Michael´s Sixth Year

[michael-ibk]

42/E42.) Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) / Haubentaucher

 

Wörthersee/Carinthia, 20/2/21. I´m pretty fond of this species and since they are not that difficult in areas where they are present I guess they will pop up again in the BY as repeats.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

43/E43.) Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) / Rohrammer

 

Wörthersee/Carinthia, 20/2/21. Early migration returners (some stay the Winter), we´re starting to see birds moving through here in Tirol as well. A female here. (If you´re wondering about the odd background colour - that´s a house!)

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

44/E44.) Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope) / Pfeifente

 

Maria Elend/Carinthia, 20/2/21. A pretty rare Winter guest in Tirol and Carinthia, so I was happy to see it. Another species I missed last year.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

45/E45.) Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) / Gänsesäger

 

Tiebelmündung/Carinthia, 20/2/21. Not uncommon but pretty shy - fishermen hate (and hunt) them.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

46/E46.) Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) / Stockente

 

Tiebelmündung/Carinthia, 20/2/21. The Duck.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

47/E47.) Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) / Graureiher

 

Tiebelmündung/Carinthia, 20/2/21. Should be able to improve on this picture later in the year.

 

[michael-ibk]

48/E48.) Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca) / Moorente

 

Tiebelmündung/Carinthia, 20/2/21. A really good tick for me, a rarity in Austria, and I´ve never seen them away from Lake Constance or Seewinkel (and also there they are not often seen).

 

[michael-ibk]

49/E49.) Eurasian Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) / Grünspecht

 

Tiebelmündung/Carinthia, 20/2/21. A hard battle I ultimately won! This bast*'§$ was laughing at me for almost 40 minutes as only a Green Woodpecker can until I finally spotted it high up. It´s incredible how hard to see they can be when they are up in the trees. They try to stay on the backside and only show their belly then, not the conspicuous back.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

50/E50.) Great Bittern (Botaurus stellaris) / Rohrdommel

 

Tiebelmündung/Carinthia, 20/2. "Bird of the trip" - if you can call it a trip. I had read that a Bittern had been sighted here and decided to give it a try. Did not expect much, they are notoriously hard to find, and I´ve only ever seen one so far. (Heard a few in Seewinkel though). Scanned and scanned the reed areas, and hooray, finally there it really was!

 

 

Distant (huge crop here) and against the light but a Bittern! No complaints there. I was surprised how small it appeared to be.

 

 

It looked almost like a different bird when it "stretched out" later. I tried to get somewhat better light and followed an extremely muddy and partly submerged path to achieve that. Managed to at least get the light "sideways", and it was even moving, very cool to observe.

 

 

 

[Tdgraves]

Yet another reaches a half century and what a bird to get there!

[michael-ibk]

Thanks - I was really happy to see a Bittern. They are not known to winter in Austria normally btw, but apparently at least three different birds have been around in Carinthia since early January.

[TonyQ]

Yay, 50 with a Bittern!

[PeterHG]

A  very special one to reach 50! 

[Galana]

More congratulations from me on both the Bittern and the half century. What an epic tick.

I don't think I have ever caught a Green Woodpecker ("Yaffle" in Britain.) in a tree. Always on the ground which fortunately they habitually use.

[Peter Connan]

Congratulations. Lovely photos each and every one!

[xelas]

13 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

"Bird of the trip" - if you can call it a trip.

 Anything that puts you 50 m away from your doorstep is called a trip nowadays.

 

Congratulations on reaching #50, all beautiful photos and some rare birds among them. 

[Soukous]

If you do move to Carinthia, make sure you have room for guests 

[mvecht]

Great shots of the Bittern. I hear them from time to time, rarely see them and never a photo. I am jealous

[Kitsafari]

congrats on the 50th and wow a great Great bittern for it too!

 

your smew is just gorgeous.  

[shazdwn]

Congratulations from me too on 50 and many great shots. I would love to see a smew, what a great looking bird 

[Zim Girl]

Congratulations on 50 and great Bittern sighting.

[michael-ibk]

On 2/27/2021 at 12:27 AM, Galana said:

Green Woodpecker ("Yaffle" in Britain.)

 

Why a "Yaffle"?

On 2/27/2021 at 10:26 AM, Soukous said:

If you do move to Carinthia, make sure you have room for guests

 

I already have Martin, as @xelascan assert to.

 

Thanks everybody, on with some slightly less spectacular birds.

 

51/E51.) Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta) / Bergpieper

 

Kirchberg/Tirol, 23/2/21. The most common bird high up in the mountains in Summer (hence the German name "Mountain Pipit" makes a lot of sense). They spend the Winter in the lowlands, always close to waterbodies.

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

52/E52.) Common Raven (Corvus corax) / Kolkrabe

 

Münster/Tirol, 23/2/21. Let´s take care of Corvids now. I probably should like them more since they are highly intelligent birds with interesting social behaviour. But I can´t help but feel there´s just too many of them (expecially Crows), and photographically they are not very interesting.

 

[michael-ibk]

53/E53.) Eurasian Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula) / Dohle

 

Münster/Tirol, 23/2/21. An uncommon bird in Tirol - only since last year do I know a few places where they can be found.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

54/E54.) Carrin Crow (Corvus corone) / Rabenkrähe

 

Rum/Tirol, 25/2/21. Everywhere everywhere everywhere! Far too many of them even though they are shot in Austria.

 

 

And a sure sign Spring is almost here - first Butterfly I´ve seen this year, a "Little Fox":