Growing up in the countryside of Britain during the 1950s, I always was fascinated by the sight and sound of the yellowhammer. It belongs to the bunting family and is sparrow-sized at 6.5 inches (16.5 cm) in length. The males would sing from the tops …
Female and male bullfinch There was a small apple orchard close to our farm in the early 1950s that was one of my preferred childhood patches for bird watching. I would go there to watch jackdaws, woodpeckers, starlings, blackbirds, and thrushes, but during spring, I …
Great black-backed gull
There were never great black-backed gulls around the farm during my childhood, and only a few wintered close to York. I had to go to the seaside if I wished to see them. Great black-backed gulls are the largest gull in the world, measuring on average 30 inches (75cm) in length. By comparison, an adult golden eagle ranges in size from 27 to 33 inches (70 to 84 cm).
These birds were seen regularly by me at Spurn Point during the 1960s, and occasionally I would watch them as they attacked other birds. They were aggressive and vicious. The prey they caught included smaller gulls, terns, and ducks, as well as migrating songbirds that they swallowed immediately they were seized. Once I watched a great black-backed gull chase a tern out at sea ; it attacked its prey while in flight, repeatedly jabbing the poor tern until the exhausted bird collapsed into the water where it was eaten. They also chase birds to rob them of the food the bird has already caught. I also saw them during a 1968 visit to Minsmere Nature Reserve that is described in chapter 22 of my novel She Wore a Yellow Dress.
Great black-backed gulls chasing an osprey
The great black-backed gull is nicknamed “the minister-of-the-sea”, or “coffin-bearer”, presumably because of the adult’s crisp black and white appearance. You can identify the birds by their size, the black coloration on their broad upper wings, the gleaming white head, big yellow bill and orange-red spot on the lower mandible, plus pinkish legs and yellowish eyes.
It is a species whose fortunes have been closely linked to its relationship with humans. During the 1800s, great black-backed gulls were harvested for their feathers which were used by the hat-making trade, and as soon as this practice ended, their numbers rebounded. The use of garbage dumps and other sources of human refuse have also helped them add to their numbers and expand their territory. Today about 35,000 birds breed in the UK, and this number increases to around 75,000 during winter when migrating birds arrive from the north.
Great black-backed gulls gathering
The range of the great black-backed gull extends across northern Europe and over the Atlantic to North America’s Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes. There are an estimated 800,000 birds worldwide, of which about 350,000 are resident in Europe. These gulls are closely monitored in the UK in circumstances when they choose to nest close to humans and create a risk to human safety. Thus the bird is kept on the conservation amber watch list in Britain. In North America, its status is classified as Least Concern since its range is expanding and its numbers increasing.
Great black-backed gulls Range Map
Once I moved to California, I could no longer see these powerful and dominating gulls. In California, the largest gull is the western gull which measures around 25 inches (64 cm) in length. It lives along the Pacific Coast, ranging from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California in Mexico. However, there is nothing fierce or aggressive about this species. It feeds on fish and invertebrates and consumes roadkill on land. Because of its restricted distribution, its population is relatively small at around 120,000 individual birds. This compares to the smaller California gull, that has a similar range, whose population is estimated at 600,000. I usually observe both species here daily in the San Francisco Bay Area. Because its population is stable western gulls are classified Least Concern for conservation purposes.
Western gull
Their plumage is mainly bright white, although their back and wings are colored dark gray and they have black plumage with white spots at the rear edges of their wings. Their beaks are thick and bright yellow and display a red spot on the front of their lower bill. Their legs are pink. These gulls are strictly carnivores and eat mostly fish and marine invertebrates.
Western gull Range Map
The future of both the great black-backed gull and western gull appear to rest heavily on their relationship with humans, plus the flexibility of their diet. Temperature changes have both positive and negative effect on their livelihood. For example, as sea water warms and plankton sinks into deeper and colder water, the fish follow them down and become less available to surface-eating birds. Conversely, in Europe’s North Sea, global warming has created an abundance of swimming crabs.
One final word is to acknowledge the many different species of gull around the world – over 50 species – and the difficulty this causes in identifying individual gull species because they often look alike. In the UK, there are six types of commonly occurring gull (common gull, black-headed, herring gull, kittiwake, lesser black-backed, and of course, the King of the Atlantic, the great black-backed gull. That number is in the process of rising to seven as the Mediterranean gull makes its home in Britain.
