diff --git a/app.js b/app.js
index d3c170f74..86363482f 100644
--- a/app.js
+++ b/app.js
@@ -291,9 +291,9 @@ function syncAndListen () {
         process.exit(1)
       }
     })
-  }).catch(() => {
+  }).catch((dbError) => {
     if (currentDBTry < maxDBTries) {
-      logger.warn(`Database cannot be reached. Try ${currentDBTry} of ${maxDBTries}.`)
+      logger.warn(`Database cannot be reached. Try ${currentDBTry} of ${maxDBTries}. (${dbError})`)
       currentDBTry++
       setTimeout(function () {
         syncAndListen()
diff --git a/public/docs/release-notes.md b/public/docs/release-notes.md
index 3ad8e92d4..4faf26257 100644
--- a/public/docs/release-notes.md
+++ b/public/docs/release-notes.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 ### Enhancements
 - Libravatar avatars render as ident-icons when no avatar image was uploaded to Libravatar or Gravatar
+- Add database connection error message to log output
 
 ## <i class="fa fa-tag"></i> 1.9.2 <i class="fa fa-calendar-o"></i> 2021-12-03