Bird songs (common European)

Common Blackbird

The blackbird is one of the commonest birds in gardens and parks. The male is jet black with a yellow bill, the female brown; its song is among the most beautiful of native birds.

💡 Did you know? The blackbird was originally a shy forest bird and only later became a familiar city dweller.

European Robin

The robin is unmistakable with its orange-red breast and one of the best-loved garden birds. It is not very shy and often follows gardeners to snatch worms turned up by the spade.

💡 Did you know? The robin even sings at night under streetlights and defends its territory fiercely.

Great Tit

The great tit is the largest and commonest native tit. It is very confiding at bird feeders and a regular winter visitor.

💡 Did you know? The great tit is the largest native tit and has a black stripe down its chest.

Eurasian Blue Tit

The blue tit is smaller than the great tit and recognised by its blue cap and wings. It clambers acrobatically upside down on twigs and fat balls.

💡 Did you know? The small blue tit is easy to spot by its blue cap and is an acrobatic climber.

Common Chaffinch

The chaffinch is one of the commonest birds in Europe. The male stands out with its rusty-red breast and blue-grey cap.

💡 Did you know? The chaffinch is one of Europe's commonest birds; its song varies regionally almost like a 'dialect'.

Common Chiffchaff

The chiffchaff is a tiny, drab olive-brown warbler: hard to tell from the willow warbler except by its song.

💡 Did you know? The chiffchaff names itself: its call sounds like 'chiff-chaff'.

Willow Warbler

The willow warbler is a dainty warbler with a yellowish breast: it sings a soft, descending phrase.

💡 Did you know? Willow warbler and chiffchaff look almost identical: only the song tells them apart.

Song Thrush

The song thrush is a brownish thrush with a spotted breast and a loud, varied song.

💡 Did you know? The song thrush repeats each phrase of its song several times.

Common Starling

In breeding plumage the starling is black with a metallic sheen and pale spots. It is a gifted mimic and outside the breeding season forms huge flocks.

💡 Did you know? Starlings form huge flocks that make billowing patterns in the evening sky.

House Sparrow

The house sparrow, or sparrow, lives sociably close to humans. In many cities it has become scarcer despite once being so common.

💡 Did you know? The house sparrow has lived close to humans for thousands of years.

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

The tree sparrow resembles the house sparrow but lives more on the edge of towns and in open country. Males and females look alike: unlike the house sparrow.

💡 Did you know? Unlike the house sparrow, the tree sparrow has a brown crown and a black cheek spot.

European Greenfinch

The greenfinch is a sturdy, olive-green finch with yellow markings. It is a common visitor to feeders and lives on seeds.

💡 Did you know? In flight the greenfinch shows striking yellow flashes on wings and tail.

European Goldfinch

The goldfinch is unmistakable with its red face and yellow wing bars: a colourful finch.

💡 Did you know? Its German name 'thistle finch' comes from the way it deftly picks seeds from thistles.

Eurasian Wren

The wren is one of the smallest native birds and usually cocks its short tail jauntily. It lives hidden in dense undergrowth.

💡 Did you know? The tiny wren has an astonishingly loud, trilling voice for its size.

Dunnock

The dunnock is a sparrow-sized, drab brown bird. It usually stays hidden on the ground and is therefore often overlooked.

💡 Did you know? The inconspicuous dunnock usually creeps mouse-like along the ground through the undergrowth.

Eurasian Nuthatch

The nuthatch is a compact, blue-grey bird with a black eye-stripe that scurries nimbly along tree trunks. It plasters its nest hole with mud to the right size.

💡 Did you know? The nuthatch is the only native bird that can run head-first down a tree trunk.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

The great spotted woodpecker is Germany's commonest woodpecker, black and white with a red patch. You often hear it before you see it: by its typical drumming and loud calls.

💡 Did you know? Its drumming on tree trunks is not for finding food but a far-carrying territorial signal.

European Green Woodpecker

The green woodpecker has green plumage and a red cap and often forages on the ground: mainly for ants.

💡 Did you know? The green woodpecker 'laughs': its call sounds like mocking laughter.

Common Cuckoo

The cuckoo is a slim, dove-sized bird: better known for the call that gives it its name than for its looks.

💡 Did you know? The cuckoo lays its eggs in other birds' nests and lets them do the raising.

Eurasian Blackcap

The blackcap is an inconspicuous grey songbird with a distinctive cap. Its varied, flute-like song is among the most beautiful of native birds.

💡 Did you know? It is named after its black (male) or brown (female) cap.

Common Swift

The swift looks like a swallow but is larger and a true master of flight. It lands only briefly at tall buildings to breed: otherwise it stays constantly airborne.

💡 Did you know? The swift spends almost its whole life in the air: it eats, sleeps and mates on the wing.

Carrion Crow

The carrion crow is an entirely black, sturdy member of the crow family. Crows are among the most intelligent birds and can even solve tricky puzzles.

💡 Did you know? Carrion crows are considered extremely intelligent and even use tools.

Eurasian Magpie

The magpie is a striking black-and-white member of the crow family with a long tail. It is considered especially clever; its reputation as a thief of shiny objects, though, is exaggerated.

💡 Did you know? The magpie is one of the few animals that can recognise itself in a mirror.

Eurasian Jay

The jay is a colourful member of the crow family with strikingly blue-patterned wing feathers. As the 'police of the woods' it warns other animals of danger with loud screeching.

💡 Did you know? The jay buries thousands of acorns as a winter store and so unintentionally plants new oak trees.

Red Kite

The red kite is an elegant raptor with rusty-red plumage and a deeply forked tail: Germany bears special responsibility for it.

💡 Did you know? The fork-tailed red kite has much of its population in Germany.

Common Buzzard

The common buzzard is central Europe's most common raptor: often seen circling or perched on fence posts.

💡 Did you know? The common buzzard is the most common bird of prey in Central Europe.

Eurasian Collared Dove

The collared dove is a slim, pale-buff dove with a narrow black neck band. It lives almost exclusively close to humans.

💡 Did you know? In the 20th century the collared dove spread across the whole of Europe within a few decades.

Common Wood Pigeon

The wood pigeon is the largest native pigeon: known by the white neck patch and white wing bars.

💡 Did you know? The wood pigeon is the largest pigeon in Europe.

White Wagtail

The white wagtail is a slim black, white and grey bird with a very long tail. It trips across open ground and paths, often near water.

💡 Did you know? The wagtail constantly bobs its long tail as it walks.

Yellowhammer

The yellowhammer is a bird of open farmland; the male glows yellow on head and breast. From raised perches it sings its song tirelessly.

💡 Did you know? The yellowhammer's song is often described in English as 'a little bit of bread and no cheese'.