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Switzerland 2023 (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Mcnswiss2
- Start date
Mcnswiss2
Well-known member
I love January 1st as all bird species count on my new BigYear List.
The target is 200 species…Those crazy birders here get over this..aiming for 300 species.
A short trip to Klingnauersee to boast numbers and to Nuglar for the Eagle Owl and Wallcreeper. The weather was an unbelievable 15C and Sunny…
Some 45 Species seen or heard.
Best birds seen included SparrowHawk, Eagle Owl, WallCreeper, Kingfishers.
A Great start to the New Year.
The target is 200 species…Those crazy birders here get over this..aiming for 300 species.
A short trip to Klingnauersee to boast numbers and to Nuglar for the Eagle Owl and Wallcreeper. The weather was an unbelievable 15C and Sunny…
Some 45 Species seen or heard.
Best birds seen included SparrowHawk, Eagle Owl, WallCreeper, Kingfishers.
A Great start to the New Year.
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Mcnswiss2
Well-known member
Typical..Red Breasted Goose reported at Klingnauersee..sigh ..why not yesterday.
Another great Sunny day with 15 C (but later turned to rain.)
A visit to Inkwilersee to hunt the Smew.
Both Male and Female Smews showing well.
Two or more Great Bitterns also seen.
A great start to the New Year.
Another great Sunny day with 15 C (but later turned to rain.)
A visit to Inkwilersee to hunt the Smew.
Both Male and Female Smews showing well.
Two or more Great Bitterns also seen.
A great start to the New Year.
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Richard Prior
Halfway up an Alp
Three of us did a (delayed by one day) New Year’s scoot around Yverdon from 8am. It took till after midday for the sun to eventually warm us up despite it having been 13.5 C in Geneva at 06.45 when we set off east! It’s been perhaps three years since I’ve done a winter’s day visit to Lake Neuchatel so for this mountain dweller it was a treat to see so many duck sp which are bread and butter to the locals of course. A wintering Common Sandpiper and Kingfisher were additional goodies for me. After Yverdon we moved to the Champ Pittet reserve on the eastern shore and had a few views of a Great Bittern in the reeds and two Black throated Diver offshore. Surprisingly quiet in the nice woodland though with unusually no finches about. We did a bit of dirty twitching on the way back, watching the overwintering Bar-tailed Godwit feeding with a flock of Gadwall(!) and three Moorhen on the lawns beside the Morges swimming pool, the Bar-tailed G only the 2nd I've seen in Switzerland. We dipped on the male Ring necked Duck further along the lake towards Geneva at Gland though. We ended up with 50 odd species seen or heard for the day.
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Mcnswiss2
Well-known member
A short visit to Klingnauersee with a friend.
Cold start to the day but warmed up later.
Some 40 species seen, including nice views of Great Bittern and Marsh Harriers.
Pygmy Cormorant still reported but the Red Breasted Goose may have left as one was reported in Flachsee.
Normally Saturday is not the best time to visit but early worms do catch the birds!
Cold start to the day but warmed up later.
Some 40 species seen, including nice views of Great Bittern and Marsh Harriers.
Pygmy Cormorant still reported but the Red Breasted Goose may have left as one was reported in Flachsee.
Normally Saturday is not the best time to visit but early worms do catch the birds!
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jurek
Well-known member
I visited Klingnauer Stausee too. Beautiful weather. Lots of people, and really charming was an old lady on a wheelchair, both her and a woman helping her with binoculars. Little Egret, Bittern and a fox were oblivious to groups of photographers. Little Grebes are already 'bubbling' in places they usually breed, and Great Crested Grebes begin displays.
There used to be few pairs of Grey Herons breeding on the lake, who knows where they moved?
There used to be few pairs of Grey Herons breeding on the lake, who knows where they moved?
Mcnswiss2
Well-known member
More friends so more trips to Klingnauersee.
Weather turned cold and wet.
Bittern showing well and several Water Rails made an appearance.
But rain stopped play, leaving us on a score of 45 species for the day.
Weather turned cold and wet.
Bittern showing well and several Water Rails made an appearance.
But rain stopped play, leaving us on a score of 45 species for the day.
Attachments
dalat
...
Checked out the local Wallcreeper spot last week and it was there indeed. It's easy to reach, in the town of St. Gallen, on a railway viaduct. Needs some luck though and the views are usually distant. There is also an ancient wooden bridge which is a perfect spot to watch and photograph dippers.
goo.gl
47°24'03.1"N 9°19'32.2"E
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MJB
Well-known member
I've read a suggestion that the vibrations of trains crossing viaducts cause invertebrates to move towards the entrances of their recesses, and that Wallcreepers are able to benefit from this behaviour...
