Birds and horticulture in Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim, GER

Observations from February 10th, 2018

In Heidelberg, we’ve had about five weeks of grey sky with low hanging clouds and often fog by now. However, the days are getting longer, and more and more often, there’s birdsong in the air. Time to get out and bird!

The temperature on the weekend was barely above 0 degrees, but it was dry. I decided to take a walk in a part of the so-called “Handschuhsheimer Feld” where I often go but haven’t been to in quite a while. This place is intensely used by horticultural farms to grow lettuce, vegetables, fruits and flowers, most of them in greenhouses. Only some farmers grow wholefood products. On the fringes, there are also garden plots. The area is confined by the Heidelberg district of Handschuhsheim, the university campus, the river Neckar and a road leading to the nearby autobahn. It measures about 300 hectares.

Although this doesn’t sound like a great ecosystem for wildlife, I’ve observed about 42 different bird species and lots of insect species there over the last two years since I’ve started observing nature. An environmental impact analysis from 2005 states that 67 bird species have been verified in this area (21 of them on the Red List). The analysis was done to examine different places to build a new bridge crossing the Neckar and linking the university campus to the autobahn.

On my latest visit, I kept to the part close to town. As usual, I observed many House Sparrows – so far, I don’t know any other area where they are this plentiful. I regularly see several flocks of at least ten to twenty sparrows. Mainly, they are on or close to farms. Carrion Crows, tits and chaffinches are also very common. I watched the first Common Starlings – or maybe even ones that have stayed. Last winter, I’ve observed starlings in December and January.

The (at least to me) more unusual birds were Eurasian Bullfinches. Up to this winter, I only had two sightings of them, but since then, this number has tripled. I also watched a Great Spotted Woodpecker that I have never seen in this area before. I think I repeatedly heard a Green Woodpecker, but I couldn’t find it. Since I’ve seen one before three times, I know that this species is present.

Rose-ringed Parakeets also like the area, especially the tall, old trees next to a riding club. There was a big puddle underneath, and I watched the parakeets sliding down, hovering above the water and then flying back. One of them finally landed and drank. In Heidelberg, we have a lot of parakeets, supposedly hundreds. So I’m pretty familiar with them, but this behavior was new to me.

My visit to the area this time took slightly more than one hour and covered only a small part of the area. Nevertheless, I watched 15 different bird species and a Brown Hare. I’m looking forward to my next outings there, especially once the migratory birds are back.

Posted on February 12, 2018 10:08 PM by inasiebert