Galana's. Third big year.

[Galana]

As forecast Autumn has arrived in Val di Muta so a deliberate slow day.

Time to go and see if the local Dippers have had a good year. No need for the car so a brisk walk took us to the spot. Sadly the initial view looked unpromising as the local authority seems to have spent tax payers money on replacing a perfectly good bridge with a new one. Right where the Dippers like to be.

But we hung around and two showed up whizzing through the new bridge but not stopping. They obviously do not like the open structure that reveals itinerant watchers more easily.

Eventually assured of our good intentions one of the pair drew close enough to give me some photos but not as good as I have got n the past but at least the light was more favourable.

So here is a selection..

No counting of course but I love Dippers.

After a quick visit to Singapore (via ORF for the F1 race) I took time to check up on one bird I had seen two days ago and am now confident to count it after checking the details or lack of them.....

286. Italian Sparrow. Previously thought a hybrid but now a species.

A bit of an EBC but I post the second frame to show the chestnut head clearer than #1.

Tomorrow I am hunting the fields for finches and pipits.

 

[TonyQ]

Lovely Dippers!

[Galana]

On 9/22/2019 at 8:27 PM, TonyQ said:

Lovely Dippers!

Thanks.

Well yesterday (Monday) was  a washout. It snowed>>>

@pedro maia will recognise this view if not from our bedroom window.

Today started brighter so ventured into Pipit land for a while.

I am still working on this one. The wingbars worry me.

Then we went to bid arrivaderci to the Dippers for another year. ONe displayed well for us and had a wash and brush up for the occasion. Hard to show clearly without getting the camera wet. And for foreign readers who may not know what Dippers do I even took a short video. When I figure out how to post it I will do so.

And a Grey Wagtail joined in the fun.

And so, as winter approaches the higherAlps we turn north tomorrow for the Rhine Valley as the start of the schlepp homewards. Of course should I bump into some birds then there will be more posts but the number of 'targets' is getting smaller.

[pedro maia]

The only lake I remember in the area is the Resia lake, but I don’t see the tower in the water in that picture, anyway that trip was quite a few years ago.

[Galana]

@pedro maia The main town "Curon" is where the Tower is located. 10km north of us. These 'lakes' as you may know are actually man made when Mussolini flooded the valley for reservoirs and drowned several large villages in doing so. Locals still are upset with Italians because of this.

I don't have a photo .

 

Now for the drive.

[pedro maia]

5 hours ago, Galana said:

@pedro maia The main town "Curon" is where the Tower is located. 10km north of us. These 'lakes' as you may know are actually man made when Mussolini flooded the valley for reservoirs and drowned several large villages in doing so. Locals still are upset with Italians because of this.

I don't have a photo .

 

Now for the drive.

 

I knew the lake was man made but didn´t know it was Mussolini´s work.

 

Just by the lake there are two small and very authentic ski resorts that I think now are connected, Shoeneben and Haider Alm are the german names, in the other side of the border there´s Nauders but I didn´t go there.

 

Have a nice trip back home and hopefully with some new additions to your BY.

[Galana]

You are at the head of the lake (north) but I dare say not much has changed since you were there. We have been coming for about 10 years now and the only change is they charge for parking and the fuel is expensive.

We left today via Resia and Nauders so took the attached just for you.

Now in Rhineland.

[Kitsafari]

Agree - lovely dippers!

[pedro maia]

Thanks for the pictures @Galana, it´s not the kind of place that´s going to change much, or so I think.

 

I´m editing the post because I found one of my pictures from Easter 2007:

 

 

I wasn´t looking for birds then...

Edited September 25, 2019 by pedro maia

[Galana]

The 'lake' looks fuller in 2007. Thanks.

[Galana]

I am back home after several Wiffy free days.

Fairly sparse birding but some progress.

First of all, with apologies, I have messed up my count back at 273. (Which was Lark-like Bunting prior to Razorbills 271-272) So Nuthatch should have been 274 and so on.

Not going to change so many posts so will skip 287 and make the next one 288.

And a lovely EBC for you.

288. Common Redstart.

Birding did progress from Curon although only to 'improve' on earlier abysmal efforts with few new birds photographed although some were seen. Missed my target total for this trip by a fair margin so time to pull up socks and get cracking once the domestic side of returning home is dealt with.

[TonyQ]

@Galana

The photo does indeed show the red start of the Redstart- I think it deserves a prize!

[pedro maia]

Glad to see you back and showing why you are the undesputed EBC master.

[Galana]

Rewinding a bit with the travelog bit.

From Val di Venosta, re-fueled at the top of Fernpass in Austria, with less expensive petrol than we would need in Germany and then entered Germany near Vils/Fussen. We continued north to Ulm and then turned west via Stuttgart and Karlsruhe to a small place I had spotted where more birds may be found. The drive was fine at 280 miles (450km) and we arrived at a small town called Knittelsheimer in amongst several wild places where the Rhine has made Oxbow lakes etc., over the years. I felt this may yield some interesting locations.

Sadly this was not to be as most damp places had been drained for cultivation and/or converted into Golf Courses and similar wastes of good land. We did explore and managed sightings of Black Woodpecker and Jays but beset with poor weather on our explore day we had to be content with our choice of Gasthaus.

This was well worth the disappointment. Recommended. Waldhaus Knittelsheimer Muhle. As the name implies it's a Watermill and set in unreclaimed woods. The only flaw was Garmin kept trying to send us down a marked track that did not actually exist. But we persisted and reached the place eventually.

The place was lovely despite the weather and the Chef to be rated highly. I am not a fan of fancy arty type desserts but both nights he offered really stunning dishes that looked lovely on the plate and tasted superb.

