Hamburg

Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany one of the 16 German federal states. It covers an area of 755.09 km² (291.54 square miles) and has a population of around 5.5 million people. It is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north and Lower Saxony to the south.

Hamburg lies on the River Elbe and two of its tributaries, the River Alster and the River Bille and is Europe’s third-largest port. Economically and culturally, Hamburg is also the centre of Northern Germany. The city area is seven times larger than Paris and over twice as large as London.

Hamburg is at a sheltered natural harbour on the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula with the North Sea to the west and the Baltic Sea to the northeast. The city centre is around the Binnenalster (Inner Alster) and Außenalster (Outer Alster), lakes both formed by damming the Alster river. The islands of Neuwerk, Scharhörn, and Nigehörn, 100 kilometres (60 miles) away in the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park, are also part of the city of Hamburg. Four Hamburg neighbourhoods; Neuenfelde, Cranz, Francop and Finkenwerder are part of the Altes Land (old land) region, the largest contiguous fruit-producing region in Central Europe.

Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park – ©Ralf Roletschek CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The many streams, rivers, and canals are crossed by some 2,500 bridges, more than London, Amsterdam, and Venice put together. Hamburg has more bridges inside its city limits than any other city in the world. The state has a broadly oceanic climate with warm summers and mild winters. Nearby wetlands enjoy a maritime temperate climate.

Birding Hamburg

Some 14% of the city area is made up of green spaces and recreational areas providing a number of different habitats for urban birds.

The city has more than 160 breeding bird species with an annual average of four million breeding pairs. In addition, many migrants visit Hamburg on passage or use the city and its environs as a stopover. This is fostered by a diverse landscape (marsh, sandy coastal moorland, low-lying river courses and freshwater mudflats. About 8 % of the city area consists of nature reserves, 28 in all, of which 8 are designated EU SPAs.

Öjendorfer See – Public Domain via Wikipedia Commons

Recent successes have been the resettlement of a Peregrine Falcons, which started when a pair nested on a city cooling tower and another took up residence on  a giant crane facility close by a large colony of House Martins. It is a success story for raptors with White-tailed Eagle, Eurasian Goshawk, Peregrine Falcon and even Eagle Owls. Its woodland and grassland hold Common Crane, Black Woodpecker, Hawfinch and Red-backed Shrike. Whereas riverine and wetland habitats support Common Kingfisher and Great Bittern as well as various migratory ducks.

Duvenstedter Brook – ©Gunhild Peiniger, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Hamburg has a number of good birding spots. Duvenstedter Brook in the northeast is a massive nature reserve renowned for woodpeckers, Common Cranes and White-tailed Eagles. The Öjendorfer See is a large lake with varied habitats that is excellent all year-round for Great Bitterns and Kingfishers right in the city.  The Die Hohe & Die Reit wetlands in the southeast hold a great variety of raptors, scarce waders, and passerines. NSG Boberger Niederung is known for its diverse habitats (inland dunes and marshes) where you can find species like Red-backed Shrike.