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Federal Republic of Germany

Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos ©Tony Hisgett

Germany is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czechia to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west. Germany includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of just over 357,000 square kilometres (138,000 square miles), and is the seventh largest in Europe. It has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With around 83 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous state of Europe after Russia, the most populous state lying entirely in Europe, as well as the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is a very decentralized country. Its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin with almost 4 million inhabitants, while Frankfurt with a population of about threequarters of a million people serves as its financial capital and has the country’s busiest airport. Germany’s largest urban area is the Ruhr, with its main centres of Dortmund and Essen. The country’s major cities are Berlin, Hamburg with almost two million people, Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Dortmund, Essen, Frankfurt, Bremen, Dresden, Hannover, Nuremberg and Duisburg.

Zugspitze behind Eibsee  – ©Octagon, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Elevations range from the mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 9,718 feet) in the south to the shores of the North Sea (Nordsee) in the northwest and the Baltic Sea (Ostsee) in the northeast. The forested uplands of central Germany and the lowlands of northern Germany (lowest point: Wilstermarsch at 11.6 feet below sea level) are traversed by such major rivers as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Germany’s alpine glaciers are experiencing deglaciation.

Most of Germany has a temperate seasonal climate dominated by humid westerly winds. The country is situated in between the oceanic Western European and the continental Eastern European climate. The climate is moderated by the North Atlantic Drift, the northern extension of the Gulf Stream. This warmer water affects the areas bordering the North Sea; consequently in the northwest and the north the climate is oceanic. Germany gets an average of 31 inches of precipitation per year; there is no consistent dry season. Winters are cool and summers tend to be warm: temperatures can exceed 30 °C.

Germany can be divided into five terrestrial eco-regions: Atlantic mixed forests, Baltic mixed forests, Central European mixed forests, Western European broadleaf forests, and Alps conifer and mixed forests. As of 2016, 51% of Germany’s land area is devoted to agriculture, while 30% is forested and 14% is covered by settlements or infrastructure.  Plants and animals include those generally common to Central Europe. According to the National Forest Inventory, beeches, oaks, and other deciduous trees constitute just over 40% of the forests; roughly 60% are conifers, particularly spruce and pine. Wild animals include roe deer, wild boar, mouflon (a subspecies of wild sheep), fox, badger, hare, and small numbers of the Eurasian beaver.

Birding Germany

The 16 national parks in Germany include the Jasmund National Park, the Vorpommern Lagoon Area National Park, the Müritz National Park, the Wadden Sea National Parks, the Harz National Park, the Hainich National Park, the Black Forest National Park, the Saxon Switzerland National Park, the Bavarian Forest National Park and the Berchtesgaden National Park.  In addition, there are 17 Biosphere Reserves,  and 105 nature parks.

Ornithology in Germany is a serious and very often professional business with very knowledgeable birders young and old. The general trend to an increase of interest in nature and the environment also holds true here and the numbers of occasional birdwatchers is increasing all the time. But Germany has a long way to go until birding reaches the level of a Volkssport or national pastime as is the case in Holland or the UK.

Wadden Sea – ©Ollicze, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The diverse landscape, and climate, offer a wide variety of birding from the paradise of the Wadden sea for ducks and waders, the woodland birds of the wide-ranging forests of Central Germany and the raptors and Mediterranean visitors of the Alps to the milder climes of Bavaria and Baden Wuerttemburg with the border inland sea of Lake Constance (Bodensee).

| | Lower Saxony | Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | North Rhine-Westphalia | Rhineland Palatinate | Saarland | Saxony | Saxony-Anhalt | Schleswig-Holstein | Thuringia |
Top Sites

  • Deutsch-Belgischer Naturpark

    WebsiteSatellite View
    Anywhere in the Deutsch-Belgischer Naturpark in the Eiffel region South of Aachen and Cologne, especially the Ruhrsee just East of Heimbach is worth a visit. For example, in October it holds both Kites, 3 Buzzard species, Osprey and Storks all moving through and feeding/loafing about. The woods in and above the upper Ruhr valley south of Monschau are also very productive too.

  • National Parks

    Information
    Germany has 16 National Parks, 17 Biosphere reserves (some identical with national parks) and 18 Nature Parks or nature reserves.
Contributors

  • David Conlin

  • Peter Wells

    | p.wells@zen.co.uk

Number of Species

  • Number of bird species: 563

    (As at June 2024)

    State Bird - Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos

Checklist

  • Avibase

    PDF Checklist
    This checklist includes all bird species found in Germany , based on the best information available at this time. It is based on a wide variety of sources that I collated over many years. I am pleased to offer these checklists as a service to birdwatchers. If you find any error, please do not hesitate to report them.

