Mr. Plaid. Duck

Kaufungen

Parrot

The spot was excellent for water-loving birds--we saw numerous LAPWINGS, a large flock of GREYLAG GEESE, a lone BARNACLE GOOSE, several WHITE STORKS, three GREEN SANDPIPERS, MALLARDS, several TUFTED DUCKS, and FIELDFARE.

Mute Swans

Finally, a fly-by COMMON TERN and a YELLOW-LEGGED GULL brightened up the walk. Later in the day we skirted the edge of the Bodensee, and found a small flock of GOLDFINCHES.

The next day was a long drive to Langendorf, Switzerland. Along the way we detoured to the Federsee, and walked the long boardwalk through the reeds to the lake. The northern rains and cold weather had been replaced by sunshine and warm temps--so the walk was pretty toasty. Dozens of MUTE SWANS, a few grebes, and some coots were the only visible bird life.

Mute Swan

SWITZERLAND

Kingfisher

On our second morning we drove south to Interlaken, at the foot of the Swiss Alps. We headed up the gorgeous Lauterbrunnen Valley, stopping to marvel at the many waterfalls cascading over the high cliffs. Birding along the forest edges, in the meadows, and along the streams, we spotted BLACK KITE, NUTHATCH, a variety of tits, and WHITE WAGTAIL

FRANCE

Grey Heron

Damselfly

In the Alsace-Lorraine we spent a night in the small village of Graufthal, at the edge of the large Vosges du Nord Natural Park. Gaby and I explored the centuries-old troglodyte homes built into the face of a cliff, and then Suzanne and I ventured out to explore the countryside, looking at more of her ancestral home sites. Our gasthaus was situated close to some nice walking paths along a stream and a few fishing ponds. A short hike before the afternoon rains produced GREY HERON, GREAT-SPOTTED WOODPECKER, TREECREEPERS, and NUTHATCHES.

Carrion Crow

Our next destination was Paris. We didn't do any birding, but we did see a lot of odd ducks there. And in the Louvre were some fine rabbit slippers.

Napoleon's Rabbit Slippers

ENGLAND

Close to Canterbury we stopped at a preserve next to Grove Ferry along the Great Stour River. The acres of marshes and damp fields yielded a flock of GREYLAG GEESE, a singing SEDGE WARBLER, and a pair of MARSH HARRIERS. Suzanne found a LITTLE SPOTTED WOODPECKER!

Reed Warbler


Canterbury Cathedral

In the beautiful old city of Canterbury the magnificent cathedral from the middle ages was a must-see. Close to our motel in Ramsgate we visited the Pegwell Bay Nature Reserve both days we were in England. The birding was good there, and we probably saw more species at Pegwell than in any other single spot on our trip.Some of the finds here were COMMON SHELDUCK, AVOCET, GREY PLOVER, CURLEW, LITTLE EGRET, REED WARBLER, WHITETHROAT, SONG THRUSH, and LINNET.

Swift over our Ramsgate Hotel

Greylag Goose

Driving on the left side of the road was a bit unnerving, especially around curves and on turns--but I managed well enough until I had to back out of a narrow country lane for an on-coming student driver. She probably wondered where I had learned to drive.


Canterbury Cathedral

Whitethroat

Song Thrush

Common Shelduck

FRANCE

A stop close to Calais at the Platier d'Oye Reserve turned up our first SPOONBILL, a family of LITTLE GREBES, MOORHEN, COMMON PHEASANT, dozens of SANDWICH TERNS, and in the distance we heard a CUCKOO.

Kestrel

Pochard

Great Crested Grebe

Little Grebe

BELGIUM

In Belgium we were enchanted by the canal-laced town of Brugge, and took a guided boat trip through the waterways. The beer and the chocolates were fine, as was my rabbit dinner. We stayed in a fancy little room in the old part of town, in "Guesthouse 17," with a view of the main canal. The lawns around town had the customary city birds: WOOD PIGEON, EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE, and BLACKBIRD.

Brugge

Blackbird

Jackdaw

Black-headed Gull

Brugge

We also had great views of BLACK-HEADED GULL and JACKDAW during our wanderings about the city.

Woodpigeon

GERMANY

Blue Tit

On our last day in Germany we hiked up a forested hill trail at the edge of Idstein, where we added one additional bird for the trip: CRESTED TIT. Plenty of other tits and forest birds were there, too--it was a nice way to end our birding in continental Europe.

Idstein

ICELAND

Our return to the states was broken by another layover in Iceland, but this one for only a day and a half. We stayed at the Guesthouse Gardur, on the southwestern-most spit of land in the country. Even though it was rainy on this visit, it was still great for birding, and we added some good finds in the cliffs around Gardur: SANDERLING, MANX SHEARWATER, and good numbers of GANNETS, a bird that so far I'd only seen from the plane on our first stop here.

Herring Gull

Fulmar

A trip to the center of Reykjavik revealed a thriving, modern city. Next to the central lake were woods with COMMON REDPOLLS. Our final stop in Iceland was a small stand of trees close to Vogar, where we visually verified GOLDCREST, which we had only heard up to now. Too soon after that we had to board our plane back to the states--our wonderful journey to Europe was over.