In North America, there are 28 types of gull. California hosts five relatively common species (California gull, ring-billed gull, glaucous-winged gull, Heerman’s gull, and of course, the very visible western gull), but this number dramatically increases in winter when California is home to several migrating species such as the herring gull, Thayer’s gull, and Sabine’s gull. I continue to develop my abilities to identify each species rather than clump them together as “seagulls”!
Great black-backed gulls by age
It was 1958, I was 14, and had recently joined the York Bootham School Natural History Club to broaden my knowledge of birds and to learn of the best birding spots near York. 138 species were listed by the School, and I had probably seen …
Growing up with blue tits on the farm is one of my earliest memories. These feisty little birds (4.5 in/12 cm in length) were noisy, sociable, and inquisitive, and the moment we hung up bacon rind after breakfast, they would be there, hanging upside down, …
Red-necked phalarope
Sexual dimorphism was not something that had significance to me during my juvenile years as a bird watcher. I sometimes wondered why the female blackbirds were brown and why it was more difficult to identify female chaffinches and bullfinches than their more colorful mates. Probably the clearest example of this distinction was the pheasant, with the male’s rich chestnut and golden brown body contrasted with the female’s rather dowdy pale brown and black plumage. Of about 10,300 species of bird globally, virtually all are either monomorphic or sexually dimorphic where the male is the more brightly colored. I had yet to encounter the phalaropes, a variety of shorebird, that contradict the usual sex role. The female possesses the more brightly colored plumage, does not incubate the eggs, and may breed with multiple mates (polyandry).
The male chaffinch
The female chaffinch
My mother told me how male birds needed to compete to attract their mates and were the dominant partner during breeding. I was not convinced. When I looked at humans it was the female that wore the colorful clothing and ornamentation. Later on at Hull University, where I studied Geography, I learned that there are many cultures around the world where it is the male that wears the flamboyant clothing. I describe my years at Hull in the early chapters of my novel She Wore a Yellow Dress.
It was not until I moved to California that I came across phalaropes and witnessed reverse sexual dimorphism for the first time. There are three species of phalarope, all of which display this phenomenon, and the one I most typically see is the red-necked variety. Females are the more brightly colored bird and it is they that select their male partner. After the female chooses the nesting site, the male builds the nest, incubates the eggs, and nurtures the offspring, while the female goes off and may mate with other males.
Red-necked phalarope Range Map: pink – breeding; green – migration; blue – winter.
The red-necked phalarope and grey phalarope (or red phalarope as it is called in North America) are found both in Europe and North America, whereas the Wilson’s phalarope is restricted to the Americas. It is named after a Scottish-American ornithologist. These are small, delicate-looking waders, ranging in length from about seven inches (18 cm) for the red-necked phalarope, to up to nine inches (23 cm) for the larger Wilson’s phalarope.
Red phalarope, breeding female
Red phalarope, non-breeding adult
Back in my early days, I hoped to spot either a red-necked or gray phalarope at Spurn Point during the 1960s visits but was unsuccessful. Both species are quite rare. The red-necked phalarope breeds in the UK, but no more than about 30 pairs, and these are located primarily in the western and northern Isles of Scotland. During fall, additional birds from Iceland, the Faroes and Scandinavia pass down the east coast, and it was one of these I had hoped to see. Some travel south-westward to migrate across the Atlantic and eventually arrive in the tropical parts of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, a journey of up to 6,200 miles (10,000 km). There they are joined by North American birds. Other European red-necked phalaropes turn south-east, and travel about 3,700 miles (6,000 km) to spend winter on the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean.
Red phalarope Range Map
Gray phalaropes are an Arctic-breeding bird and are much rarer in the UK than the red-necked phalarope. They only migrate over the sea and their appearance on land is usually caused by birds being blown off course by storms. There are around 200 sightings per year in the UK. Gray phalaropes spend winter on the open sea off the west coast of South Africa. In North America, this species is known as the red phalarope, and breeds in the northern region of the continent, and for winter, they travel to the southern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Wilson’s phalarope image and Wilson’s phalarope Range Map
Wilson’s phalaropes nest in the north-west United States and Canada and migrate for winter along the west side of the continent to South America They move in large flocks and use a series of stopovers at places like the Great Salt Lake, Mono Lake, and the Salton Sea, as well as at sewage ponds and smaller wetlands. Like the other species, they spin to stir up their food and eat so much on stopovers that they can double their body weight.
