BIRDWATCHING in the Oder-Spree Lake District

Birds are real symbols of sympathy. For many people, observing the feathered world is part of the perfect nature experience. It is all the more surprising that hardly any holiday region exploits this potential and includes bird watching in its tourist offerings. The Oder-Spree Lake District Tourism Association, together with the LEADER region of Märkische Seen, is now taking on a pioneering role and, together with stakeholders from tourism, research and nature conservation, is developing offers that focus on the region's bird life and make it accessible to guests and locals alike. The Oder-Spree Lake District offers impressive nature experiences in every season. In winter, thousands of water birds settle on the numerous lakes, in spring, song can be heard from almost every tree, in summer the parent birds can be observed with their young, and in autumn the cranes are impressive. In the seven designated observation areas: at the Altfriedländer Teiche, in the Märkische Schweiz, at Mönchwinkel on the Spree, as well as at the Scharmützelsee and Storkower See, at the Groß Schauener Seenkette, in the Reicherskreuzer Heide and the Ziltendorfer Niederungen, there are numerous birds to hear and see. In some cases, infrastructure is already in place there. From observation towers or footbridges, observers can use binoculars to get a clear view of the feathered friends. In addition to the typical activities such as cycling, hiking or canoeing, bird watching should also be a reason to travel to Brandenburg's largest and most water-rich travel region in the future and bring added value to the Oder-Spree Lake District. "Creating a sustainable nature experience and further expanding slow tourism are the most important building blocks of the tourist offer in the Oder-Spree Lake District. It is worth integrating bird watching and exploiting its potential for tourism. Of course, always in compliance with species and nature conservation," says Ellen Rußig, Managing Director of the Seenland Oder-Spree Tourism Association. A lot of information about the various observation areas, bird species and seasonal highlights can be found on the website of the Seenland Oder Spree Tourism Association. (www.seenland-oderspree.de/seenland-erleben/birdwatching) There is also a podcast there in which the avifaunists Kai Pagenkopf and Hermann Mattes talk about their passion for bird watching. The BIRDRACE, which took place across Germany on May 6th and in which almost 900 teams with almost 2.500 bird racers took part, also kicked off in the Seenland Oder-Spree. In a next step, signs with a QR code will be attached to the designated observation hotspots. This leads to the platform www.ornitho.de, where amateur ornithologists can also enter their observations in order to get an overview of ornithological events in Germany.