Black Forest Wildflowers

Yesterday I joined my friend Christoph to two sites in the central Black Forest where he had a contract to do some bird surveys for proposed construction projects. We passed through some truly classic Black Forest farm country with the huge farm houses that incorporate the barn and living quarters all in one. This quaint little house still had an operational water mill.

We passed through Alpirsbach, a touristy town full of Fachwerkhäuser – the typical wood frame construction seen here. This town also has a locally famous brewery, and we came away with several types of beer to try.

We also passed by what looked like Roman ruins.

In an area called Ehlenbogen we arrived at the first survey site by a tunnel.

Here we saw Goldcrest, tons of Coal Tits, a couple Eurasian Bullfinches, singing Blackcaps and a few other expected birds. I enjoyed all the early spring wildflowers:

Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara

Common Bilberry, Vaccinium myrtillus

Cowslip, Primula veris

Wood Anemone, Anemone nemorosa

It's been quite cool in northern Europe these past few days, so I was surprised to see this butterfly, a Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas.

On the way home we checked out a potential raptor migration viewpoint with a lovely view to the NW over the upper Prech valley (Oberprechtal).

Today was a little less exciting: a late breakfast, some errands downtown (including a quick stop by the yarn shop!), finishing up post-tour materials on my computer, doing some knitting, and then changing over from Christoph and Friederiecke's to Uwe's house nearby, where our friend Stefan just happened to be making a last minute work trip from Bonn.

Friederieck's homemade pizza

The yard behind the house where Christoph and Friederiecke live.

Stefan, Uwe, and I.

My Age Has Doubled in Freiburg

As I wandered through the student dorm complex here in Freiburg (StuSie am See is the nickname) and stood before this building that I called home for 10 months in 1990-91, I thought of the current Oregon exchange students that might be living there now. I occurred to me how young they must be, as I was only 20-21 then. And how that was 21 years ago. And…oops! That means they were only just born when I was a student here, I'm twice as old as they are now, and my age has doubled! Maybe I shouldn't have come up the hill around the corner after all.

But it was a nice walk down memory lane to check out the birds on the lake that is located right behind the complex, Flückiger See. I checked out the birds here almost every day back then, keeping a record of everything I saw. It's a great location for student dorms, even though it's six light rail stops from the university.

Today there were some migrants in the trees by the lake, including Blackcap, Chiffchaff, and this Wood Warbler.

Only 1 pair of Red-crested Pochard was here, as were two pairs of Great Crested Grebes, one on a nest.

I also got a chance to visit with old friends, here Andreas by the budding garden he and his partner Markus started about a year ago in their really great new house. I had coffee and three kinds of fabulous cakes and torts at Andreas' while we caught up on each others' lives.

And I had lunch with Christoph and Uwe at the Markthalle in downtown Freiburg, more catching up to do. I'm staying at Christoph's here in Freiburg, while Uwe slipped out for lunch from his work at the Forestry Stewardship Council.

Speaking of downtown Freiburg, it's a wonderful, charming place to walk around. The entire center is a pedestrian zone full of shops, and all the little streets are lined with channels called Bächle, Freiburg's hallmark.

One thing I like about Freiburg is how many people use public transportation and ride their bikes. The light rail system is wonderful and the bike trail system is very well thought out. In Tucson, bike paths – if there are any – are barbarically located on the same level as the street and are often merely marked by a line that in effect only narrows the car's lane. There's often no place in an entire shopping center to park your bike because there is no bike rack at all. Even the gigantic Tucson Mall has space for about six bikes at two racks at opposite ends of the mall, but at least you'll be the only bike there (though I have to admit that after 5 years of lobbying, I finally got my local Trader Joe's to install a second bike rack). Here in Freiburg, if there's no place to park your bike, it's because 100 people have beat you to the racks.

Another thing that strikes me here in Germany is how practical and sensible nearly everything is, even down to the engineering of the urinals in the downtown public bathrooms. The bulging center to the porcelain is carefully designed to minimize splatter and spray, redirecting it into the urinal rather than onto the walls and floor, but only if the stream hits a certain spot – and to encourage that, each urinal has a small fly painted on the spot where one should aim. Fluid dynamics and psychology ingeniously incorporated into a single, simple object.

