Annual Ornithological Report for Schleswig-Holstein 2013

Abstract

A new era has dawned in the collection of ornithological data with www.ornitho.de. After its launch in 2011, more than 240,000 data records had already been entered by 2013. In the winter of 2012/2013, there was a remarkable supra-regional occurrence of velvet scoters, as well as high winter populations of scoters and velvet scoters on the Baltic Sea. In contrast, the occurrence of (song)birds was low on many winter bird counting routes in coniferous and deciduous forests. Several notable events can be attributed to an extremely late winter in March and a pronounced shortage of mice during the breeding season. The 2013 return migration was significantly delayed by the cold March, especially for the early species white-fronted goose, lapwing, skylark, wagtail and chaffinch. Delayed return migration, prolonged migration during the day, high daily migration totals and a low tendency to rest have been impressively documented for several species. The prolonged cold weather caused significant delays in the start of breeding for early species, particularly the greylag goose, goosander, raven, eagle owl and starling. During the breeding season, the lack of small mammals resulted in very low breeding populations of owls, which were unable to recover after the cold winters of previous years. Breeding success is low for buzzards and kestrels. Population increases were noted for bluethroats, among others, while very low populations continued to be recorded for little grebes, bitterns, water rails and kingfishers, among others. 

The migration was average, partly unremarkable due to the low clustering effect during frequent south-westerly winds. All three species of crossbill were recorded in Falsterbo, leading to the strongest recorded migration of red crossbills in Schleswig-Holstein to date, followed by a moderate influx of waxwings in November. The following rare visiting birds appeared during the autumn migration and in the summer: blue-winged teal, Carolina teal, Canada goose, lesser spotted eagle, several lesser spotted eagles, an imperial eagle, and ‘Bernd’ the bearded vulture from the Swiss reintroduction programme. Three sightings of bee-eaters continued the trend of recent years towards more regular occurrences. Among the songbirds, the white-bearded warbler and the greenish warbler were notable. The following rare species were observed during migration: yellow-billed loon, golden eagle, Montagu's harrier, black-winged kite, red-footed falcon, prairie pipit, grasshopper warbler, little grebe, bee-eater, sedge warbler, wood pipit, pine grosbeak, red crossbill, and Siberian siskin.