  • Club 300

    Annotated List
    Vögel der Westpaläarktis - Alle in der Westpaläarktis nachgewiesenen Vogelarten der Kategorien A, B, C

  • Wikipedia

    Annotated List
    This is a list of the bird species recorded in Germany. The avifauna of Germany include a total of 555 confirmed species as of May 2023, according to Club 300, a German birdwatching association, with supplemental additions from Avibase.[1] One species, greater rhea, has been added from another source. Of the 548 species, 15 have been introduced by humans. Two species have been extirpated and none are endemic.

  • eBird

    PDF Checklist
    This checklist is generated with data from eBird (ebird.org), a global database of bird sightings from birders like you. If you enjoy this checklist, please consider contributing your sightings to eBird. It is 100% free to take part, and your observations will help support birders, researchers, and conservationists worldwide.
Useful Reading

  • A Birdwatching Guide to North East Germany and its Baltic Coast

    | By Roger White | Roger White | 2018 | Edition 2 | Paperback | 214 pages, colour photos, colour maps ISBN: 9780957169524 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • Collins Bird Guide

    Lars Svensson (Author), Peter J Grant (Contributor), Killian Mullarney (Illustrator), Dan Zetterström (Illustrator) | Bonnier Fakta | Edition 3 | 2022 | Paperback | 477 pages, 4000+ colour illustrations, 700 colour distribution maps | ISBN: 9789178872282 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • Germany Birds

    | A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar Species | By J R Kavanagh | Waterford Press | 2020 | Unbound | 12 pages, colour illustrations, 1 colour map | ISBN: 9781620053454 Buy this book from NHBS.com
Birding Aps

  • Birds of Germany & Switzerland

    Android


    This app is an interactive companion to the book "The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic" – the comprehensive book for birdwatchers interested in the region. It ONLY covers the Germany & Switzerland regions of the book.

  • Bird ID - Garden Birds Germany

    Apple iOS |


    This app covers the 100 most commonly seen bird species in Germany listed by the German NABU nature conservation trust. All birds are described in detail (Text in German) and all birds are illustrated by Top wildlife photographers. Bird Songs for all birds included.

  • Birds of Germany

    Apple iOS |


    This bird app was developed by PhD, passionate field ornithologist. For quick finding the birds can be sorted differently: By relationship - in each case in gallery view or as fold-out list
Useful Information

Organisations

  • BUND (Friends of the Earth - Society for Environment and Nature Protection in Germany

    Website
    With branches at regional and local level throughout Germany

  • Birdlife International Deutschland (NABU - Naturschutzbund Deutschland)

    Website
    More protection for endangered habitats - Of all the wild animals, it is probably the birds that most people are particularly impressed with. But many are threatened: not only rare birds such as cranes or storks, even barn swallows or house sparrows are on the losing side when their habitat disappears. Learn more about the threat to our birdlife, the ways to save it, and, of course, to experience it!

  • Club 300

    Website
    For German rarities - you have to join to get full directions etc. but without membership you get an overview and photos etc.

  • Committee against Bird Slaughter - Komitee gegen den Vogelmord e.V.

    Website
    Hunters, poachers, bird catchers and pet traders are threatening our migratory birds everywhere along their migration routes. The Committee Against Bird Slaughter is campaigning for better protection of animals from persecution across Europe: with concrete actions on the ground, lobbying, research, public relations, expertise, legal proceedings and support from local conservation and animal protection groups, we protect the birds, where the authorities fail.

  • Deutscher Rat fur Vogelschutz

    Website
    The purpose and statutory purpose of the DRV is the protection of bird life and its habitats on a scientific basis and the advocacy of animal welfare including the practical implementation of scientific knowledge in this area.

  • Federation of German Avifaunists (Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten e.V. - DDA)

    Website
    The DDA is the union of all national and regional ornithological associations in Germany. It represents about 11,000 field ornithologists and birdwatchers.

  • German Ornithological Society - Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesellschaft (DO-G)

    Website
    The German Ornithologist's Society (DO-G) is one of the world`s oldest existing scientific societies. The DO-G was founded in 1850. Its original goal - to support and further scientific ornithology on all levels - has remained unchanged…

  • Ornithologischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft Bodensee - Bodensee or Lake Constance

    Website
    This Austrian/German/Swiss Working Group, consisting of field ornithologists, is primarily concerned with the analysis and preservation of the Bodensee/Lake Constance region. This includes regular stocktaking of breeding and visiting birds, the investigation of potential and actual threats and the execution of the resulting proposals.

