I got a package from Germany this past week and it was my copy of A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Franconia by German birder Thomas Büttel. Franconia is a region of northern Bavaria in Southern Germany, and two of the major cities in the area are Nuremburg and Bamberg.
Thomas emailed me back in October to ask if I could help him with his new English-language birding guide. Thomas’s English is very good (miles better than my nonexistent German!), but I helped with some editing.
“A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Franconia” covers 10 sites in the area, lists the best times to visit, and provides suitable places for finding the region’s specialty species, from Ortolan Buntings to Red-breasted Flycatchers and other difficult-to-find species. Each site description provides information on species in the area, which species you can expect to see during each season, car and public transport access, maps, and GPS coordinates. There’s a checklist with all the species at the back of the guide as well as other useful resources. 
You can download the guide for free from the Birding Franconia website or you can buy a hard copy for 4€ plus postage ($6.25 in Canadian dollars and $4.35 US). The website and the guides are available in both English and German.
If you’re planning on birding in Southern Germany, specifically the Franconia area, this new guide is a very helpful resource.
Thank you very much for sending me the guide, Thomas, and also for the kind mention in the guide. I was happy to be a little bit of help in what is a great birding project.
Prairie Birder 