Spring is finally in full swing, also in North Frisia. Most birds started breeding, the colonies of seabirds are occupied and many migrants such as Golden Plover, Brent Goose and Red Knot have left or are currently leaving the region. I put together photos from the islands Föhr and Sylt (thanks to Anne and Karsten for having me!), taken during the last four weeks. Some were taken during the field work in the protected areas of the national park during breeding bird censuses.
Observations of note were two Gull-billed Terns, some hrota-Brent Geese, quite some Ring Ouzels, a Lesser Canada Goose amongst Barnacle Geese, a Short-eared Owl, a male hybrid Mallard x Gadwall, a, for Germany, huge colony of at least 10 pairs of Great Black-backed Gull and the first hatched youngs of Eider and Common Ringed Plover on May 7.

 

After an eventul time in North Africa, I settled down in Europe again (in full posession of my optical and photography equipment!). Not back home in Austria, but in the German Wadden Sea (again after 2010) – a fascinating region of outstanding importance for millions of birds.
This time, I’m on the calm island of Föhr, the second largest of the German islands in the North Sea. I’m working for Schutzstation Wattenmeer, monitoring breeding and migrating birds, geese and daytime migration as part of a survey on an on-shore wind power project on the island.
Spring is slowly returning also here in the Wadden Sea, with swallows, Willow Warblers and Bluethroats arriving from the winter quarters. Many wintering species, such as Rough-legged Buzzard and Redwing are still present on the island and the migration of species breeding in the arctic such as Brent Goose (among them also a few of the Greenlandic subspecies hrota), Bar-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and Red Knot is in full swing – with thousands of birds coming to high tide roosts.
I’m out in the field most of the time and currently, there’s not much time left for photography and even less for editing etc. So, just a quick selection of images taken during my first week here.