Great Tit

The second new bird (for me) on our recent trip to Germany was a great tit. I first saw one in Nuremberg fluffing itself in water by the river as I watched above from a bridge. The second time I saw one was on Wallberg, in Pforzheim, a hill made out of the rubble from the bombing of Pforzheim in 1945. I came down early from the top, which has a monument, and watched for birds from a bench. A great tit flew into a tree and I got a photo before it quickly flew again. 

The great tit is large for a tit. There are 15 subspecies and I saw the nominate subspecies, Parus major major, which is found through much of Europe, Asia Minor, northern and eastern Kazakhstan, southern Siberia and northern Mongolia.  The nominate subspecies has a blue-black crown; black neck, throat, bib and head, white cheeks and ear coverts, a yellow breast and a black midline strip running from the bib to vent. A white spot on the neck turns to green-yellow on the upper nape and the rest of the nape and back are green tinged with olive. The female plumage is similar to the male, but the colors are duller and the bib is less intensely black, as is the line running down the belly, which is also narrower and sometimes broken. 

The first three photos were taken in Nuremberg.

This photo was taken in Pforzheim.

This illustration is of the male of the subspecies, P. m. major, from Birds of the World. 

This is an illustration of the female, of the same subspecies, from Birds of the World. 

This is a range map from Birds of the World. 

Fieldfare

I was excited to find a new bird (for me) outside Phorzheim, Germany in the small town of Neubulach, on the outskirts of the Black Forest. Judy and her family were visiting Phorzheim, where her mother grew up, to attend a ceremony where they laid a "stolperstein" for her grandfather, Karl Gustav Frey, who was euthanized by the Nazis in 1940. The eleven members of Judy's family who traveled to Germany rented a a three story house in Neubulach, a 30 or 40 minute drive outside Pforzheim, where we stayed for three nights while we visited places associated with her grandfather and grandmother, mother and uncle. The home of Judy's grandmother and mother was destroyed in the bombing of Phorzheim in 1945 and they emigrated to the U.S. later where they lived the remainder of their lives. 

I went out early several mornings to walk and drive around Neubulach looking for birds. I found a home with a large yard and long grass where some beautiful birds were walking around among the grass. I knew they were a new bird for me and was completely surprised when I looked on Merlin to find that they were called a "fieldfare," a very weird name for a bird and one I'd never heard of. It is an old English name dating back to at least the 11th century which meant "traveler through the fields," an apt description for the birds I was watching. There are an estimated 42 to 72 million fieldfares in Europe, a staggering number, particularly for a bird I've never heard of. 

I went back the next morning and saw the fieldfares in the same place and also saw some roosting on tree branches and telephone wires.

It has a slate gray head, nape and rump, dark brown back, blackish tail and speckled breast. The forehead and crown of the male are blue-gray and each feather has a central brown-black band. There is a more meticulous list of colors on various parts of the body I'll not go into. The male and female look similar, but the upper parts of the female are more brown and the feathers on the crown have narrower black central stripes. 

The photos in the green grass are from the first home I saw them at and went back to a second time. I believe this is a male. 

I believe this darker bird is the female. 

I believe this is an immature fieldfare which was walking around with its parents. 

This and the next photos were in different places and I could have provided more for different birds. 

Illustration of the fieldfare from Birds of the World.

Range map of the fieldfare from Birds of the World.

House Sparrow

I've done two previous posts on the house sparrow, on October 21, 2020, for some house sparrows I saw outside of Denver, Colorado; and on November 9, 2020, one I saw in Coachella, California. As one of the most common birds in the world I've shaken my head wondering why I've not seen more of them.  

This range map is from Birds of the World. I believe it must be the original range as it does not include North or South America. 

It was originally native to Eurasia from the British Isles to northern Siberia and south to northern Africa, Arabia, India and Burma. It has been introduced everywhere else in the world, including South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and the introduced birds are usually the nominate subspecies. They were originally introduced into North America by 100 birds purchased from England and released in Booklyn, New York in the fall of 1851. Other isolated introductions included San Francisco in 1871 to 1872 and Salt Lake City in 1873 to 1874.   

This is an illustration of the nominate subspecies female from Birds of the World and below is the nominate subspecies male. 

The male, particularly, is a beautiful bird. 

In Central Park in NYC in May 2023.

A female near the Concho River in San Angelo, Texas.

This and the following four photos are from San Angelo State Park in 2021.

This and the following 6 photos are from Nuremberg, Germany in May 2025. 

This photo from the back shows the gray stripe on the top of the head which helps identify it. 

Continental (Great) Cormorant

Birds of the World is the best source for international birds I've found, but its article on the "Great Cormorant" really only focuses on the nominate subspecies Phalacrocorax carbo carbo, also known as the Atlantic cormorant and the article did not include illustrations or a range map. I did a post on this subspecies on September 16, 2018 for great cormorants I saw off Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.  There are other subspecies, which I felt Wikipedia covered better, including what is known as the Continental cormorant, P. c. sinensis, which is found across Eurasia, from inland western Europe to India, to northeast Russia and northeast China, to the Korean Peninsula, south to Turkey, central Asia and north Mongolia, and separated, but found in south Cambodia, south Vietnam and northeast Borneo. It is about 10% smaller than the nominate subspecies I saw in Nova Scotia. I saw one of the Continental cormorants in Nuremberg, Germany in May 2025, standing on the pylon of a bridge over the Pegnitz River. It was quite close and I got a great look at it. 

I saw another in a lake below the Amber Fort in Jaipur, India in December 2024.

Tufted Duck

Like my post on the red-crested pochard yesterday, the tufted duck is a duck I've only seen once previously, but instead of  13 years ago it was five months ago in northeastern India. I saw it in the same place as the red-crested pochard, on the Pegnitz River in Nuremberg, Germany. I saw fewer of them, but was much closer and get better photos. First are photos of males which had longer tufts than the ones I saw in India:

Second were females which there were fewer of:

This female has a barely noticeable tuft. 

A male and female together.

Next are illustrations of a male and female and a range map from Birds of the World. 

I love the illustrations from Birds of the World. This one, of the female tufted duck, shows that the tuft on the female is hardly visible.