Category Archives: Germany

Cottbus Bird Census II

It’s become an annual tradition for me to try to record (photo or audio) 50 species of birds in and around Cottbus each December. This year’s results (photos of almost everything this time, but including some dirty record shots): 34 … Continue reading

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GermanLitMonth: Gebrauchsanweisung für Potsdam und Brandenburg

My third #GermanLitMonth book completes my pair of German books, and is by chance also non-fiction: Gebrauchsanweisung für Potsdam und Brandenburg, by Antje Rávik Strubel. This is certainly odd — as if Margaret Atwood had decided to write a guide … Continue reading

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GermanLitMonth: Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger!

Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger! by Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi is my second book for #GermanLitMonth — sort of. I was reading it for Black History Month in October, before things got in the way, but it fits into the rulebreakers week of this … Continue reading

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Cottbus Bird Census

I took the monthly ebird challenge (50 photos/recordings) as an opportunity to try to get records of 50 different species in December. Here’s my census of our local area! Passerines Starting with the 29 passerines, the greatest of these are … Continue reading

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Cottbusian Corvids

An unexpected pleasure of life in Cottbus is the number of corvids we share the city with. Most characteristic is perhaps the Hooded Crow, which has weirdly divided the European continent with the Carrion Crow roughly along the lines of … Continue reading

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Proper Winter

Our first proper winter for several years is upon us. The safest view is from inside: Outside it’s pretty stark: Rooks keep an eye on things: While blackbirds nibble: The larger animals are on the move, looking for food: Or … Continue reading

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In Praise of the Treecreeper

One great advantage of the winter months is the disappearance of all those pesky leaves. As a result, treecreepers in particular seem to appear from nowhere. That doesn’t mean they’re necessarily obvious though; while they’re quite common, their resemblance to … Continue reading

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Tree Sparrow

T is for Tree Sparrow, second in our miniseries of underrated birds. A symphony in brown.

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Starling

S is for Starling, one of the most underrated birds. Individually gorgeous, and they murmurate!

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Bee

B is for bee. I think this is a violet carpenter bee; native to southern Europe, but spreading north for obvious reasons. Love the antennæ.

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