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The first bird race ever

In the last couple of years, I recently took part in bird races with very experienced birdwatchers. With those experienced experts it was rather relaxed, I could enjoy the birds and go by the others’ steering. For this year I tried to convince friends in the fall to register as a team. Both friends have enjoyed birdwatching in their leisure time for many years, but are not very active in the birding scene and never joined a bird race.

Both friends were quickly attracted to the idea, but had many questions to understand how the way it works. Do we count the number of birds we will see? No, it is only about the different species. What do we call our team? We had funny ideas with German word games that reminded us of drinks and had dialect variations – like many others. But in the end we decided for a more serious version. We had been travelling to work with the fast train to Basel in Switzerland every day for years. Once I had seen a Black Stork on this trip through the train’s window, directly beside the tracks on the field. But the other two had not been with me that day. It became our “bird of longing”, which we wanted to see again, but never did. So we called the team “Ciconia nigra”.

We knew we would not be part of the serious competition, and would do this just for fun. But the engineer among the two wanted a detailed plan four weeks in advance. I convinced him to wait until a couple of days before. Shortly before the day X, one friend of our team had a positive Corona rapid test. We still discussed about if we will cycle, just walk and take the train and where the best spots would be according to the platform www.ornitho.de, which the bird race collected money for. But it was clear, that until he received the result of the official test, he was in quarantine. The result was negative, but first came during the Saturday. So he had to take part from his garden. Myself, on the other side, had a problem with my ten-year-old daughter. I could not leave her at home. So, I asked her to join us. After all we welcome more female birdwatching friends and family. She was very passionate about the idea and got up 03:30 in the morning to take the first train to Freiburg. Also, the wife of the one friend took part in the morning. So, it was new grounds for most of the team.

The train was late as often it is in Germany and we were already behind our timetable, before we even started. As we were so keen on starting we forgot the sun lotion. We started in a residential area and the woods directly beside it. There we could check in all typical settlement birds, the Egyptian Goose, the Spotted Woodpecker and the Blackcap. Then we took our bikes to the next bird protection area and the lakes of Freiburg. There we met many other teams, who all saw the Red-backed Shrike – except us. We checked all posts and trees – but without any result.

At least we saw a Yellowhammer and a Black Kite. The lakes were disillusioning – nothing there except mallard ducks and Eurasian Coot. In the students‘ area there was a lake with lots of different ducks while I was observing. But also there, more people than birds – but we saw a Great Crested Grebe.

We cycled through the way, named after the founder of the German Club for Bird Protection, Lina Hähnle as an honor and to get the next train to the “Kaiserstuhl”, hills with loess soil. The child was so tired that we missed the train and had to wait for the next one. While waiting and eating we were lucky to watch a tree creeper and a Black Redstart directly beside us in the tree.

At the Kaiserstuhl we needed lots of patience. First, we just discovered House Martins, Wood Pigeons and a Song Thrush. But after a while we got a Stonechat, a Kestrel and an Eurasian Hoopoe in front of our optics. On the way back, we found what we were here for: Bee-eaters and as an addition a Common Linnet. At the beginning it was only the child who always asked me if I really had noted the species, but it was now also my friend, who checked me. The competitive spirit was enormous. After an ice-cream we cycled to the next village at the Rhine and the border to France, where we saw Great Cormorants, Barn Swallows and Mute Swans. The Feral Pigeons were on the French side of the Rhine and we discussed if they still count. But anyhow, there were enough on the German side as well – like everywhere.

Our friend in his quarantine garden saw a Red Kite, an Eurasian Jay and Long-tailed tits. At the end of the race we had 47 species. The child had the goal of 50 for her first bird race. We checked all fields on the train back home in the night, but it was already too dark. In the end we placed 579 of 676 teams. But we managed to celebrate this as a day of bird species variety. We were all very happy and tired in the evening and looked like Common Rosefinches. In my teenage years we recognized birdwatchers by the very thin line in the neck – from the leather strap of the binoculars. I was very happy about the new straps of the ZEISS Victory SF. So far I thought they are just more comfortable, but they also help as sun protection. I now have a broad, white line in my neck.

