Golden eagle courtship at the edge of the Alps
Footsteps crunch in the snow.
A discreet path leads through a light forest of spruce, larch and isolated maple trees through the Klausbachtal.
The mountains rise up like a postcard in the Berchtesgaden National Park.
On top of that, the route is not steep, but rather family-friendly.
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Ranger Klaus Melde promises that it is worth looking up at the sky or binoculars at the rock faces: "There are currently four pairs of golden eagles living in the national park." In the 19th century, they were almost extinct in Germany.
"But here in the Bavarian Alps they have recaptured their old habitats."
On a hike through the upper Klausbachtal near Berchtesgaden you can observe the golden eagle - with luck and patience.
“It works particularly well in late winter, even better than in summer,” says Melde.
"Then the couples already start renovating their clumps and the courtship."
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They fly together, they feed each other.
So take a closer look at the rock faces of Teufelskopf or Reiteralm.
Common ravens and schools of alpine choughs flutter around.
And then, in fact: One of the eagles circling majestically high above you in front of this magnificent mountain backdrop.
Usually the national park also offers guided eagle watching tours, but without a sighting guarantee.
Because even if the nature guides know the eyries on spruce trees or in the rock face, it is not certain whether a pair of eagles is currently nesting there.
"Eagles have several eyries and change them every year," says Melde.
The birds do this for reasons of hygiene and cleanliness.
On a hike through the upper Klausbachtal near Berchtesgaden you can - with luck and patience - observe golden eagles
Source: picture alliance / blickwinkel / R.
Storm
Even during an individual winter hike in the Berchtesgaden National Park you have a good chance of seeing one of these birds of prey.
The eagle observation area in the Klausbachtal, for example, allows you to relax and watch - just take a seat on one of the wooden loungers and look up.
The display boards provide additional tips to distinguish a golden eagle from other birds of prey such as buzzards.
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Information on guided tours: berchtesgaden.de/nationalpark/winter; Interesting facts about the golden eagle: nationalpark-berchtesgaden.bayern.de
The singing of the swans in Schleswig-Holstein
"In the west of Schleswig-Holstein are the lowlands of the rivers Eider, Treene and Sorge - they are an important resting area for pygmy swans: in the late winter several thousand of these birds and whooper swans can be found here," says Julia Jacobsen, head of the Integrated Nature Conservation Station Eider -Treene concern.
The wind swirls the snow here while hundreds of swans, mostly pygmy swans and whooper swans, stride across the pastures.
Sometimes they fly up, the birds then shine white against the blue sky.
You can hear high-pitched, almost whirring singing, and the wind is blowing this bird choir over.
It seems strange to hear this fine song in the icy solitude.
Whooper swans appreciate the lowlands of the rivers Eider, Treene and Sorge as a resting area
Source: pa / blickwinkel / H / H.
Schulz
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"When it gets dark, the swans fly to their sleeping places - and then we should be at the observation station," says Martina Bode from the Kuno Association, who together with the Integrated Station and the Nature Conservation Union (NABU) organize the annual "Zwergschwantage" in winter organized.
At dusk the rising moon is already reflected in the river.
The distant barking of foxes can be heard.
Another group of swans flies up in shadow.
Her singing begins softly, and it sounds soft and fleeting for a long time through the dark, icy night.
In the Meggerkoog on Fünfmühlendamm there is an observation tower, from which there is a good overview of the sleeping waters and the feeding grounds of the pygmy swans.
In the center of the Börmer Kooges there is also the possibility to look out over the area from a tower.
The birds can also be easily observed from the car.
But: "Please stay in the car to watch, this will disturb the pygmy swans and whooper swans the least", advises bird conservationist Julia Jacobsen.
Information about the area, the swans and possible accompanied excursions at: kunoev.net and eider-treene-sorge.de
Trumpeting cranes in the Lower Saxony moor
In the natural area of Diepholzer Moorniederung, located in the city triangle of Bremen-Osnabrück-Hanover, there are still extensive raised bogs.
These unique backdrops are a special refuge for birds - more than 50,000 cranes rest here during the bird migration in autumn, it is one of the largest natural spectacles of its kind in Germany.
The birds are then on their way to their southern wintering areas.
Counts have also shown that many native cranes no longer fly away thanks to the mild weather, but stay here.
Last winter up to 7,800 cranes were counted in the bog.
Many animals are overwhelmed with shorter winters
Storks and cranes do not fly south, bears and squirrels have no chance of hibernation.
Because the ever shorter winters are causing confusion for many animals, experts are now sounding the alarm.
Source: WELT / Thomas Vedder
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This colony does not offer the very big flutter like in autumn, but a good reason to go there in winter.
Because moors in winter are romantic and beautiful places: the wind blows clouds of fog over the dark pools.
When the fog tears open, the warm light of a late sun floods the harsh landscape.
Presents birch trees that are crippled and illuminates an almost eerie backdrop.
