 95 km away at Alter Wapeler Groden in Lower-Saxony, where it stayed from July 20th till 27th showing awesomely for hundreds of happy twitchers. What a beauty!
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| © Axel Halley |
Last years Laughing Gull from Hamburg disappeared just a few days before 2019 and it seemed like no one would get this species onto their year list. But on January 20th a bird appeared at Bordesholmer See in Northern Germany. Incredibly, it might have been yet another individual of this species that has only around 15 previous records in Germany, as some plumage details and bill structure don't seem to match, but opinions are still split about this. What do you think?
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| © Mathias Jönck |
There are only 5 previous records of this stunning gull species from Germany but this year saw two different individuals, unfortunately both being only one-day wonders. The first individual surprised the author of this article as a flyby on April 12th near Beckdorf south of Hamburg and the second one was also seen only by a single observer on July 13th at Horumersiel, but at least he managed to get this shot. Perhaps it could have been refound the next day, but most twitchers rather tried to relocate the Stilt Sandpiper at Meldorfer Speicherkoog that had shown up simultaneously.
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| © Andreas Michalik |
This neat Pelican showed for the prolonged period of time between June 21st and November 6th at Beltringharder Koog, occasionally wandering around and showing up on the other side of the Elbe in Cuxland and around Bremen. Probably the same bird is now in the Netherlands. Given its age and plumage it stands good chances of getting accepted as a truly wild bird, a fate that in recent times only 2 other birds have met, most others being discarded or proven as escapees (however the German rarities committees and the German Ornithological Committee still disagree about this)
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| © Thorsten Runge |
There are around 11 previous recent records of Cinereous Vultures from Germany, but given that some have been shown to stem from reintroduction schemes the species still lingers in categories B and E on the German list. Given however, how this species is becoming ever more frequent in Germany one wonders when the species will finally get accepted. While a satellite-tracked individual from a reintroduction programme in Spain could be observed on May 12th around Hemslingen roughly between Hamburg and Bremen, birds that were observed between April 15th and April 21st at Hiddensee, May 17th till August 26th around Rügen and December 13th at Rügen again or another seen from a paraglider on May 7th at Kandern in southwesternmost Germany could very well be wild bred individuals. There's no reason to believe that only reintroduced birds could make the journey to Germany, especially considering the numbers of Griffon Vultures that show up more and more regularly in Central Europe. Personally I wouldn't have a problem of counting these birds, even if they were proven to be reintroduced birds...
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| © Jörg Düsterhöft |
Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca)
Satellite trackers have shown us in recent years that Eastern Imperial Eagles probably reach Germany on an annual basis, but still there are only 17 previous accepted records of 11 individuals. Four of these refer to satellite-tracked birds that were never seen by any birder in Germany, so this majestic individual was happily twitched by hundreds of birders from near and far. It stayed at Randowbruch in Eastern Germany close to the Polish border between May 17th and October 13th, often soaring together with Lesser Spotted Eagles and showing breathtaking attacks towards the local White-tailed Eagles
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| © Oliver Käseberg |
Bimaculated Lark (Melanocorypha bimaculata)
The status of Bimaculated Lark in Germany had always been unclear, with two previous records, one never submitted, the other one involving a bird that was missing a foot, which of course leads some sceptics to think of an injury resulting perhaps from the cage bird trade. But with this bird showing from September 8th till 12th near Herbstadt in northern Bavaria I believe there is little doubt it being a genuine vagrant. Will Bimaculated Lark finally get into category A?
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| © Thomas Kuhn |
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler (Iduna pallida)
From May 25th till 27th in Wittmoor just north of Hamburg this little rascal caused lots of confusion amongst birders as the calls wouldn't match the song or plumage. It took a while, but finally after three days the bird could be confirmed as Germany's third Eastern Olivaceous Warbler. A big thanks to the birders who took the time to carefully analyse such minuscule characters such as the stepping of primaries and bill curvation!
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| © Bastian Meise |
Paddyfield Warbler (Acrocephalus agricola)
On June 2nd this lovely little brown jobskulked through the reeds on Heligoland. Most of the previous 11 records involved mist-netted birds or they were one-day wonders so that this bird must have been new to almost all the lucky observers that were present on Heligoland that day.
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| © Jochen Dierschke |
Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica)
This species is the only one I can think of that had something of influx into Germany this year. Unfortunately the Pine Grosbeaks failed to deliver to the anticipating German birders and also just a handful Two-barred Crossbills reached the country even though both species made massive movements just north of Germany. The Red-rumped Swallows on the other hand, coming from the south reached Germany by the dozens, with records from at least 17 different sites. Quite the amount if you take into consideration that there have only been 112 previous records in the last 45 years.
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| © Volker Hesse |
Pine Bunting (Emberiza leucocephalos)
Pine Buntings seem to be becoming more regular these days in Germany, though with only 14 accepted records, they're still among the very rares. Many of the recent birds were rather dull looking female-types so when this smart male showed from January 31st till February 1st near Lachem in Northern Germany it made the finder and some lucky twitchers very happy. There was also a female-type from January 23rd till January 30th near Stuttgart. The last time that two Pine Buntings showed up in one year was 1996!
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| © Armin Kreusel |
Dieser Kommentar wurde vom Autor entfernt.