MJB
MJB
Well-known member
Their breeding sites are high up on steep, mostly bare rock faces where strong gusty (and noisy!) winds are commonplace, as are thunderstorms, possibly factors in inuring them to loud noises...
MJB
Richard Prior
Halfway up an Alp
A second birding visit to Switzerland on Saturday 14th saw Bittern and I go across the Rösti line into an area where I feel completely useless as I don’t speak German! The weather forecast was dry and up to 9C with no wind but it turned out to be colder, reaching only 5.5C by midday. We first visited Fanel, at least 5 years since I was last there, arriving around 9am., so few birders to be seen at first. Speaking of ‘birders’, the big difference I noticed this time was that of the twenty or so people we crossed there and later at Krummi I was the only one toting a ‘scope, virtually all the other folk were sporting cameras and bins ( sometimes only a camera).
We fairly quickly picked out the two Tundra Bean Geese that are wintering in the fields to the north of the canal that splits the site in two and were pleased to see several Tree Sparrow around the almost empty car park. A super flock of c100 Curlew were a splendid sight and sound for this mountain dweller and at least three Cattle Egret were nearby, getting down and dirty with some pigs. So, which side of the canal to follow (always a tricky decision here as at the end of the day it’s common to discover that something rare/ unusual was seen on the side we chose not to walk*)? As our combined age is over 150
the idea of attempting both northern and southern sides was not even up for debate so we chose the northern option alongside the waterway which skirts some fields and hedges/trees before turning right through the reedbed with a couple of ponds. The track finishes at the observation tower that overlooks Lake Neuchatel’s eastern end and the end of the canal as it reaches the lake. Goosander, Grey Heron and Cormorant were along the canal, but no Kingfisher, they’re pretty regular here as a rule. I spotted a promising looking blob atop a distant tree and with the ‘scope confirmed my suspicions that it was indeed a Great Grey Shrike, generously staying put to preen as we admired it. A few equally cooperative Great Egret, Teal and Shoveler were on the nearest pond and climbing up into the glacial hide we were able to scan the lake for wildfowl and across the fields and the reedbed for possible Marsh Harrier, Bearded Reedling etc. No luck with those this time and the wind off the lake made for difficult searching. After a few minutes I realized we were the only ones actually doing what I would call birding, the other half a dozen people in the hide were chatting about lenses and focal lengths(!) and occasionally looking across the field at a perched up White-tailed Eagle, presumably hoping to get a good in-flight shot. The 2nd year Eagle is one of the first releases of a (re?)introduction scheme based at a Bird of Prey Zoo near Geneva (but in France not Switzerland).
Unusually for Fanel at this time of year there were no Whooper Swan to be seen amongst the 100plus Mute present and the wind made the chances of hearing Beardies pinging remote to say the least. Ducks were still in relatively short supply, no doubt due to the continuing mild-ish winter but Pintail, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Mallard, Teal and Tufted Duck were seen. As we retreated from the tower before hypothermia set in 😬we heard crows alarming and sure enough a Goshawk crossed the pond in front of us. We then drove the short distance to the Krummi reserve, a marshy area surrounded by crop fields and set asides to eat our sandwiches in the car. Plenty of Wigeon there and a noisy flock of c20 Ruddy Shelduck moving to and fro, the area supporting a good population of Kestrel thanks to a lot of nestboxes having been installed (Little Owl benefitting from a similar scheme there too). We opted for a walk around the fields hoping for a Hen Harrier or another shrike but noticed a male Peregrine surveying us from a nearby electricity pole, a Red Kite and a Magpie seemed interested and we realized the Falcon had been having lunch like us. It flew off and its prey fell to the ground, a 2nd year Black-headed Gull! A Grey Wagtail in the ditch made up for the lack of Pipits or Larks in the fields and as we got back to the car a White Stork chugged past (more and more try to stick out the winter in Switzerland these days and some nest rebuilding has already been seen this month!
We were tired and happy with our tally and the icing on the cake as we started driving back up the track, a ringtail Hen Harrier quartering the nearest field!
So Fanel and surrounds had been a good choice for what I hope will once again be an annual event (even though it’s a 3 hour drive from home).
* The bird we ‘missed’ by choosing the north side of the canal was a long staying *Snow Bunting, quite a rarity for Switzerland (there’s always something!!).