The main cathedral (Münster) is Freiburg's landmark, and I love perusing the farmer's market here.

Christoph and his wife Friedericke sing in the cathedral's choir (Freiburger Domchor), and this evening I showed up at rehearsal to watch and listen. If I had arrived earlier, I might have staked out a seat across the hall, but Christoph beat me to it and got permission from the director to invite me to sing with them instead! It was a new program for everyone, so it was sight-reading and playing through the parts for some nice music, such as a Gregorian chant piece and some stuff by Schmider, Mozart, and Palestrina. Great fun. Below you can listen to 30 seconds of a choir practice (with the director tapping out the beat on his music stand), here Sicut Cervus Desiderat by Palestrina, recorded with my iPhone. They were actually quite good sight-readers, and I wish I could be there to hear the finished pieces.

  Sicut Cervus Desiderat Feiburger Dom Chor 2012-04-18 excerpt by Rich C. Hoyer

A Last Walk Through Luxembourg's Canyon

Yesterday was my last in Luxembourg. My hosts Kristiana and Kerry – with their ridiculously full schedules of rehearsals, practice, correspondence, tour bookings, and travel – took the time to show me another nice walk through a lovely section of Luxembourg, along the river that forms a canyon through the middle of the city. We started under a true rookery – a collection Rook nests, a very strange European crow-like corvid.

The bridges that span the sandstone canyon are quite impressive.

On the cliff walls grow several nice wildflowers such as this pink rock cress and wild strawberry.

There's also an old chapel built right into the sandstone walls where soldiers defending the city would prepare themselves for the slaughter.

One of the most striking views of the city was this old, decrepit farm complex surrounded by newer homes and a very modern bank in the background.

Finally it was time for me to say goodbye to Kerry and Kristina as I headed to Freiburg, my home for a year 21 years ago.

From Mainz to Luxembourg – Sail Boats, Dippers, History, and Music!

Yesterday was a nice change from my normal routine – I first helped (OK, mostly watched and photographed) as the May family moved their sailboat from their front yard to their docks on the Rhein for the summer. The whole process took about 4 hours, which isn't bad. It involved hitching the trailer to the car, driving to the crane docks on the Main, getting it all ready to be lifted, erecting the sail mast, and the motoring down the Main to its mouth, then up the Rhein to the boat club docks. Then it was Tchüß to my wonderful hosts.

I then took a very pretty train ride from Mainz to Luxembourg, almost 3 1/2 hours, changing trains in Koblenz and Trier. There I was greeted by Kristina Mascher-Turner and Kerry Turner. Kristina and I went to grade school and middle school together and last saw each other in 1988.

After seeing Jackdaw at their house then Blackcap, Blue Tit, and Blackbird in the city park, they both took me on history walk through old town Luxembourg, a gorgeous city. In the first photo we're looking down at the small bridge where Kristina took the next picture looking back up at the overlook.

Just down the river from here we saw Eurasian Moorhen (now split from the Common Gallinule of the New World) and a delightful White-throated Dipper (now the first eBird entry for Luxembourg).

We then went to a really nice Alsatian restaurant called Goethe Stuff for lunch.

Luxembourgisch is a very interesting relative of German, but more distinct than most dialects, probably enough so to be called its own language. "Stuff," for example, is apparently the same as German "Stube," or restaurant-bar. I had Späztle with roasted goose liver, which was new for me. It was incredibly good.

Kerry and Kristina - One half of the American Horn Quartet.

This evening I was treated to the rehearsal of half of their vocal ensemble Intermedii which they hosted at home, along with 4 players of Renaissance instruments such as sackbut, bladderpipe, and cornetto. They're performing a benefit concert this coming Tuesday, and from the sounds of it, they're ready to go. My friend Scott Mason would be envious. I made this recording with my iPad of Fair Phyllis I Saw by John Farmer.

