Tegernsee, 23.12.2023-01.01.2024

For the Christmas and New Years holiday, my girlfriend’s family offered my family to stay at their house by the Tegernsee, South of Munich. This was a very welcome suggestion as we had thought for a while about having a larger get-together, and a location as nice as this one was not to be forgone. A combination of Covid-19 cases and public train-related travel delays meant that we unfortunately couldn’t come together as planned, but it was a lovely week nonetheless. I worked for two days for my internship that I started in Bonn in mid-December, but this was fortunately manageable. We spent a lot of time in and around the house but also went hiking and skiiing in the nearby hills.

Many regular garden birds were in evidence around the lake, with Common Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Eurasian Blackbird, Eurasian Jay, Great, Blue and Coal Tits, Eurasian Robin, Common Buzzard, Eurasian Wren, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Eurasian Bullfinch, Hawfinch, Eurasian Greenfinch, Common Chaffinch, Eurasian Goldfinch, and Eurasian Nuthatch being in seen around the garden and surrounding areas.

I eagerly scanned for wintering diveres on the Tegernsee itself, but could not find any. However, Common Merganser, Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Common Pochard and Grey Heron were around and showing well. Above, Black-headed and Yellow-legged Gulls put in an appearance.

The birding highlight of the week definitely came during a hike to the Königsalm from the Klamm parking lot. The pecking of a woodpecker alerted me to a Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker in a nearby spruce. I initially had the bird perfectly in my binoculars and saw its beautiful markings and yellow crown, but by the time I took a photo it was in a backlit tree. This was a long-awaited lifer but nonetheless completely unexpected here. I was impressed by how large the species was, expecting it much more the size of a middle spotted, although it seemed to me much more like a great spotted in size. The forests here also held Goldcrest and Crested Tit, two adorable species in my opinion.

In general, we all greatly enjoyed the family time, being in the mountains, and seeing some snow again after a long time. It was also fun to experiment a bit with black-and-white photo editing, as the contrasting landscapes resulting from the snow lend themselves well to this. As my internship resumed immediately with a high workload when I returned to Bonn, I did not have much time to look ahead for what the year will likely bring but did look forward to a good amount of excellent bird sightings.