These fungi were all growing on tree stumps, at knee level and so convenient for viewing.
David
Berlin interlude – the Zoo
Trying to improve my video skills by practicing on zoo animals.
Featuring polar bears, hippos, including the zoo’s most latest star, a recently-born hippo, pelicans and kangaroos.
Our closest relatives among the great apes also put in an appearance, behind glass sadly: gorillas, chimps and the zoo’s fascinating bonobo family.
The herons which appear are free loaders. There is at least one heronry in the trees growing in the zoo, and probably several in the nearby Tiergarten. The herons descend on the zoo to try to grab the fish which the keepers are distributing as food for the pelicans and other zoo birds.
Berlin interlude – rooks
Again I was surprised by how near the city centre these rooks were living. The rookery which features below was surrounded by blocks of flats, although it did also overlook the river Spree.
The individual above looking at me quizzically was prospecting for food in the company of a couple of hooded crows, including the subject of the first picture in the previous post.
Berlin interlude – Hooded crows
Two members of the crow family today. Here is the hooded crow, a bird which only turns up in the wild in Britain in Scotland and on the Isle of Man. They look like carrion crows with fancier plumage – indeed the two species can hybridise where their ranges overlap.
On a previous visit to Berlin in the autumn I noticed a fair few of these birds around. But this time, in the middle of winter, they seemed to be everywhere across the city centre.
Berlin interlude – gulls
The guano which sticks to these railings even in rainy Berlin gives some idea how rich the pickings are for gulls on the river Spree.
Berlin interlude – woodland birds feeding
Not many pictures of local wildlife recently. I’ve been away, and the poor weather doesn’t encourage me outside. Here are some pictures of woodland birds eating at a feeding station in Tiergarten, a large park in central Berlin. The blue tit (above) was tolerant of me standing in the open nearby taking pictures.
So was the nuthatch (below). It is eating a seed it has taken from the feeder, not the bud at the end of the twig.
These tree sparrows would be strictly a countryside bird in Britain.
