When Bird Watching is the Most Exciting Thing in Your Neighborhood

It’s all about connecting with nature and relaxing in the fresh air

And even now, it’s almost 11 pm, I can still hear the calls of the cranes flying above our trailer. Those must be some late arrivers because these birds are usually back at their sleeping grounds just past sunset.

A colleague of mine mentioned something about how lovely it is to see all the locals going for walks during sunset while flocks of cranes are flying above their heads.

I hadn’t considered it before or thought about it as a highlight. What do locals usually care about birds? Only bird watchers head out with their binoculars looking for rare species in the bushes.

But there is something different. Here in Fehrbellin, a small community spread across countless tiny villages in northern Germany.

This is where you can witness a huge spectacle. The migration of the cranes across Europe. They do weeklong stopovers in this area resting at night on the lakes and feeding in the daytime on the harvested fields.

I’m not a birding person. But maybe that’s a lie judging by all the bird-related articles I published and bird photographs I took this year. It surely happened due to the fact my mom is a bird lover and many fellow Medium writers have published beautiful birding stories out here.

Yes, I do give in. I do start finding joy in watching birds, listening to their cacophony, and seeing them flying across the skies.

I headed out to the lakes in Linum with the idea of walking a specific route. As I got to the trail, I was surprised to see it being blocked off. A fence with a board was put up.

Yes, now in October is the high season of the cranes in this area, and in order not to disturb their sleeping grounds, they blocked off several hiking trails in between the lakes.

They blocked most of them but not all. The trails that are leading on the outside around the area are still open. And so I followed the said trail. A raised hide was even giving me a chance to overlook one of the smaller lakes.

Some of the canals were overgrown. The sky was blue but I could see a weather front moving in from the west. There wouldn’t be any sunset light.

I walked on the beautiful trail listening to the cranes flying above my head. Continuously there were flocks of birds arriving at the lakes.

I turned around to get one last shot of the setting sun before she disappeared into the wall of clouds.

I got my camera out to capture a bigger flock of cranes arriving.

But I had more to see than just the birds. This is the countryside. Farmland as far as the eye can see. Goats, some horses, and lots of cattle on the meadows around town.

All of a sudden it got very loud and a different bird species took my attention. A huge flock of starlings was flying across the horizon. Not that I could recognize the birds from such a distance but there’s no other songbird grouping up in such large numbers.

My mom said.

In front of me was the lightly lit sky with small flocks of cranes flying above the horizon. Behind me was a wall of clouds moving slowly but surely closer.

I knew there was rain going to come. But I knew I still had a bit of time.

I got closer to what seemed to be the bird-watching spot. More and more people appeared on the trail ahead of me until we reached “the end”. Another line had been pulled across the trail preventing anyone from getting too close to the birds.

About 50 people I’d estimate were standing at this spot. Children were running around and Glühwein (a German delicacy, hot wine) was handed around. I heard English, Portuguese and French, so I guess there were even some tourists in this place far off the tourist trails of northern Germany.

Oh, in case you forgot. My zoom lens still didn’t fix itself, so I still had issues shooting with the manual focus. Now and then the pictures would be blurry. But I kind of like this one.

There was a real cacophony sounding across the fields where all the cranes were landing. I couldn’t see water yet but I could see a few of them sitting in the fields just a bit too far from us to get a clear shot.

The sky was getting darker and I decided to head back. I had my raincoat on but still preferred to stay dry this evening.

A few more cranes were flying above my head.

I heard a family talking about the wonderful spectacle in the sky when a toddler interrupted the conversation saying “und der Mond”. Yes, he was right, the moon was spectacular and I tried very hard to include the moon in a picture with the birds and the arriving clouds.

One last look back and I left the crowds of people and flocks of birds behind.

The cattle on the meadows were still rather active for this time of the day. Some teenagers were curious watching me walking by.

On my way back I quickly walked up the stairs one more time to see one of the lakes from the raised hide.

I did get a few more birds in the last light of the day capturing their silhouettes in front of the lit-up water.

I was back in my car driving home and not even two minutes into the drive the first raindrops fell onto the windscreen. Yes, I knew about the rain. Skydiving has taught me a thing or two about meteorology.

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.” — Robert Lynd

More about the migration of the cranes and other birds:

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