We fairly quickly picked out the two Tundra Bean Geese that are wintering in the fields to the north of the canal that splits the site in two and were pleased to see several Tree Sparrow around the almost empty car park. A super flock of c100 Curlew were a splendid sight and sound for this mountain dweller and at least three Cattle Egret were nearby, getting down and dirty with some pigs. So, which side of the canal to follow (always a tricky decision here as at the end of the day it’s common to discover that something rare/ unusual was seen on the side we chose not to walk*)? As our combined age is over 150
the idea of attempting both northern and southern sides was not even up for debate so we chose the northern option alongside the waterway which skirts some fields and hedges/trees before turning right through the reedbed with a couple of ponds. The track finishes at the observation tower that overlooks Lake Neuchatel’s eastern end and the end of the canal as it reaches the lake. Goosander, Grey Heron and Cormorant were along the canal, but no Kingfisher, they’re pretty regular here as a rule. I spotted a promising looking blob atop a distant tree and with the ‘scope confirmed my suspicions that it was indeed a Great Grey Shrike, generously staying put to preen as we admired it. A few equally cooperative Great Egret, Teal and Shoveler were on the nearest pond and climbing up into the glacial hide we were able to scan the lake for wildfowl and across the fields and the reedbed for possible Marsh Harrier, Bearded Reedling etc. No luck with those this time and the wind off the lake made for difficult searching. After a few minutes I realized we were the only ones actually doing what I would call birding, the other half a dozen people in the hide were chatting about lenses and focal lengths(!) and occasionally looking across the field at a perched up White-tailed Eagle, presumably hoping to get a good in-flight shot. The 2nd year Eagle is one of the first releases of a (re?)introduction scheme based at a Bird of Prey Zoo near Geneva (but in France not Switzerland). Unusually for Fanel at this time of year there were no Whooper Swan to be seen amongst the 100plus Mute present and the wind made the chances of hearing Beardies pinging remote to say the least. Ducks were still in relatively short supply, no doubt due to the continuing mild-ish winter but Pintail, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Mallard, Teal and Tufted Duck were seen. As we retreated from the tower before hypothermia set in 😬we heard crows alarming and sure enough a Goshawk crossed the pond in front of us. We then drove the short distance to the Krummi reserve, a marshy area surrounded by crop fields and set asides to eat our sandwiches in the car. Plenty of Wigeon there and a noisy flock of c20 Ruddy Shelduck moving to and fro, the area supporting a good population of Kestrel thanks to a lot of nestboxes having been installed (Little Owl benefitting from a similar scheme there too). We opted for a walk around the fields hoping for a Hen Harrier or another shrike but noticed a male Peregrine surveying us from a nearby electricity pole, a Red Kite and a Magpie seemed interested and we realized the Falcon had been having lunch like us. It flew off and its prey fell to the ground, a 2nd year Black-headed Gull! A Grey Wagtail in the ditch made up for the lack of Pipits or Larks in the fields and as we got back to the car a White Stork chugged past (more and more try to stick out the winter in Switzerland these days and some nest rebuilding has already been seen this month!
We were tired and happy with our tally and the icing on the cake as we started driving back up the track, a ringtail Hen Harrier quartering the nearest field!
So Fanel and surrounds had been a good choice for what I hope will once again be an annual event (even though it’s a 3 hour drive from home).
* The bird we ‘missed’ by choosing the north side of the canal was a long staying *Snow Bunting, quite a rarity for Switzerland (there’s always something!!).
Mcnswiss2
Well-known member
Thanks Richard
Sorry for not replying earlier..Took a visit to Mallorca for Winter birding.
Fanel is great but such a long day out…I really like Krummi..I think the best “rareties” are seen there.
Since I have been away, Many good birdsreported on Ornitho.ch, including Snow Bunting, Great Black backed Gull, Smews,Greater Scaups, Long tailed Ducks, and Spoonbill.
Waxwings have just been reported.
Get out there.
Sorry for not replying earlier..Took a visit to Mallorca for Winter birding.
Fanel is great but such a long day out…I really like Krummi..I think the best “rareties” are seen there.
Since I have been away, Many good birdsreported on Ornitho.ch, including Snow Bunting, Great Black backed Gull, Smews,Greater Scaups, Long tailed Ducks, and Spoonbill.
Waxwings have just been reported.
Get out there.
Mcnswiss2
Well-known member
Still very cold here but ventured out for local walk. Very quiet on the bird front.
Several Bluetits very active in the woods, but no sign of woodpeckers.
2 Common Buzzards seen.
Walking back when distracted by crows attacking Goshawk. This made my day. It is always worth getting out there.
Other birds recently reported included Red Billed Choughs near Interlaken.
Other places I have seen them include in Leukerfeld near the Hohe Brucke.
Quite a rarity.
Several Bluetits very active in the woods, but no sign of woodpeckers.
2 Common Buzzards seen.
Walking back when distracted by crows attacking Goshawk. This made my day. It is always worth getting out there.
Other birds recently reported included Red Billed Choughs near Interlaken.
Other places I have seen them include in Leukerfeld near the Hohe Brucke.
Quite a rarity.