  • World Wildlife Fund Germany

    Website
Reserves

Abbreviations Key

  • *National Parks in Germany – Europarc Deutschland

    WebsiteSatellite View
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_parks_of_Germany

  • *Nature Parks

    InformationSatellite View
    As of 2020 there were 103 nature parks, comprising about 27 percent of the total land area of Germany and are brought together under the Association of German Nature Parks. In total there are 23,159 Protected Areas in Germany

  • *Wetlands

    WebsiteSatellite View
    Germany currently has 34 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites), with a surface area of 868,226 hectares.
Sightings, News & Forums

  • GBN - German Birdnet

    Forum
    Discussion of birds in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, in German.
Guides & Tour Operators

  • Birding Berlin - Rolf Nessing

    Information
    Rolf offers field trips getting to know the urban bird life within the city of Berlin, as well as full day trips in the immediate vicinity of Berlin or further afield. There are 46 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) around Berlin as well as one IBA in the city itself (as at 2003). He knows most of them like the back of his hand…

  • Birdingtours

    Tour Operator
    Why do more and more birders choose to travel with birdingtours? Because it is the German specialist for bird watching trips. Our qualified tour guides are ornithological experts with whom you enjoy a unique natural experience. With a group of like-minded people you will see more and learn more. Our trips are characterised by good organisation, good accommodation and local specialties...

  • Focuswings

    Guide
    Friendly, experienced birder-guide available as guide to show you species in Germany, Europe, India, SE Asia, Americas. Matt: over 30 years experience as a birder. Research member of e.g. Birdlife International award-winning project in Ecuador .

  • Naturetrek

    Tour Operator
    Tour Code: DEU03A 5-day birdwatching break to north-east Germany in search of migrating Cranes as well as wintering Great Bustard, geese, ducks and raptors.
Trip Reports

  • 2015 [08 August] - Julian Bell - Rhine Valley

    Report
    Although this was essentially a non-birding holiday there were still quite a few birds to see. Along the river Black Kite were numerous and obviously feeding young - their calls were often the first sign of their presence and they were regularly seen fishing. Other notable sightings (at least for a birder from UK/Norway) included Bee eaters, a flock of Garganey, Black Terns, White Stork and a decent variety of raptors.

  • 2018 [08 August] - Ben Locke

    Report
    Another family trip but as usual a bit of time spare for birding. This would be my first visit outside of winter, so even if I didn’t see many ‘lifers’ I was always going to add some new stuff to my German list…

  • 2019 [05 May] - Stefan Schlick - Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommmern)

    PDF Report
    For the first time in my life I ventured out to the states in the former East Germany for a 12-day birding trip. I also included 2 half-day birding outings when I was based out of Stuttgart (Baden-Wuerttemberg) to visit family...

  • 2023 [04 April] - Brian Carruthers

    e-bird pages

  • 2023 [04 April] - Daniel Watson

    PDF Report
    A total of 63 species were observed, with highlights including; White-tailed eagle, White stork, Short-toed treecreeper, Crested tit, Black, Middle-spotted and Lesser-spotted woodpeckers.

  • Germany birding reports

    Reports
    Birdwatching in Berlin and East Germany
Other Links

  • Bird Song Identification

    Website
    The new Bestseller and standard work for learning to identify birds by their song! Bird song identification made easy! Quick audio-visual learning system

  • Birder's Homepage - - Meine Vogelstimmen

    Website
    Bird calls & song and digitalfotos with wav-, mp3- und avi-files

  • Birder's Homepage - Rudy's Birding Page

    Website
    Welcome to my homepage. This site is an information-page about everything that is linked to my favourite hobby: birdwatching! Surprisingly, even for me, that everything turned out to be mostly gulls!! So they deserve their own Gull-index. Which means my actual birding page is now pretty stagnant…

  • Roland Fiala

    Website
    The bird songs of Europe

  • Translation of Bird Names

    Website
    On this site you can find recent reports of Bavarian birds and other topics - full, informative and colourful. And with links to other local and German sites - information in English

  • Vivara Naturschutzprodukte

    Website
    Alle Produkte werden speziell auf die Ansprüche wild lebender Kleintiere wie Vögel, Igel oder Fledermäuse hin entwickelt und regelmäßig von Ornithologen und Biologen analysiert und getestet…
Photographers & Artists

  • Artist - Christopher Schmidt

    Gallery
    A brillaint wildlife illustrator - this site is well worth a lengthy surfing session! [Fatbirder]

  • Artist - Heidi Lots

    Gallery
    Heidi is a self-taught artist born in Argentina - South America with German ancestors, now living in Germany..

  • Photographer

    Gallery
    Excellent bird photos from Germany

  • Photographer - Johannes Ferdinand - Bird Lens

    Gallery
    Bird Lens | Images for Science & Public | Western Palaearctic & the World

  • Photographer - Thomas Plack

    Gallery
    Some great bird photos on this growing site…

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