Flock of Wilson’s phalaropes over Mono Lake
Estimates are that there are around 4 million red-necked phalaropes worldwide, about 2.2 million red/gray phalaropes, and a global breeding population of 1.5 individual birds for Wilson’s phalarope. They maintain sufficient numbers that they are of low conservation concern. The exception is the red-necked variety in the UK where global warming is pushing its breeding territory northwards and the bird has not bred in Northern Ireland since 1980. Its conservation status in Britain is red. It also suffers population declines in places like eastern Canada where the loss of prairie wetlands has affected its numbers. Similarly, Wilson’s phalarope that nests in freshwater marshes sufferS from the drainage of wetlands.
The origin of the birds’ name is unclear; it maybe French. Phalaropes are strikingly beautiful and delicate-looking birds, with strong-willed females!
For 10 years, starting in the early 1950s, my family spent a summer week’s holiday in a rented bungalow on the coastal hillside at Reighton Gap near Filey, Yorkshire. The bungalow has since been demolished. Nearby, to the south-east, stood the hard chalk outcrops forming …
Long-billed dowitcher Early during my bird watching career, I recorded mainly everyday species around my home near York, but at the start of the 1960s, at the age of 16, I took my first journey to Spurn Point. Here my ornithological expectations quickly changed. I …
Male whitethroat
The whitethroat is a bird I became acquainted without knowing its name. I must have been eight years old, and riding a two-wheeler bicycle when I fell into a bed of stinging nettles along the farm driveway. It was painful experience and the reddened rashes covered my arms and face. Once I had rubbed the rashes with dock leaves, I wanted atonement. I took the undersized scythe from the farm shed and set about destroying this hurtful vegetation. Close to the hen house, unexpectedly, there appeared a cup-shaped nest made out of grass and plant fibers, strung between several nettle stems. I looked inside. There were three small greenish – gray eggs with dark markings. I immediately stopped cutting but could see no sign of the parents. The eggs remained there for several days and I eventually took them to add to my egg collection. It was only later that my grandfather told me that I had found the nest of a whitethroat.
Eggs of the whitethroat
The whitethroat is a small passerine bird that has a pure white throat, rusty-colored upper parts and pale buff under parts. The male possesses a grey head that is absent on the female whose coloring is duller and browner than the male. Whitethroats are summer visitors to the UK and the books I have retained from the mid-1950s indicate that these birds were common and widespread around York, the area in which I lived. They nest among undergrowth, in lower parts of bushes, among bramble (blackberry) patches, and in nettle beds, and have gained the nickname of “nettle creepers”. They rely on insects for food.
The female whitethroat
My teenage bird notebook records that I also saw a lesser whitethroat during May 1960, although I cannot recollect where this was. The lesser species is not as common (about 75,000 breeding pairs in Britain today), and is found mainly in central and southern England. The bird is smaller than the regular whitethroat (also named the greater whitethroat), and is identified by its greyer upper parts and the silky white plumage below. It is a secretive bird, often remaining hidden in bushes and hedges. Both types of whitethroat are Old World species and not present in North America except as rare vagrants.
Lesser whitethroat
Whitethroats typically arrive in the UK during mid to late April and return to their wintering grounds starting late August. They begin their spring journey in the Sahel Region of central Africa (Senegal eastward to Sudan), and follow a route that can be as long as up to 3500 miles (6,000km). They travel by night, using high altitude tail winds to speed their progress, and consume Salvadora berries to give them the necessary energy. The greater whitethroat uses a conventional north-south route between its wintering and breeding grounds, whereas the lesser whitethroats travel to Europe using an elliptical route around the eastern Mediterranean.
Map of the Sahel Region, Africa
There is an estimated population of 45 million whitethroats, of which 50 percent breed in Europe. The UK population is estimated at around 1.1 million pairs, although with habitat deterioration in the Sahel Region, these numbers can vary dramatically between years. For example, a serious drought during the winter of 1968 in the Sahel Region resulted in a 90 percent reduction in the numbers arriving in Britain the following year. Temperature change is having an effect by advancing their spring migration by about five days. Both species currently have a conservation classification of “Least Concern” in the UK, meaning there is no significant reduction in numbers and species continue to maintain a significant breeding population.
Whitethroat range map: green breeding; light blue migration; dark blue wintering
Here in California, there are no whitethroats to see. Instead, I concentrate on a dozen species of warblers, cousins to whitethroats. Many of these birds also engage in long distance migration, and winter in central and southern South America. As in Europe, they are now starting their spring journey north several days earlier than they did in the past.
I look back with pleasure on recording my first relatively unusual bird, and I am delighted knowing that both species remain breeding successes in the UK. The situation in the Sahel Region of Africa, however, is worrisome. Droughts followed by destructive floods are more intense, and temperatures are rising faster there than in other parts of the world. The impact on people and agriculture is clear, but less apparent is the effect of climate change on the supply of of wind-born insects, the winter food supply of whitethroats.
