Has the long winter tormented you as much as it has me? The cold season was particularly protracted this year. As a wildlife filmmaker, I naturally try to look ahead and have a clear plan for what I want to film in each month. However, I didn't expect to shoot snow in April.
But the last days and weeks have compensated for much. The landscape is coming back to life and the summer birds returning from the winter areas are enriching our biodiversity. Even before their arrival, our year-round bird species have fully prepared for spring.
The courtship of the great spotted woodpecker
The drumming of the great spotted woodpecker ushers in the transition from winter to spring, as it does every year, and is unmistakable. The drumming marks the courtship of the great spotted woodpecker and is mainly practiced by male great spotted woodpeckers. He uses it to delimit his territory, displaces male competitors and at the same time tries to attract a female. The female in turn, after arriving in the male's breeding territory, also looks for a preferably dead branch and communicates with her potential suitor by drumming.
In my spring video you get an impression of a drumming female, which you can identify by the only black and white neck. The male, on the other hand, has a red spot on his neck. Together, the two spotted woodpeckers provide a special spring concert in the forest, which makes the hearts of nature lovers beat faster. It's always amazing how some animal species can communicate with each other.
Spring time is breeding time
In addition to its great acoustics, the great spotted woodpecker also has a very important role. As a natural "carpenter" he creates every year several breeding cavities in trees, which are then in turn also used by many other animals. Among others also the crested tit, the chaffinch or the nuthatch, which appear in my video. They all appreciate the work of the great spotted woodpecker and rent a place with him. The wren, for example, is different. It builds its own nests and then looks for a conspicuous branch from which to attract a female to its self-built nest with its song. I was finally able to capture the small and agile wren well this March after several attempts. It is very difficult to film him, because he hardly stands out in his habitat with a brown color and also hardly sits still for a long time.
I hope you like my little spring video. With more spring impressions from the past days and the next weeks I will of course keep you up to date here.
Otherwise, just enjoy the time outside. It is worth it.
Many greetings,
PS.: In the Wildlife Blog of CareElite you can get more impressions of the wilderness in Germany. For example you can find there my best shots of the german wilderness 2017 see