We have learned a lot for next year: We will not forget sun cream and we will choose lakes where there are more ducks than people. And we will adapt the pace to the slowest person in the team, as our sports’ person always was nearly gone and everyone else had to struggle to keep up. Anyhow, the first bird race will be a strong memory not only for my ten-year-old daughter but also for the grown-ups. This special excitement and impressions of the first time will stay unique. For my kids I think about a weekly family bird race as they hardly are prepared for so much activity in one day usually.

The DDA also reported very successfully on its Birdrace, as records tumbled during the Day of Species Diversity:

The Birdrace 2021 exceeded all expectations: More than 2600 people in over 900 teams had registered and participated – as many as never before! But not only that: Also pretty much all other previous Birdrace records were eclipsed. As of 12.05., 330 different bird species were discovered, including some surprises. In the district of Nordfriesland the Birdracers found 209 species together. The possibility of joining virtual teams over large distances enabled a team of five to find 200 species in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Helgoland. An impressive 166 species were discovered by individuals in Havelland in Brandenburg.

A new record was also reached in the donation race: more than 60,000 euros in favor of ornitho.de and ornitho.lu are overwhelming! Christopher König, ornitho supervisor and co-organizer of the DDA Birdrace, was also joining on his bike. The ZEISS Harpia 95 spotting scope was cycling with him. He reports enthusiastically:

“I was immediately very positively surprised at how quickly you can get the right viewing area, and thus immediately capture flying birds in the sky. Even when observing at dusk, the large lens diameter is very noticeable and you still have a clear view for a long time.”
Christopher König

The art of enjoying birds without filter

The Spanish ornithologist José Luis Copete is known among insiders for his research on the Desert Owl and the description of Strix hadorami five years ago. Nowadays, birdwatchers of the Spanish-speaking countries appreciate mainly his podcasts on scientific discoveries in the world of birds. In our interview he talks about the regional dialects of birds, what distinguishes Finnish birdwatchers from Spanish ones and about his special bird observations in Barcelona at the time of the lockdown. Although he has been working as photographic editor for many years, he recommends the pure joy of birdwatching without an object lens. In addition, he reveals his favorite birding spots in Spain.

Tell us about yourself and the Team Reservoir Birds.

It all began when Stefan Riedl, who runs Excopesa, the distributor of Zeiss in Spain, asked some years ago to Francesc Kirchner for a birder in Spain with a good profile to be the face of Zeiss in the birding scene here. Francesc contacted me, and then I suggested to include in the team Ferran López and Dani López-Velasco. Ferran has been working monitoring birds in the Llobregat Delta reserves for more than 20 years and is the Spanish birder with the top list of WP species. Dani is very well known internationally because his role as a guide for Birdquest, traveling worldwide. We all three are respected birders in Spain -and we suppose that’s also the case away- and most important, very well known inside the Spanish community, because we have met with most of the birders in every corner. The name of the team comes from the website of birding news we manage, Reservoir Birds.

When did you start with birdwatching and what was the trigger/reason for it?