Falcons have long, pointed wings and fly with strong, rapid wing-strokes. Hawks have rounded wings and in flight alternate between several rapid wing-beats and a short glide. As a result, even before I left primary school in the UK, I could recognize a kestrel from …
My Bird Blog is a series of “then and now” stories that combine my experiences as a juvenile birdwatcher in Britain during the 1950s and 1960s with my knowledge of the same species in California today. Each month I publish the details of a bird …
A Word from Hilda
The last two years have been quite an adventure. I never knew how fortunate I was to be alive. All my thanks go to my parents, but especially to my mother, who through her warmth, gave me a happy and caring childhood. It has been like a marathon having people guide and cheer me along the way. It was a race finding the truth about my German ancestry before it was too late. I must thank the author for all his hard work and endless hours of translating, researching, and writing.
Since I can remember, my mother always spoke about her wonderful childhood in Berlin and the beautiful home she grew up in. She told me about the staircase banister she would always slide down, which got her in trouble with her mother. Two years ago, when I was finally able to see that banister, I could imagine my mother as a child laughing as she went down that railing. After we left Berlin, I was visiting the Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna when it hit me how different my life would have been if Adolph Hitler had not persecuted Jews. I would’ve led a more prosperous and sophisticated existence.
The more information I found, the angrier I became about what had happened to my family. Ultimately, they were so proud to be United States citizens.
As I come to the conclusion of this story, I am pleased that my family continued with their new life in America and did not let the horrible injustices they experienced under Nazi persecution affect them for the rest of their lives. My mother would always say they had suffered enough for many generations to come.
Download as PDF 5. Early Revelations Several weeks later, back in Novato, California, Hilda was increasingly apprehensive about whether or not the woman in the Land Register would fulfill her commitment. Six weeks had passed, and the lady promised a reply within four. An irritated …
Download as PDF 4. The Vienna Connection The trip to Dresden took over three hours on another bright and warm day, and the tour participants arrived at their destination during early afternoon. On the way, the tour guide lectured them on the present-day economy, culture, …
3. The Land Register
Hilda slept soundly Sunday night, excited that the organized tour was beginning, and she would visit the District Court on Tuesday morning. Carlos had asked her to share the Court experience with the rest of the group during the Prague communal dinner in four nights time.
With her jet-lag beaten, she spent Monday in the company of her colleagues, sightseeing in the heart of Berlin. Thoughts of her mother returned just before lunch, during a visit to the concrete stelae of the Holocaust Memorial, nestled next to the Tiergarten and Brandenburg Gate, and close to the site where Hitler committed suicide. Her mother had lost her home to National Socialism, but at least she had survived the Holocaust. As Hilda sat among the cold, grey, concrete slabs, she felt a sense of achievement for her parents who had defied the horrors of anti-Semitism and established a new life for themselves in America. She recalled her mother’s praise for the courage and resilience of her own mother during the harsh years in Berlin under Nazi rule.
Monday evening, Hilda checked her tote bag to make sure it included her passport and birth certificate. She also checked to be certain she had her mother’s identification records in case they were needed to gain entry to the District Court. She intended to visit the Land Register where she hoped to inspect the ownership deeds for her family home. The limit of what she knew about the property was her grandparents lived there after they married in 1910, and it was confiscated during 1936.
The couple was told to leave the hotel around nine in the morning and use the U-Bahn to travel the Pankow to Ruhleben line. The train could be boarded at nearby Sansfelderplatz station, and they should get off at Sophie-Charlotte-Platz. Once there, it was only a short walk to the Charlottenburg District Court.
Early Tuesday, dressed in their smartest clothes, Hilda and John left the hotel to make use of the travel instructions given to them by the tour guide. Everything went smoothly and soon they were at their destination. A pair of imposing wooden doors greeted them and then, pushing hard, they found one of the entryways open to reveal a security gate obstructing further access. To the left was a security cage occupied by a solitary guard, protected behind a thick glass window. The female guard came to the see-through barrier and gruffly asked Hilda who she was, why she was there, did she have an appointment, and who was it she wanted to see? This was all in German and Hilda asked the questions to be repeated, more slowly the second time.
Neither Hilda nor John had any idea who they needed to speak with, and Hilda’s reply was made more difficult because the guard understood no English. In poorly spoken German, Hilda explained she was trying to trace family ownership of a nearby block of apartments and had been told the Court held land registry records. She’d recently arrived in Germany and did not have time to make an appointment, as she was leaving Berlin for Dresden the following morning.
