Birding, Lists

Ten birds seen in my parents’ garden in Northern Germany and in Shanghai

April 24, 2025 by Kai Pflug 5 Comments

Eurasia is a vast stretch of land – the distance between the westernmost point in Europe (Cape Roca, Portugal) to the easternmost point in continental Asia (near Vladivostok, Russia) is roughly 10,000 kilometers. And yet, many of the bird species are remarkably similar throughout this landmass.

Personally, I am reminded of that when seeing birds in Shanghai that I have seen in my parents’ garden in Northern Germany (Visselhoevede, to be exact). Here are ten such birds. The left-hand side photo was taken in said garden, the right-hand side photo in Shanghai.

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Eurasian Siskin

Brambling

Hawfinch

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Common Crane

Eurasian Jay

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Black Redstart

Barn Swallow

Long-tailed Tit

P.S. I might write less self-indulgent posts again in the future.

Written by Kai Pflug
Kai has lived in Shanghai for 21 years. He only started birding after moving to China, so he is far more familiar with Chinese birds than the ones back in his native Germany. As a birder, he considers himself strictly average and tries to make up for it with photography, which he shares on a separate website. Alas, most of the photos are pretty average as well.He hopes that few clients of his consulting firm—focused on China’s chemical industry—ever find this blog, as it might raise questions about his professional priorities. Much of his time is spent either editing posts for 10,000 Birds or cleaning the litter boxes of his numerous indoor cats. He occasionally considers writing a piece comparing the two activities.