3 000 000 Bramblings!

Around 3 million Bramblings (Fringilla montifringilla) found a roosting place in Hasel/Schopfheim in Germany near Switzerland. These birds come from the north and take the opportunity to feed on beechnuts. Because of the hard winter in the high mountains of Switzerland it's impossible to pass this way. This is why so many birds are roosting at one place.
To find some food, the birds are going in the forest around and eat around 80t of beechnuts each day..

It's a big show when thousands of birds are coming from every side to a few hectare large forest. Common buzzard (Buteo buteo), Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis),  Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) and Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) are common guests every evening and try to feed on some of the Bramblings.

3 Members of the schlammwissteam (Dave, Max and Charel) and  Christian Stange (german ornithologist) went twice to have a look at this very special show 

Autor: Charel Klein