Creme Brulee on a slate with fresh garden and wild fruits decorating the dish. I wish I was one of those folks who one sees in restaurants with their darn phones recording the meal.

www.knittelsheimer-muehle.de  It made driving a pleasure to stay here.

After two nights we then continued up to our last stop in Alf am Moselle for four nights in the hope of more birds in the Eifel/Moselle area.

Here is another Common Redstart. By now they should be leaving for Africa but still some of these shy birds to be found.

288.  Female . I want a nice male and hope they have not all left.

In the meantime I did manage to add some colour to the Jay entry of earlier.

Let us see what I can find in the colourful woods of the Moselle valley. Tomorrow.

[Soukous]

18 hours ago, Galana said:

From Val di Venosta, re-fueled at the top of Fernpass in Austria, with less expensive petrol than we would need in Germany and then entered Germany near Vils/Fussen

 

It seems that we were within a stone's throw of each other.

I was making my way over the Timmelsjoch pass from Italy into Austria and then on to Fussen.

 

It was 19.5 degrees when I started out but as I climbed the pass (in a car, I'm not that fit) and the altitude got higher, so did the temperature drop drastically. By the time I got to 1800m it was 3.5 degrees and the incessant rain had turned to sleet. 15 minutes later the temperature had dropped to zero and the sleet had become snow, a blizzard in fact. 

Even if I'd looked at the map a bit more carefully and realised that the pass reached 2500 metres I would not have expected freezing temperatures and snow. Whatever views there might have been were lost in a grey haze. 

Going up was OK, going down the other side was scary - icy roads, poor visibility, sheer drops - and me in shorts and T-shirt.

 

Of course I could have avoided all of this if I had just taken the motorway to Innsbruck. It only occurred to me after I was in Germany that I should have got in touch with @michael-ibk for a beer.

 

 

[Galana]

2 hours ago, Soukous said:

It seems that we were within a stone's throw of each other.

I was making my way over the Timmelsjoch pass from Italy into Austria and then on to Fussen.

Closer than you may think. We love Timmelsjoch and often enter Italy that  way on the outward run.

Even this trip, on our way to Val de Venosta (Merano) from Sillian, see post2 322-328, we turned north onto the A2 Brenner on exiting Val de Pusteria (Pustertal) to Vipiteno just to 'enjoy' Passo d'Giovo at 2094m. before dropping down to Merano via St Leonardo (where you must have passed by also.) Our night stop was in Senales. Our tracks must have crossed at St, Leonardo.

On balance I would say a beer  with @michael-ibk would have been ample compensation for the traffic over the Brenner even though the Austrian's would have charged you more €€ to use their Europa bridge and Autobahn.

Worth it just for some of Michael's lovely dessert cake.

If only we had all known that could have been some GTG.

 

[Galana]

And to return to BY.

We are now in Alf am der Moselle where we stay with the Bohmer family at their excellent Weinhof St.Barbara. The fact that Karl-Heinz's wines win awards is pure coincidence (as is the fact that our car always has room for several cases.)

The Jays above were taken from our balcony as they fed on fallen fruit.

We spent the fine day climbing the local peak looking for Raptors and Woodpeckers etc., and sampled the local Spaghetti Ice Cream.

One trip we heard the clear call of Green Woodpecker or Yaffle and cast around the orchards to get lucky with this noisy but elusive bird. There it was in the grass. Green Woodpeckers are the least arboreal of the local Woodpeckers and spend much more time on the ground than other B&W types.

289. Green Woodpecker. Always a nice bird to see.

[Soukous]

I love Green Woodpeckers, their call is just wonderful to hear. 

We used to have loads of them on our grass until my dear lady introduced 2 cats and 2 dogs to our household.

[Soukous]

43 minutes ago, Galana said:

Worth it just for some of Michael's lovely dessert cake.

 

Damn, I'd completely forgotten about the cake. 

[michael-ibk]

8 hours ago, Soukous said:

It only occurred to me after I was in Germany that I should have got in touch with @michael-ibk for a beer.

 

Indeed, you both should have. Beer, Wine, Cake, Pasta, Steak - we do run an all-inclusive hosting business here. Promise not to forget to stop by next time!

[xelas]

Green Woodpecker in the lawn is the best option to get a decent photo. Nice catch.

[Galana]

17 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Promise not to forget to stop by next time!

Promise. Our route was unusual this year in not including Brenner and Innsbruck this year. Blame @xelas so we headed A8 to Munchen and then down to Villach outbound. Nice menu but do you offer Spotted Crake?

[michael-ibk]

Of course, my Spotted Crake with Carrots and Rice is famous. 

[Galana]

Look forward to that. Some Mange tout too perhaps?

Back to business.

Heading up the hills we noticed quite a few, 10 or more Raptors interacting. At least 5 Red Kites, a Goshawk and some "Buzzards". We parked up and watched. Goshawk avoided us and we have Red Kite already. What was going down?

Matters calmed down and the Buzzards were left in control. But these were not all Common Buzzards.

Prominent Carpal patches and very light coloured plumage. Clear tail with only terminal band.

Much head scratching led me to Rough-legged Buzzard. Call re-inforced by obvious well trousered legs.

So be it.

290. Rough-legged Buzzards.

 

I also caught up with my needed Male Redstart if only to redeem the earlier EBC at the same location.

Last day tomorrow as we drive off to the Ferry in Europort.

[PeterHG]

That was quite a gathering of raptors and the Rough-legged Buzzard is always special. Well, the Red Kite is too, for me at least, but you dismiss that one so easily......