I began in the world of birds in 1981, when I was 12 years old. Actually my first interest were the herpetos, lizards and snakes. When I was a kid I spent countless hours moving stones to catch herpetos. My first guide was the classic book by Arnold & Ovenden about herpetos of Europe. However one day a contact from my mother made me to visit a ‘masia’ (the catalan name for farmhouse) in Tiana, a town not far from Badalona, near Barcelona, in the Serra de Marina, where he was going to ring birds. This sounded to me like sci-fi. I didn’t have an idea of what was the activity. That guy also had 12 years old, he went there with more older guys who were training younger people. On the very first day, going to the nets to release the birds trapped, and watching them in the hand, putting the rings, reading the Peterson bird guide, I was caught by this. I convinced my parents to buy my first bird guide on that year, and spent as many hours as possible in Tiana. So, I actually began as a ringer, not as a birder. The fact is on my very first years I didn’t understand some statements by birders coming to Tiana ringing station, like the difficulty to watch Garden Warbler on migration, when I knew it was so easy to ring the species in September putting a net next to a ficus. It was during 1983 when I discovered more properly what meant to be a birder, beginning to spend time only watching birds. To be honest, I’ve to admit that the first reason was to learn about birds in the hand, and secondly their songs/calls. From the beginning I was very interested to identify their voices, it was the reason to watch the birds in the forest in Tiana, to confirm the song/call belonged to the species I was supposing. The commonest were easy to tell apart. However when the migrants in spring and autumn I heard more voices, and watching the birds to confirm every sound was the main reason of my interest in watching them. At that time there was no internet, no xeno-canto, you needed to learn the sounds in the field. It was in my opinion a very good way to get interested in birds. Later on, when I had more birding friends, I combined both activities, and began to be more interested to watch birds as a pleasure.

What were your personal experiences of birdwatching during the Covid19 pandemic?

It was quite difficult, since my flat in Barcelona city is not offering special chances. I maintained a list of the species detected from my balcony when the strict confinement in March/April, arriving only to 38. However I’ve to say I saw some interesting species like Peregrine Falcon or Blue Rock Thrush, and by night I heard from my bed flamingos and Greylag Geese calling overflying the city. The absence of cars and noise by night helped to detect these flocks calling in the middle of the night. Apart of these experience during the strict confinement, the pandemic stopped all my plans of travels during 2020. In August it was supposed I’d to be in Colombia, however that trip was cancelled. So, when we had the opportunity to scape between the different levels of confinement we had in Spain, I focused more on local birding, like in Collserola hills surrounding Barcelona.

You tested the new ZEISS SF32 binoculars during the Global Bird Weekend. What were your favorite features of the product and what makes it special for you?

Two of the main features of the new ZEISS SF 32 impressed me: they are so light, that you can hold them wiht one hand without much effort; and the sharpness and luminosity. I knew before to test them they were x32, however I was really impressed by the level of light despite 1 cm less wide that the normal x42 I’ve been used to carry in the field. They are so light and sharp, that I don’t plan anymore to change my bins!! They are truly spectacular. They are simply stunning, the best binoculars I ever tested.

You are also interested in nature photography. Can you please tell us a bit more where your focus is and what would be the tips you would give to beginners of nature photography?

Well, I’ve to say that I would recommend to beginners rather than taking pictures all the time (something which is not bad in the end), to concentrate, when they begin, to watch birds. Nowadays there is a fashion to watch birds through cameras, especially since the mirrorless models are accessible because reasonable prices and not so heavy weight, to a lot of people. However I saw in the excursions and trips we guide for our company Icaro Birding Experience, that a lot of younger guys are only taking pictures with these models, to try to watch the image displayed on the screen. Most of the time they are not watching the bird but trying to get a picture to zoom in on the screen. That’s not the best way to learn about birds. My recommendation would be to watch birds with good bins, trying to focus on their behaviours, their movements, how they take food, etc…as well to try to learn all the voices they can listen. Later on, when you have more experience, getting inside the photography.

What is your most exciting motif of mammal photography (which mammal)?

That’s easy to answer. My most desired mammal to be seen in the wild was Snow Leopard. Because it’s so difficult to be found, as well as because it lives in remote areas, normally on rugged terrain, which is adding a component of mystic to their figure. So, when I saw it for first time in Ladakh in 2015, together with one of our team members at that moment, Dani, it was one of my best moments in the field.

I worked as photography editor for the Handbook of the Mammals of the World on the entire series, where I had to check more than 350.000 pictures of mammals. So, after 10 years of checking and selecting pictures of mammals (not to mention how many I had to do for the same role on the HBW dealing with bird pictures), I can say I got some experience to know which mammals has been well photographed and which others are not. Snow leopard images improved a lot during the last five years, after some photographic trips for the species began to be operated. Fortunately, we did our trip away of the crowd, in a place where no people was present and where we stayed alone for ten days, without other photographers or tourists. It was a very nice experience, spending days on the mountains trying to discover the Snow Leopard on the ridges by ourselves.

