Winter comes fast

The last four weeks have been very exciting for the birdwatchers in Franconia. As it got colder, some interesting species could be observed at various places. One of the highlights was without doubt a Siberian Chiffchaff at the Altmühlsee in the end of October that stayed there for a couple of days. Stunning as well were the sightings of two Snow Buntings in northern Upper Franconia, a species which doesn't appear even annually so far south. One individual (1cy male) has even characters of the islandic/scottish subspecies insulae.

But even apart from the rarities anything points towards a good birding winter: There at least from my point of view notably more records of species like Bean Goose, Velvet Scoter and Great Grey Shrike. I'm convinced that this comes from the weather conditions in North-East Europe, which is probably the reason why there have been such exceptional numbers and records of far eastern rarities.
Anyway, winter is approaching fast. We will see what comes next.