Birdwatching in Berlin

Berlin, bird nerd heaven, honestly. If you can drag yourself away from the amazing coffee shops, cheap eats, ultra cheap booze (which finds you falling out of bars at 5am, making your way to fast food joints and  leaving with €2 halloumi kebabs dribbling down your chin) – there’s lots of places in Berlin to do some really good, quality birding.

On March 17th, 5 of us escaped Dublin and flew over to Berlin. A return from Dublin to Berlin with Aer Lingus was €145, we all shared an apartment which worked out at €140 each for 4 nights, so we’re talking €245 for a 5 day break in Berlin which is pretty good going.

The trip to Berlin was not a birding trip. My gf and our 3 male friends were certainly not in town to look at birds – hot gay guys, nightlife, coffee shops and culcha were the agenda, but my little pocket camera and my mini binocs meant I got to sneak in some birding every now and then.

This is some of what I saw.

From the apartment I saw loads of Hooded Crows, Magpies, Wood Pigeons, Great Tits and Blue tits. No Coal Tits though and no Gulls like we’d see all around Dublin all the time.

In fact, for the whole stay I didn’t see one single Coal Tit, Jackdaw or Rook – birds I’d expect to see at leats once around a city, especially considering all the woodlands surrounding Berlin.

Trees outside apartment, Frankfurter Allee, Friedrichshain, Berlin.

There were lots of nests in the trees. This one had a Great Tit fussing around it, but I'd say the nest probably belonged to one of the many Hooded Crows flying around.

From the apartment I saw lots of birds flying in and out of the holes in the huge brown building at the back. When I got an hour to myself I walked over to the building and the birds turned out to be House Sparrows which suprised me, I didn't know they would nest/roost in walls.

Whilst we were sitting outside drinking coffee, I noticed a lot of movement in the overhanging branches of a coffee shop opposite us.

Lots of movement from the overhanging branches to the bush at the bottom of the tree.

When I walked over to have a look, the 'bush' was actually a lot of pruned branches Berlin Council (or whatever) had left at bottom of tree. This created a lovely habitat for birds to take haven in and feed from. What a great idea.

Someone had left seeds in the pruned branches. Here was a House Sparrow taking advantage.

On one of the days we took a ,River Cruise down the Spree. It was freezing but a really nice way to see Berlin. The Coots in Berlin seem to completely outnumber the Mallards. There were flocks of about 20 or 30 floating around, making lots of noise.

Noisy Coots on the Spree

There were Mallards, Starlings chattering in trees, Cormorants flying over, Pigeons and Blackbirds. The Boat Cruise made a stop at Tiergarten, a massive park in the middle of Berlin, but we stayed on the boat and sailed back to where the cruise had started.

Near! the end of the boat trip, we passed a bird which really threw me – the boat was gunning it so we had nearly passed it before I knew what I was looking at, but in my head I thought I might have just seen a Mandarin Duck! Having never seen one, I doubted I was right, but what else has, that colouring?

Mystery duck seen from the boat tour. I thought Mandarin Duck, but it couldn't be - in the middle of Berlin?

If I had been on my own, I probably would have stayed on the boat to do the tour again, just to see the duck again! Being with other non birders, sense rules out and you go and have dinner instead. I figured the next day I’d go to Tiergarten and spend the whole day there, but after dinner we went drinking and got back about 5.30am, so the next day’s birding started very late.

Before going to Tiergarten we got a u-bahn to Leinstraße to visit a friend who was working in an art gallery over there. Next to the u-bahn stop there was an amazing old cemetery which we walked around.

One of the thousands of u-bahn stops in Berlin. Get a u-bahn to here to vist the cemetery.

St Michael's cemetery -Berlin

I once watched a programme which described a cemetery in Hackney (I think) as being one of the best sites for birding in London. This cemetery in Berlin seemed like a similar oasis. The bird song was really loud and varied, there were no people walking around making loads of noise, no dogs, no children, just loads of really old trees. If it was summer, I would have sat there for the day and read, it was such a calm place. There was a  lot of lovely birdsong, one birdsong I didn’t recognise at all came from a bird I’d never seen before. It was a lovely little bird and struck me as a cross between a woodpecker (it was bashing the hell out of the tree) and a treecreeper, as it niftily crept all around the tree trunk.

I drew an outstanding picture of the bird and was subsequently able to i.d the bird as a Nuthatch, a bird I don’t think we get in Ireland. Beautiful bird.

Nuthatch in the cemetery, Berlin.

We ate some lunch and eventually took the u-bahn connections to Tiergarten. By the time we arrived it was growing dark already so we only saw a fraction of Tirgarten.

There are many lakes in the Tiergarten, plus the river Spree splits into two in the park, This gives you lots of wetland and woodland birds.

Saw more Nuthatches, heard lots of drumming Woodpeckers (but didn’t manage to see any), there were Tufted Ducks, Mallards, Mute Swans, Coots, Moorhens, Herons, Canada Geese, Hooded Crows, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Blackbirds and Starlings.

