It was just another winter day in the city without snow under low grey skies with a little drizzle. But one need to find beauty also in this colorless world. I decided to count birds on former Danube river arm called Chorvátske rameno that passes through Petržalka - largest borough of housing blocks in Central Europe. Despite its artificial banks this thin 5km long line of water offers you nice opportunities to observe common wintering birds of urban areas. I found there 29 Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) - one with metal ring on its leg, that was ringed in Poland, 112 Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), 1 Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) flew overhead, 1 Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), 24 Coots (Fulica atra), 113 Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) and 1 Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus). After that I met with Katka and we went to check the lake Veľký Draždiak. We used our "special method" of reading the numbers of some ringed Mute Swans. Local birds are used to feeding and it is only matter of seconds as they arrive to "your" side. We noted and read several ringed Mute Swans. One needs to check the center of the lake if there is any lone bird. In previous winters we found here Black-throated Diver (Gavia arctica) or Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca). There was one such bird but for today it was "only" female Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula).