Which would be THE recommended birding destination in Spain and which birds are expected to see there?

It’s difficult to mention only a place. I would mention some very different places which are on top of what I would recommend to foreigners coming to Spain. One is the steppic area near Belchite, in spring, when you can watch flocks of sandgrouses, listening Dupont’s, Calandra, Lesser Short-toed and Short-toed Larks as a dawn chorus, Stone Curlews, and watching some raptors like Black Kite, Golden Eagle and others, apart of the many migrants like warblers, wheatears, chats, and many others. Another place to recommend is Estaca de Bares in autumn, combined with some seawatching by boat. Spending a few days there in September/October offers the most impressive seawatching migration in Europe, with thousands of shearwaters, terns, alcids, skuas, and manhy other seabirds, sometimes quite close from the cap, from a panoramic view over the sea which is unparalleled. Finally, because is one of the places where I stay more regularly, I would also recommend the Ebro delta, for a few days in April/May. Waders, ducks, gulls, terns, passerines breeding on reedbeds and wetlands, seabirds, and on migration waves, birds everywhere, and the rarities always possible at every moment.

You have been travelling a lot in the past years. Did you recognize any “regional” dialects of birds and do you recognize your local birds by their sounds?

Many times is difficult to know when is the boundary between individual variation and dialect. However in some species this is not especially difficult, as happens with the Ortolan Bunting. I spent several years working on a research project on the species, in La Segarra county, Catalonia, from 2013 to 2018. The local dialect of the species there is different from that you can listen in central and north Europe. Not only that: when you try to use playback with recordings of central Europe to our local birds, their reaction is not really straight. Very different when you use playback of the song you recorded of the birds breeding in the area: the reaction is straight, very aggressive. They of course identify those playbacks as true competitors. Not the same when they listen Ortolan Bunting song from Germany!

Have you recognized any differences between the ornithologists in other countries?

What I saw is more related to social and cultural differences. People in Spain is quite heterogenous, as corresponds with a society with different languages, ways of life, different cultures and traditions. However, I noticed that birders in Finland, which I consider they are one of the best birders in the world as a community, they are quite similar in the way they go to the field, carrying many of them the finstick, rubber boots, similar dressing, etc… and they have a good school of birding, is normal there to meet people you doesn’t know the name who are very good in the field. That’s is quite different in Spain, where there are quite a lot of different birding levels, different dressings, since is not the same being in the field in Galicia, the northwest corner where rains a lot, that being in the field in Andalucia, quite hot and a more Mediterranean landscape. We are also more noisy people, Spanish birders talk a lot when they are relaxed. Away of Spain I found people to be more silent. That’s something easy to detect.

When you think of nature conservation, which species do you personally have in mind to put a focus on?

Rather than a species, I think more on a community of species related to a specific environment: the birds breeding in agricultural fields. A lot of species depend on this, and many of them suffered heavy declines. Species like Ortolan Bunting, the flag of the recent European breeding bird atlas, is a good example, since it suffered a big contraction of the range. It’s because the intensification of the agriculture, which is removing the scrubs between fields, the small plants on the boundaries, the fallow fields… I began ot have an age to remember when some species were very common in cultivated fields, but nowadays you feel they are not anymore like in former times, as happens with the Quail. It also apply to the steppic species breeding in open cereal fields, like Calandra Lark, Little Bustard, Stone Curlew, Pin-tailed and Black-bellied Sandgrouses in fallow fields. Is very urgent to reverse this trend.

Tell us more about the podcasts and what is your personal motivation to invest time in this project?