The day we arrived in Berlin was apparently the day the cold snap stopped in Berlin (kind of same time as it stopped in Ireland), but the lakes were still frozen and there were still mounds of snow scattered about the city.

Frozen Lake with Hooded Crows, mid March 2010, Tiergarten, Berlin.

Mystery Duck, Tiergarten, Berlin.

This was a gorgeous little duck, I’m guessing from the camouflaged appearance it was a female something, but I don’t know what yet.

Walking on further and I was over excited to see the next duck.

Male and female Mandarin Duck! So I was right, it was most likely a Mandarin Duck I saw on the boat trip if they were also here in the Tiergarten. Having never seen one, it was great to see them up close and stationary. They are surreal looking birds, they’re like living pieces of art.

Male and female mandarin ducks! and Canada Goose, Tiergarten, Berlin.

If you click on this pic you can better make out the detail of the two ducks. They were beautiful looking. Completely surreal. I knew they were in UK but didn't realise they were in Berlin as well.

As it was getting really dark we passed what seemed to be a bird zoo with Ostriches, Storks, Spoonbills, lots of geese and other tropical looking birds, it was too late to go in though.

The next day was already our last full day. The one place I definitely wanted to visit was a place called Peacock Island (Pfaueninsel), a little island in the middle of the Havel River to the West of Berlin.

This place is a definite visit for anyone wanting to do some serious birding. You have to get the u-bahn and then s-bahn (s3 or s7) which will take you to Wannsee. Outside the Wannsee s-bahn station you then have to either get the 316 bus or the 218 bus which will take you to the ferry which crosses the river to the island.

I’d advise getting the 316 bus and getting off at the Pfaueninsel bus stop. This leaves you at an entrance to some woods -  you can walk through these woods to the ferry stop and it’s well worth the walk.

Wannsee s-bahn stop. The 316 bus follows the straight red line going west and leaves you at the edge of the woods. You walk the curvy pink line through the woods to the ferry which takes you over to the island. The 218 bus will take you straight to the ferry stop. Wannsee also has a harbour and I'd say there's lots of birding to be done down there.

The walk through the woods to get to the ferry.

A few days could be spent here. The woods were vast and mature, the birdsong was really lively. There were lots of breakaway paths and very few people. We heard loads of drumming from Woodpeckers and once Cara had figured out which tree the drumming was coming from I finally saw my first Great Spotted Woodpecker. It was great to finally see the bird I’d only ever heard before.

Woodpecker nesting holes in bark of old dead tree.

I was suprised not to see any Long Tailed Tits or Coal Tits with all the other woodland regulars. I’m not sure if I just didn’t see them or they weren’t there, but with so many Blue Tits and Great Tits, I think if the Coal Tits were there,  I would have seen them.

After about 20 minutes walking, we reached the place where the ferry crossed the river over to the Island.

As you can imagine from the name ‘Peacock Island’ peacocks live on the island, but with the island also being listed as a Nature Reserve, I was hoping for more than Peacocks .

The ferry over to the island was only €2 (it’s a 3 minute trip), there was no charge for getting onto the island. This means (as of 2010), if you buy an all day travel pass at the u-bahn station (which covers bus trips, s-bahn and u-bahn), the total cost to get to Peacock Island and back again is only €6.10. Ker-ching.

Welcoming Committee to Peacock Island, Berlin

Very cool to just see the peacocks wandering around in a natural setting.

They were so used to gawkers - the peacocks were very relaxed around us.

Nature at its best.

Lots of woods to explore on Peacock island. I'd get there early to avoid people though, especially in tourist season.

In the tall tree on the left I saw my first Hawfinch. I was glad I had my little binoculars with me. It was a beautiful bird and its beak looked nearly blue. The plumage was immaculate.

There were lots of reed beds at the edge of the island. I'm sure there were some good finds in there if time allowed. Saw lots of Treecreepers, heard and saw lots of GS Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Great Tits, Blue Tits, finally Long Tailed Tits, Hooded Crows, Wood Pigeons, Blackbirds, Herons, Robins, Mallards and in the reeds at the edge in the photo above I saw 2 Greylag Geese with very orange beaks. Still no Coal Tits.

2 Great Crested Grebe out on the river. Also a flock of around 100 Coots - they were So noisy.

And again, just to make it definite in my head - more Mandarin ducks.

We caught the ferry back over to the mainland and after some lunch and beer in the restaurant there, we decided we’d get the bus back instead of walking through the woods again. Whilst we were waiting for the bus I thought I saw 2 Goldcrests in the trees near the bus stop, but the bus arrived so I didn’t have time for a closer look.

218 bus back to Wannsee. Every 2 hours on week days, every hour on weekends.

Peacock Island, Berlin.

So there you have it. A brief taster of birding in Berlin.

My list of the birds I saw in Berlin. Note my outstanding drawing of the Nuthatch.

All in all, the many parks, woods and lakes in and around Berlin make Berlin a great city for birding.

And I didn’t see a fraction of fraction of what’s around.

If you do go to Berlin birding, be warned. Berlin has the best bars with the cheapest booze, but a great night out makes for a very short next day’s birding!