AntwortenLöschenHallo Mathieu,
AntwortenLöschensehe gerade, dass du bei deiner Rarity-Auswahl schreibst, dass der ersten Bima für D ein Bein fehlte. Das ist nicht korrekt - ihr fehlte lediglich ein Fuß, sie bewegte sich einwandfrei, Gefiederzustand war super, Habitat passte genau, normal scheu usw. Vielleicht hast du noch das Limicola-Heft mit meinem Artikel zu den Nachweisen von Berg-/Kalanderlerchen in D und Europa?!? Hab mich inzwischen auch bei anderen europäischen Kommissionen erkundigt, ob eine Beinverletzung generell Kat D oder E rechtfertigt. So eine Regelung gibt es nicht - es wird im Einzelfall entschieden! Solche Verletzungen kommen bei sich vor allem am Boden fortbewegenden Wildvögeln nicht selten vor, wie jeder erfahrene Birder weiß. Gefiederzustand, Verhalten und Scheue ohnehin ein besseres Indiz - die einhellige Meinung. Zudem werden Bergkalanderlerchen in Europa gegen Null gehalten. Wäre das nicht ein „Siebener im Lotto“ einen aus einer praktisch nicht vorhandenen Haltung entwichenen Vogel zu entdecken anstatt aus den guten nativen Beständen des Long-distance migrants? Also die Kategorisierung E der Kommission Deutsche Artenliste wieder mal reine Willkür. Zumal andere Nachweise von Vögeln mit Beinverletzung (Weißschanzkiebitz, Ringschnabelmöwe München etc.) bedenkenlos von den teilweise gleichen Leuten anerkannt wurden.
It is written in your rarity selection that the first Bima for Germany was missing a leg. That‘s not correct - it was missing only one foot, moved perfectly, plumage condition was quite good, habitat fitted exactly, normally shy etc. Maybe you still have my Limicola paper on the occurrence of Bimaculated/Calandra Larks in Germany and Europe? In the meantime I have also asked other European rarities committees whether a leg injury generally justifies Cat D or E. There is no such regulation - it is decided on a case-by-case basis! Injuries like that are not uncommon with wild birds moving on the ground, as every experienced birder knows. Feather condition, behaviour, habitat and shyness are better indications - the unanimous opinion. In addition, Bimas are close to zero kept in captivity in Europe. Wouldn't it be like seeing a Dodo to discover a bird that has escaped from a non-existent aviary instead of from the good native populations of the long-distance migrant? So the categorization E of the ‚Kommission Artenliste Deutschland‘ seems once again a game of dice. Especially since other records of birds with leg injuries (White-tailed Plover, Ring-billed Gull Munich etc.) were accepted without hesitation.
Beste, naturverbundene Grüße, Tobi
What most birders now do is to simply deny all outcome coming from the rarity commitee. Everybody happy: you, as you now can build your dream list, the rarity commitee as they don't struggle any longer with frustrated birders, and the whole birding community as the ranking (Club300) doesn't make any sense any longer as all comparison in ranking fades away...
LöschenIt's certainly difficult to over-simplify more than in these cant, sorry. As for many, for me an autonomous committee is a precious thing. But, if there are decisions on a case-by-case basis by factual and scientific aspects - why no transperency? Why allow the impression of applying double standards?
Löschen... what most birders want is not counting a Macaw on their lists, but comprehensible, contrastable and transparent decisions.
LöschenThanks for the revision, Mathieu. But why do you suggest leg injuries are more common in cage birds than in wild ones?
LöschenI agree with you Tobi, that the decisions need to be more transparent and contrastable. It's really something that shouldn't be so difficult.
LöschenRegarding the leg injury I have answered on Facebook. I am just trying to give the whole picture here, which includes the fact that it was put into category D and as far as I know the main reason was the missing foot
@ Tobi: maybe not a Macaw, but Yellow-headed Amazon does in most DE-lists, amybe also in yours ;-). And it goes on: Mandarin duck, Black Swan, Wood duck, Ruddy duck,...soon Rhea/Nandu ?! Anyway, this is another Topic. Fact is, more and more birders add species in their list discarding the rarity committee's decision, and maybe it is just better like that? Go for the Bima! :-)
LöschenI heard some informations circulate that the Bimaculated lark from this year (Herbstadt) is maybe not going towards a straightforward acceptance, as the moulting and feather conditions of the lark were not conform and expectable relative to the timing of moulting in this species. Maybe only the lark itself knows if it was wild or not ;-). But I hope for all birdwatchers who twitched successfully the bird, that it will be accepted so that they can sleep in all peace for the next decade or so 8-)
AntwortenLöschenI once talked to a very active bird breeder who had never heard of anyone selling or owning Bimaculated Larks so they must be very rare in captivity. On the other hand I found a video on YouTube from a market somewhere in Iraq where one was in a cage (that or Calandra).
LöschenPersonally I think the species should be capable of reaching Germany and as long as there is no stronger evidence than moult timing I don't think it should get discarded. Nature can be really weird at times
- @ Mathieu: What about the Pied crow?! As a first for Germany, one would expect it would be right on top of this list! Or is there any inside info that the whole German birding community should know about...? R
AntwortenLöschen- Regarding the teal...a Russian duck in Bayern!?! (where it all started...). Must be a bad joke if you believe that it arrived there to its own will.....:-D
Sorry, left that one out because I struggle to believe it was a wild bird. However, I now notice that leaving it out was definitely a mistake and I would include it in a new poll. It's too late for that now, so please excuse this misjudgement of mine.
LöschenDear Mathieu, no worries actually I was joking around. The Pied crow for sure should not be in the list. Even if wild, it is certainly ship-assisted, or at worse, an escape. The terrific increase in marine traffic (and associated container ships) must have an influence on accidental displacements of birds (and other animals). I hope one day we have a good study underlying this process...
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