We began La Radio del Somormujo (https://laradiodelsomormujo.com/) in 2018. There were no other podcasts about birds, directed to ornithologists and nature lovers, in Spain. So, there was space to try that project. We discovered it was very well received. And the community of somormujers grew up quickly!! I feel it’s very important to spread the scientific discoveries to the people interested on birds as amateurs. Many of them are not aware of what’s discovered. Divulgation of scientific research, and conservation projects, is one of the most rewarding works you can done since you are helping to promote a culture for conservation of birds. We are arriving to people already being birders, as well as to people just interested in nature, however also to people who is not yet interested as we are. Our aim is to talk about birds in a kind way, explaining anecdotes, introducing some times some humour, to get the people connected. When you talk about science in a very academic way, many people are not interested because you appear distant. You need to get in touch. And the way is to make the communication close to the audience, not trying to sound too much scholastic. We are very proud our message is arriving to more people. Our podcast was chosen this spring as one of the more interesting science podcasts more at the main podcast platform in Spain, iVoox, so an initiative purely altruistic is every time arriving more far away. Thanks to our podcast I participated a few times on some important radio programs in Spain, like A vivir que son días, where I could spread the message about birds. And we have been doing the program by free, every week, getting close to podcast number 100. In January we will arrive to that landmark! The number of people following our podcasts is remarkable, we get over 40.000 downloads. We just expect we can set the structure when we find some sponsor who can help, since it demands quite a lot of time to prepare the program every week, non-stop.

Who wants to listen to the lively and well explained podcasts, chooses one of the programs on https://laradiodelsomormujo.com. It is worth to learn some Spanish for this. Also, with basic Spanish knowledge it is possible to follow. More information about the ZEISS SF32, which José Luis tested, you find here: www.zeiss.com/morediscoveries

Birder by profession

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The molecular birdwatcher from birds’ paradise

One who comes from the Mecca of European birdwatchers, may choose just one job: ornithologist. More precisely, a scientist, who deals with questions about the migration behavior of raptors, the personality of homing pigeons, the cooperative breeding of European Bee-eaters and the DNA of the Red-backed Shrike.

Liviu Parau grew up in Europe’s second largest delta area. Where the Danube flows into the Black Sea, Liviu’s home region extends in the Danube Delta biosphere reserve, covering 5,800 km². Nearly two thirds of the delta are protected conservation areas, with the biggest part in Romania and a smaller part over the border, in Ukraine. Together with Bulgaria and Moldova those two countries committed themselves to safeguard and conserve the wetlands along the lower Danube. They aim to preserve the world’s largest coherent reed beds as shelter for the impressive pelican population and for numerous other bird species in the long run.

The nature conservation organization WWF called this a gift to our planet.

Which part of the Danube Delta in his home country Romania is the most beautiful one is hard to tell for Liviu. After all, every corner encompasses an unbelievable variety of wildlife. If Liviu has to name some areas his favorite ones are the lakes around Maliuc and Mila 23 as well as the coastal regions in Sulina and Sfântu Gheorghe.

Out of 5,200 wild animal and plant species in the delta there are 362 bird species registered. The majority of the birds nest in the delta, but several are just migrating, using the delta as stopover site to replenish their energy reserves. Among the bird species, Liviu names a clear favorite, the Red-breasted Goose, which visits the area only in winter. Furthermore, he is still impressed by the iconic symbol of the Danube Delta biosphere reserve, the White Pelican with a number of about 15,000 birds and the roughly 700 Dalmatian Pelicans.

AN INTERESTED, OPEN-MINDED PERSON LIKE LIVIU INEVITABLY DEVELOPED A DRIVE FOR DISCOVERY HERE AND THE QUEST TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ANIMAL BEHAVIOR.

A somehow predestined scientific career

As a child, Liviu Parau spent many summers at his grandparents’ farm, taking care of the animals. Later in his teen years he spent lots of time after school in the large delta wetlands searching and documenting everything that flies. The love for animals is deeply rooted in his DNA, says Liviu. His father is an animal husbandry engineer and his mother studied veterinary science.

In a region where ornithologists continuously map new bird species it was just a natural choice to deal more extensively with birds. So Liviu joined the local birdwatchers’ club in Tulcea at the age of twelve. Studying biology was just a logical next step.