You rarely hear the calls of the cranes in the afternoon; it is usually completely quiet in the moor at this time of the day.
But then: at the beginning of the early twilight, a loud calling sets in, it sounds almost like a distant trumpet.
The cranes are approaching and looking for a place to sleep.
Her graceful dance, her flighty, playful final approach stand in strange contrast to this gloomy landscape.
Goosebumps moment!
Known for his trumpeting: a crane in the Diepholzer Moor
Source: picture alliance / Zoonar
In addition, the calls of the night birds, perhaps the little owl or even the great eagle owl from the woods on the edge of the moor.
If you are patient and lucky, you might see a hen harrier or a short-eared owl.
When the deep night falls over the moor, it is as quiet as a mouse again.
Information: In the download area of bund-dhm.de, flyers are available for individual moors and observation options - for example in Oppenweher or Neustädter Moor. Further information: duemmerweserland.de
Call of the pale geese on the Lower Rhine
First you hear the birds, the wind blows their calls;
strong character, a high ki-ju, typical of white-fronted geese.
The view from the dike wanders over a landscape mosaic of ponds and lakes, of meadows and pastures, on the horizon small forests and trellises of polluted willows, a defining element of this vast landscape on the Lower Rhine.
And then you see them flying towards them - flocks of geese.
In the typical wedge shape, staggered and V-shaped, they are on their way to their night camp.
It is already dawn when the birds settle in the waters of the Lower Rhine.
"This is the largest wintering area in North Rhine-Westphalia for white-fronted geese," says Mona Kuhnigk, nature conservation officer at the Niederrhein nature reserve.
"Around 180,000 animals fly in every autumn to spend the whole winter between Duisburg and Nijmwegen in the Netherlands".
Among them are the pretty barnacle geese, arctic wild geese.
The largest wintering area for white-fronted geese in North Rhine-Westphalia is on the Lower Rhine
Source: picture alliance / Zoonar
It is an area of melancholy beauty and calming vastness, especially in winter.
The local nature conservation associations know the best places - to observe without unnecessarily rousing the animals.
“Breeding birds from summer such as gray geese and Egyptian geese are also there, but in winter the guests from the far north are in the impressive majority.
It can even happen that several thousand birds rest together in one place. "
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The lonely paths past the wet meadows are nice for walking, for the birds this wide grassland, such as the duffel, is vital - here they eat the bacon for their flight home in the spring towards the Arctic.
"The twilight is particularly impressive, when hundreds of animals fly to and from their sleeping places," says Mona Kuhnigk.
The landscape and the Rhine are just as impressive, even after running a thousand kilometers;
in wide loops, powerful and serene, it flows calmly.
But it is not very quiet.
White-fronted geese never keep quiet, some animal always has something to say.
Information: nabu-naturschutzstation.de/de/; Bird tours: (nabu-naturschutzstation.de/de/veranstaltungen). Tourist information: Niederrhein-tourismus.de
Ducks chatter in the Wadden Sea
It is an hour before high tide, and with the high tide the birds come.
Oystercatchers are bustling around in front of the rolling water, looking for something to eat.
They are sociable animals and like to be in large groups, have a pretty, striking appearance - they look black and white with red legs, like a small stocky stork, and a voice full of character, downright shrill.
The oystercatcher belongs here, and other bird species also come to the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park in winter.
For example, in the mudflats off Greetsiel, where you can regularly see snow bunting and all kinds of ducks - including pintail, wigeon and shoveler.
They come from the far north to overwinter and eat in the mudflats.
Shovelers also overwinter in the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park
Source: picture alliance / blickwinkel / M.
Woike
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“That's why it's best to observe them an hour before and after the flood, because then they are close to the dike,” says Insa Steffens, who runs the National Park Center in Greetsiel.
There you will find information and some good tips on where the birds can be seen particularly well on the Unesco Wadden Sea World Heritage Site.
"We recommend the visitor the dike around the lighthouse of Pilsum - there you can go for a wonderful walk and you have a good view of the mudflats, the salt marshes and the wetland behind the dike."
And with the old red and yellow lighthouse from 1883, this is also a particularly attractive North Sea backdrop.
The nearby Greetsiel itself, with its historic row of houses at the harbor and a fleet of anchored shrimp cutters, is a beautiful holiday base.
You should prick up your ears at the bird's peck: the curlew, for example, can also be heard here.
You can recognize him by his sonorous reputation, the almost melancholy warbling.
That sounds almost wistful, and when twilight begins to fall over the sea, the geese fly, then this is the perfect soundtrack for a winter day by the sea.
“If you are very lucky, you might even discover a snow bunting,” says Insa Steffens, “a pretty bird from the tundra.” In fact, today one of these rare winter guests from Siberia is stalking through the grass in front of the old Pilsum lighthouse - an unforgettable sight.
Information at greetsiel.de and nationalparkhaus-wattenmeer.de/nationalparkhaus-greetsiel
Source: WORLD infographic
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Source: Welt am Sonntag