  Fair Phyllis Intermedii Rehearsal 2012-04-15 by Rich C. Hoyer

A Gorgeous Spring Day in central Germany

I had a wonderful, long, but enjoyable first day of my month-long vacation in Germany today, visiting Christiane and Matthias May and their two children Marcella and Marvin.

First order of business: a complete German breakfast with the most amazing breads, 10 kinds of (mostly French) cheeses, 3 different kinds of wurst, and smoked salmon. We also had Easter eggs, eaten with the family tradition of salt, pepper, mustard, olive oil, and white wine vingar – sort of a pre-constructed deviled egg.

Next was to visit the yarn store in nearby Oppenheim, a tourist village literally stuffed with wineries. I couldn't help myself and bought some yarn. My stepmom will be envious.

Chris and I then did a bit of sightseeing in village, going into the main town church, which here is Protestant, rather than the regionally dominant Catholic.

No afternoon in Germany is complete without coffee and cake. Chris and I each had a piece of Black Forest Cherry Cake and Eggnog Torte. I forget what Marvin's pastry was called.

In the late afternoon Marcella, Chris, and I took a nice walk from their house into the nearby countryside where there is a horse club and some trails into the fields with some nice habitat. We watched European Hares boxing, saw a few Roe Deer, and several wonderful birds such as White Stork, Stonechat, and heard two Nightingales.

Then in the evening we had some amazing wine and lighter dinner at the nearby "bouquet winery" Potsdamer Hof, overlooking their village of Bodenheim. Some of the land planted to grapes used by the winery is leased from the May family.

Shopping, Boxing, and Shipping for Gambell

One of the WINGS tours I do each year is Gambell, Alaska in late May/early June. While Jon Dunn is the primary leader and Paul Lehman the second leader, rather than go out in the field with the group all day, I actually do the cooking for the week-long tour. This involves planning the menu, buying the food, getting it there, and cooking it – this year for 15 people including myself (though there's a chance a couple more may sign up). Think of it as a week-long dinner party.

This is Gambell, looking NW over town towards Russia. (Yes, this is actually where you CAN see Russia from Alaska, 45.3 miles away.)

After planning the meals, I next need to buy the food, and the first step is to buy all the non-perishables here in Tucson and ship them all to Gambell, which I usually do in early May. Since I leave tomorrow for a month's vacation in Europe, I had to do all this during my short time at home after the Jamaica tour I just led.

Before: All-day shopping yesterday using a rental car, about $1000 worth of groceries.

After: Boxing until after midnight, finishing up in the early morning. Box contents all carefully itemized.

I returned the rental car just 20 minutes late. Now to pack for a month in Europe!

Goodness, Jamaica is Full of Endemics!

Not even done with our second day of birding, and we've seen all but 2 of Jamaica's 27 AOU-recognized species. One of the most wanted showed itself extremely well this morning, the utterly charming Jamaican Tody.

We'll easily make the most out of the next four days though. Some people only got perfunctory views of some of those birds. I think only one person saw the Jamaican Elaenia well this morning, for example. But on our first afternoon yesterday, all got great views of this Crested Quail-Dove, perhaps the most "missable" endemic of all.

And besides those 27 AOU-recognized species are another dozen or so subspecies that you really should see while in Jamaica, as it only makes sense to consider them separate species – the Caribbean Dove, the Rufous-throated Solitaire, the Bahama Mockingbird, even the Common Ground-Dove – not to mention the obvious split of the Streamertail. I suspect in the future the AOU will slowly come to see the truth, and Jamaica will have around 40 recognized endemics.

In the meantime, I'm also enjoying reacquainting myself with the butterflies and bugs, and there's a lot here I haven't seen. Some new island birds surely await me as well. Northern Shoveler was new yesterday morning, my 174th species for the island.

This Martial Scrub-Hairstreak was at our Port Royal Hotel.

This Caribbean Scrub-Hairstreak was on the crotons at the Hector's River White-tailed Tropicbird spot, a nice diversion until the tropicbirds came in.

Does anyone know what this pentatomid stink bug is?