Michael´s Fourth Year

[michael-ibk]

-/E83.) Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) / Purpurreiher

 

Already seen in Botswana. Much shier than its Grey cousin or the Egrets, normally just seen flying over. Seewinkel is the only regular breeding place for them, with about 150 to 200 pairs.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

326/E84.) Common Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus) / Ringeltaube

 

I am always neglecting this family. Obviously there were lots of Collared Doves but I did not take one photo, and I still have no Feral Pigeon in the bag. But this one was posing just too nicely.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

327/E85.) Savi´s Warbler (Locustella lusciniodes) / Rohrschwirl

 

This is a tough Warbler to get and one of the attractions for more dedicated birders. Locating them in spring is not too difficult since their "song" (sounding more like a monotonous mechanical insect-like reeling) is very characteristic. But this is not a species to expose itself all that much, and it´s nowhere near as common as the Reed or Sedge Warblers. A road through the reed belt in Illmitz is probably the best place in Austria to see them but patience is needed.

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

328/E86.) Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) / Rohrweihe

 

By far our most common Harrier, and Seewinkel is a paradise for them. It´s estimated between 150 to 300 breeding pairs are holding out here. We had a very nice sighting early morning with one obviously collecting nesting material.

 

 

I also had a cooperative one about 10 days ago in Portugal - a little teaser for you, @pedro maia. :-)

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

-/E87.) Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) / Rötelfalke

 

Already seen in Botswana. Bird of the Seewinkel trip for me. Why? Because it simply should not be here, this bird has gone extinct in Austria in the 80ies, and this young male is only the third confirmed sighting in Austria since 1984 (including one seen earlier that year). Maybe they are coming back, just this week there has been another sighting. A proper birding sensation, when I reported it on a FB group lots of people tried to find it (most without success), and I had to do a full report to our Avifaunistic Commission.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

329/E88.) Common Redshank (Tringa totanus) / Rotschenkel

 

One of the few waders breeding in Austria, almost exclusively in the Seewinkel region. Another nice photo target from the hide where we could even witness the creation of Little Redshanks.

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

330/E89.) Rook (Corvus frugilegus) / Saatkrähe

 

Time for a good old ebc. Rooks are very common in the area but quite wary and we really did not try too hard for them although Zvezda (who I like to call photography goddess) was much more successful than me. :-)

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

331/E90.) Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula) / Sandregenpfeifer

 

Their name does not really make much sense in Austria where it´s a regular but not too numerous migrant. Its cousin, the Little Ringed Plover should be the "Common" one here as a regular breeder.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

-/E91.) Western Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) / Schafstelze

 

Already seen in Botswana. A very common bird in Seewinkel and not too shy. A bird which comes in a myriad of subspecies. The third photo shows a "Thunbergi" (no supercilium, dark greyish head). Oddly I´m now unsure if the first two are our nominate "flava" subspecies at all because they have a white (not yellow) chin - very much like the Iberian subspecies (photo 4) which I saw 10 days ago around Lissabon.

 

 

Male

 

 

Female, a bit less colourful

 

 

Thunbergi

 

 

Iberiae

 

 

[michael-ibk]

-/E92.) Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) / Schilfrohrsänger

 

Already seen in Botswana. A widespread reed bird in the East of our country. Bold and not too hard to see, there are some roads in Seewinkel where one is ranting every 20 metres.

 

[michael-ibk]

-/E93.) Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) / Seidenreiher

 

Already seen in Botswana. Not a common bird in Austria at all, this was the only one we saw.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

-/E94.) Great Egret (Ardea alba) / Silberreiher

 

Very common in the area, especially on the wet meadows between the lakes. The situation caught in the second photo is interesting, apparently this Egret caught a Skylark. It´s not too unusual for them to feed on a young one but this seems to have been an adult bird. (And no, I would not be able to tell that myself but I consulted with birding guide Leander Khil).

 

 

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

332/E95.) Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) / Star

 

Austria´s bird of the year 2018. Which was actually quite a controversy which even made the news - wine farmers were raging about this choice since they have to battle them each and every year to save their grapes.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

333/E95.) Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) / Steinschmätzer

 

Unusually common this year, I don´t remember them at all from previous visits - although they are not too uncommon in our mountains here in Tirol in summer. I wonder what they are doing this year since our alpine pastures are still deep under snow in most places.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

334/E96.) Short-Eared Owl (Asio flammeus) / Sumpfohreule

 

Very excited about this one, a lifer! An extremely rare breeding bird in Eastern Austria, the "Great Bustard meadows" are probably the best place to see them although I have never been lucky in the last years. Unfortunately an extremely distant shot but it was very cool seeing it hunt.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

335/E97.) Marsh Warbler (Acrocephalus palustris) / Sumpfrohrsänger

 

Why am I claming this as a Marsh Warbler? This species is virtually indistinguishable from its cousin, the Reed Warbler. The answer is song. I was actually looking for a Barred Warbler (failed in that) when I heard this bird sing in a bush. And that was clearly not a Reed Warbler  but something very different. Marsh Warblers are master imitators with more than 75 different species´s songs (mostly African ones) in their repertoire.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

336/E98.) Eurasian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) / Teichrohrsänger

 

Our most common reed bird, its hard song is everywhere along the lake. Still quite a difficult subject since they do not pose as willingly as the Great Reed Warblers.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

337/E99.) Temminck´s Stint (Calidris temmincki) / Temminckstrandläufer

 

One of the smallest waders. A bit like a mini Common Sandpiper, and the yellow feet (when not dirty) are also good fieldmarks. Here with a Stilt for a size comparison, they really are tiny.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

338/E100.) Black-Tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) / Uferschnepfe

 

One of my favourites, and therefore my choice for Europe Nr. 100.  2019 has been a catastrophically dry year in Seewinkel. While we were suffocating here in the West in snow there was almost no precipitation in the East, and so many soda lakes were already without water in late April. A disaster for waders like Redshanks or this species which are dependent on wet meadows. Sadly, 2019 could be the very first year in Austria without a single Godwit successfully breeding. I´m still hoping since there has been lots of rain in the last few weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by michael-ibk

[Galana]

Looks like you had a succesful outing with some surprising results.

A plea. Please report the Ringed Redshank AND.   I don't like/care for the bloody jewellry in my photos either but at least we can help them get results.   

[michael-ibk]

@Galana

 

No need to report it, said birding guide (who is more or less running the hide) Leander Khil has of course taken care of that. The "AND" guy was ringed in Italy btw.

[Galana]

I am always fascinated by the range of these ringed birds so thanks for sharing that info.

[michael-ibk]

Kinda lost the count in these last few birds, European bird #100 is actually #101 since I have two E95s (Wheatear and Starling).

[pedro maia]

Great batch of pictures and a nice teaser Michael, I can’t take a Marsh Harrier picture like that one, not even close .

[Peter Connan]

Really stunning shots from Seewinkel Michael!