With spring seemingly slowly approaching, I was very eager for the arrival of migrants and species on passage. When I volunteered at the bird observatory on Heligoland last year, I heard about the Wagbachniederung, a wetland near Heidelberg that is very popular among birders. Together with Jacob, who also volunteered on Heligoland, I decided to visit this wetland. The most popular species here is Purple Heron, which draw a large number of photographers and birders in spring and summer. I was not drawn here for this species as I’ve seen it in South Africa and Sri Lanka many times (it was too early in the year anyways), but I was very eager to see a new area and we were hoping for some early passage migrants.
The Wagbachniederung is easily reached from Waghäusel. I rented a Nextbike in Mannheim which I took on the train to Waghäusel, from where the wetland is just a few minutes by bike. I met Jacob at the edge of the wetland at Cafe Windsor, where we locked our bicycles and continued on foot. We initially did not focus on the birds, instead chatting quite a lot since we were very happy to see each other after several months. However, we soon focused more on the birds as we got to more promising-looking habitat.
In the scrubby vegetation around the tracks, Common Starling, Eurasian Wren, Song Thrush, Common Blackbird, Common Chaffinch, Brambling, European Greenfinch, and European Goldfinch, were in evidence. A row of tall poplar trees here had Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Eurasian Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Eurasian Jay, Eurasian Nuthatch, and five species of tit including breeding Willow Tits.
The large waterbodies mainly held common species including the typical geese, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Eurasian Teal, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, and Little and Great Crested Grebes. Common Reed Bunting was active in the surrounding reeds, which are supposed to be haunted by Bearded Reedling as well. Overhead, Common Buzzards and White Storks were circling, while Common Kestrel, Black-headed and Yellow-legged Gulls, Grey Heron, and Great Egret also flew past.
Just before we left the wetland, we finally spotted the Black-necked Grebe which was seen here by others. It was the best sighting I’ve had of this species, in full breeding plumage and foraging quite close to the elevated track across the wetland.
Before going separate ways, we also paid a visit to the nearby Saalbachniederung, just a short train and bike ride away. The area had some different birds including Common Snipe, Northern Lapwing, Meadow Pipit, Eurasian Skylark, Mistle Thrush, and Grey-headed Woodpecker. I stayed in Heidelberg for the night (in the super cute hostel Lotte, which I can recommend) because I did not want to travel so much in one day and wanted to see the old town for a while. Walking around the city the next morning, I watched a confused red squirrel that got lost on the ledge a building for a while until it eventually found a place to return to a nearby, a rather unusual sighting of a common mammal.
Apart from the grebe, we did not have any particularly good sightings, partly because it was still too early in the year for high bird activity. I would like to return to the Wagbachniederung later in spring or early summer when more migrants have arrived. Jacob warned me that at this time, I would be sharing the wetland with large numbers of Purple Heron photographers, but still it’s surely worth another visit. Besides, who can resist the temptation of potentially also seeing Bearded Reedling?
My Zone Is Birding 