Category Archives: Germany

Reading List May 2024

Posted on May 31, 2024 by admin

I finished a modest seven books this month, mainly because (for the first time) none were in English: one Portuguese, and six German, as part of the month’s DDR theme. (And four of those by women.) Starting with the odd-one-out, … Continue reading →

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Cottbus Bird Census II

Posted on December 31, 2023 by admin

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

Posted on November 23, 2023 by admin

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!

Posted on November 19, 2023 by admin

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

Posted on December 31, 2022 by admin

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 →

Posted in Germany, Nature | 2 Comments

Cottbusian Corvids

Posted on April 23, 2021 by admin

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

Posted on January 9, 2021 by admin

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 →

Posted in Germany, Nature | 5 Comments

In Praise of the Treecreeper

Posted on December 31, 2020 by admin

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 →

Posted in Germany, Nature, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Tree Sparrow

Posted on December 20, 2020 by admin

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

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Starling

Posted on December 19, 2020 by admin

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

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