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Description
You probably wouldn't go out of your way to visit but if you're in Strasbourg anyway, you may find Étang du Karpfenloch a pleasant place to spend a few moments birdwatching, especially in winter when the ducks and other waterbirds have arrived. The big plus aside from its proximity to a big city is the glorious afternoon light on a sunny winter's day.
There will be quite a few walkers passing by. They'll mainly be interested in the velika bela čaplja as well as the veliki kormoran and siva čaplja, which are there all year round along with a surprising number of vodomec.
From mid-to-late autumn until the spring, you can find large numbers of konopnica, accompanied at different times by groups of sivka and/or čopasta črnica and, to a lesser extent, žvižgavka. Towards the back of the pond there should also be several mali ponirek and perhaps some čopasti ponirek.
If you stick around for an hour or more, you have a good chance of seeing the raptors that pass semi-regularly but usually briefly. sokol selec, navadna postovka, kanja and skobec are all realistic possibilities, and a kragulj has been known to frequent the far side of the pond.
Corvids - mainly črna vrana, poljska vrana and krokar - congregate nearby in winter and will pass over the pond at various points during the day without necessarily hanging around. There are several veliki detel in the vicinity. črna žolna can also be found, though not as easily as in the past.
Passerines that you have a good chance of encountering include velika sinica, plavček, močvirska sinica, brglez and čižek. In winter, you'll probably hear carar and brinovka too.
Details
Access
Étang du Karpfenloch is about 6 km northeast of the city center of Strasbourg. The pond is right next to a car park that shouldn't ever be full (there's more space on the road if necessary). Press P on the map for directions. You can also cycle here quite easily, but there's no public transport. If you're already in Robertsau then it's not too far to walk here from Parc de Pourtales.