The guard reacted skeptically, displaying signs suggesting she was suspicious of Hilda’s motives. She asked Hilda for her passport and her mother’s birth certificate. As these were handed over, Hilda asked the guard to take the letter that had been prepared in case Hilda and John were not allowed into the building. This seemed to unsettle the interrogator, who realized there was something she would have to do if entry was denied. Her attitude softened and she agreed to let them in. The security gate was released, Hilda was given a piece of paper on which a room number was scribbled, and the couple was instructed to go upstairs. The room number turned out to be the location of the General Inquiries office.
A few minutes later Hilda and John were in General Inquiries. A man and woman sat behind a desk monitoring the flow of visitors, but there were none present when the two arrived.
Hilda once again used her limited German to explain the reason for the visit, and once more, reactions were discouraging. A barrage of questions was asked that seemed intended to persuade them to go away. The woman receptionist asked to see Hilda’s mother’s birth certificate and evidence that she was no longer alive. The documents were provided.
Hilda was not a threatening person. She was somewhat petite and had a super-welcoming face that smiled whenever she talked. On this occasion, she nervously tugged at her light brown hair. The people behind the desk reluctantly decided to check their records. Whatever it was they were looking for, they found it. It changed their attitude and they became more cooperative, and the woman wrote down what appeared to be a property registry number, and passed the note to Hilda. Directions were given to visit the Land Register, or Grundbuch as they called it, and the couple was told this department could help them.
The building corridors were long, and the rooms were not clearly numbered, but eventually Hilda and John found the designated office and offered the piece of paper to a man at the desk. He seemed surprised that they had made it so far without an appointment. He took the piece of paper, and as soon as he confirmed the land plot number on the Registry of Deeds, he told his visitors to go next door.
This new room was larger and busier than anything Hilda and John had so far experienced. There was a large reception desk at one end, staffed by several individuals who seemed to be answering questions and passing packages to people who came and went. Along one side of the room was a shelf with a row of desktop computers, several of which were being used. It appeared many people were searching for property records. There were also several rows of chairs in the center of the room, most unoccupied, that were presumably for visitors to sit and wait until they were called to the front desk.
Hilda and John were unsure of what to do next. They sat and looked around. It appeared that clients were either accessing files online, or receiving physical copies at the reception desk. There was a young lady helping who seemed particularly friendly and Hilda took a liking towards her. She became the target of attention. Hilda approached her with a big smile and asked if she spoke English. She didn’t. Once more, using her limited German, Hilda explained who she was and why she was there. The woman reacted sympathetically and took away the piece of paper, asking her visitor to return to the chair. A few minutes later she beckoned Hilda back to the counter.
She spoke in German. “I will assist you. We have records and I can access them as soon as I have time. If you leave your address, I’ll send copies to your American home, but I need two weeks for research, and the mailing will probably take a similar length of time.”
Hilda’s persistence once more had been effective. She was delighted by the woman’s offer, which seemed genuine. She thanked the assistant and gave her the prepared letter since it included her home address.
People willing to help were always appreciated by Hilda, and on the way out she asked the security guard if there was a florist’s shop nearby. She was directed to a store across the street where she bought a bouquet of flowers and a vase to present as a thank-you gift to the helpful woman. On the return, the attendant waived Hilda and John into the building, asking that they deliver the flowers personally. The recipient’s reaction indicated she rarely received recognition from her clients.
After a quick lunch, the couple decided to take one final look at the apartment building and let the shopkeepers know what happened at the District Court. They used public transport and quickly found the property. The store owners were pleased to receive an update and congratulated Hilda and John on the results of their visit. They asked to be kept up-to-date by email, and repeated their recommendation that the Wir Waren Nachbarn Exhibition should be visited. It was within walking distance and time was available, so the couple decided to visit.
About forty minutes later, Hilda and John found themselves in a large display hall. It was an awe-inspiring exhibit, but somber and sad. The person in charge listened to Hilda explain her family’s history, and went off to research her files. A few minutes later she returned to say that there were no records of Hilda’s family, and the property address fell outside the geographic area served by the Exhibition. It was the first disappointment of the tour, but the willingness of the person to help was a welcome consolation.
That evening, the tour guide spoke to the couple to find out what happened during the day. He was pleased the visit was so successful. For Hilda, it was now a matter of wait and see. She trusted the lady at the Land Register and believed she would honor her promise. It was time to resume the tour and prepare for the bus journey to Dresden the following morning.