During this phase of life, he was mainly attracted to raptors and so for his bachelor degree he decided to collect field data about their migration behavior.

Driven by the desire to decode their decision to migrate, Liviu researched the influence of weather conditions and the local geography. He also dealt with the new threats along their flyways, like wind farms and what measures could protect the birds. Raptors migrate using up-lifting thermal currents. This helps them to go down south without using their own energy, basically hitchhiking from one current to the next. In Europe, the main threat for migrating raptors are windfarms. Collision with the turbines could be reduced by keeping windfarms away from migration flyways and temporarily shutting down problematic turbines.

Despite his close attachment with the fascinating Danube delta, Liviu left his homeland to follow his passion for research. At least he was close to the water during his Erasmus scholarship, as his master’s degree project led him to Konstanz University and to the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, at beautiful Lake Constance. The topic of this research was the link between the personalities of homing pigeons and their leadership position in the flock. It seems that being bold or shy will not predict a leader, but rather the previous experience in flying the same route and the ability to survive falcon attacks.

ONE INTERESTING PROJECT FOLLOWED THE OTHER IN THE YOUNG SCIENTIFIC CAREER OF LIVIU.

How cooperative is the behavior of the European Bee-eater during the breeding season? Directly after his master studies Liviu accompanied a research group of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen as an assistant on a Croatian island to answer this question. Among the local breeding European Bee-eaters Liviu and his colleagues discovered several birds which helped to feed offspring which were not their own. Globally only nine percent of all bird species show cooperative breeding behavior, mainly in tropical areas where food is available year-round. That is why the European Bee-eater is so special. Liviu observed how older siblings and neighboring birds helped to feed the newly hatched bee-eaters. They even recorded a female bird helping a breeding pair in another colony of the island.

Scientific insights of molecular biology

Directly after his time in Croatia he returned to the institute in Seewiesen to investigate the population dynamics of the non-native Rose-ringed Parakeet in Europe. During this project Liviu moved as a guest researcher to the lab of Professor Michael Wink at Heidelberg University. Here, while working with Michael Wink, he first came into contact with molecular biology in a project for gene expression of the Northern Wheatear.

With molecular techniques and genetic information a new world opened for Liviu. He started his PhD project under supervision of Professor Wink on population genetics of the Red-backed Shrike. The German Ornithologists’ Society partly funds this project. As illegal hunting of migrating birds in Egypt is seen as a big danger for the Red-backed Shrike, they are interested in discovering the natal origin of the shrikes using molecular techniques.

Out in the field Liviu collects feathers, takes blood samples and buccal swabs from the Red-backed Shrikes. For this job he has to be fast as his Red-backed Shrikes are breeding in the vineyards around Heidelberg. Vineyards are particularly problematic to localize the birds, because the shrikes stay well hidden among the broad leaves and numerous lines of the vineyards. With his sponsored ZEISS Victory SF 10×42 he localizes the birds very quickly. Thanks to the high magnification he even reads their leg rings, which he puts on birds he already examined.

Back in the lab Liviu extracts the DNA from the samples he collected. After sequencing the DNA, he is analyzing the order of nucleotides, which are the building elements of the DNA. He focuses on two small genes, which are recognized as very reliable population genetic markers. Taken together, these genes have 1,551 nucleotides. Not all birds are characterized by the same order of nucleotides. A certain order is called a haplotype. Via the haplotype Liviu can group birds of the same genetic background.

Among the so far 132 examined Red-backed Shrikes from 14 countries Liviu identified 76 haplotypes. That means a high genetic diversity. As many migratory bird species in Europe, the Red-backed Shrike’s high genetic diversity is a consequence of the ice ages from the past two million years. Back then, various populations got mixed in Southern Europe, when retreating from the cold. At present, despite the deplorable high trapping numbers on the flyway, the Red-backed Shrike has high chances of survival as a species, thanks to this genetic variety. Diseases and viruses will not endanger this species. For Liviu Parau, the scientist from the birdwatcher’s paradise, this is an important and reassuring finding.

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