I put together a compilation of bird observations and photos from the Seewinkel region in the winter of 2012/13 (in german) for my employer. You can download it here.

In Austria, the winter of 2012/13 has been the one with the least sunshine of all time. After some sunny days during the last two weeks, people were starting to hope again for spring to arrive. There’s no reason to hope. Today, according to ORF, we experienced  one of the coldest spring days in eastern Austria – ever. With new snow, even in the dry, easternmost parts of the country.

I’m currently putting together a review of my winter observations in the top birdwatching-area Neusiedler See – Seewinkel.
For now, you’ll find just some of today’s images of birds in the snow – including some obviously disappointed long-distance migrants which now face a serious problem.

 

Not much words about this album. Peru was more about travelling and watching, less about photography (as in Ecuador and the Galapagos, I didn’t carry a 500mm lens with me). The only opportunities where I could take at least some photos were the fabulous Paracas national park and Huacachina oasis, near Ica. All photos taken in August 2012.

 

The first leg of my recent voyage to South America was partly a birdwatching trip at most. I travelled Ecuador for nearly three weeks with my brother and his workmate Tina. As I learned from previous journeys, birding on  a trip with non-birders is hardly possible and is well able to create discontent in a group. So I limited my passion to a minimum and more or less travelled as an average tourist, so far as this is possible for me… The longest lens I had with me was the (magnificent!) Nikkor AF-S 300mm f4, besides a 70-200mm, 60mm and 18-55mm.
We focused on getting a good overview of the country with its arid coast, high Andes and the rainforest of the Amazon basin and the, for my standards, epic climb of Chimborazo volcano, the highest mountain of Ecuador and the farthest point on the Earth’s surface from the Earth’s center. We succeeded on July 14, more than one month after the last successful roped party.

 

Just can’t finish with the Morocco images, there’s so much left to edit… No time to write too much about it, unfortunately. Just enjoy! The following were taken in February 2012, mostly along the Atlantic coast of Morocco.

 

Finally, a post I prepared months ago.. These are the last photos I’ll post from the desert regions of Morocco (- before I’ll hopefully find time to edit some images from South America.) All of them are from south of the High and Anti Atlas Mountains, most from Tagdilt track, Dades gorge and the Guelmim area.

 

I processed some more photos of my recent trip to Morocco with A. & M. Tiefenbach, before they pass out of mind. In the upcoming posts, I’ll focus on the desert regions we visited in February. These were the Tafilalt along river Ziz in the east, the bare plateau south of the High Atlas Mountains and the Guelmim-Es Semara region in the south of the country.

Rising in the Middle Atlas and flowing to the south, the river Ziz leaves the High Atlas north of Errachidia, nourishing the largest oasis of Morocco, the Tafilalt region. This area in the east of the country is particularily interesting for birdwatchers, hosting some of Morocco’s most sought-after species such as Barbary Falcon, several species of sandgrouse, Pharaoh Eagle Owl, Egyptian Nightjar, Maghreb Wheatear, Scrub Warbler, Desert Warbler, Fulvous Babbler and Desert Sparrow – just to name a few.

 

Some pictures of our two-day stay in Oukaïmeden, Morocco (3200 m) from 13. two 14. February 2012. The site, located near Jebel Toubkal, the highest peak of the Atlas, hosts a skiing resort and is, among birdwatchers, best known for its population of African Crimson-winged Finch (Rhodopechys sanguineus alienus), which can easily be seen here in winter. This subspecies is endemic to Northwestern Africa, was recently proposed as full species¹ and is already treated as such by some authorities².
We found plenty of this charismatic finch around the parking lots of the skiing resort. In the early morning of 14.2., around 200 ind. fed in the lower parts of the village, inbetween hundreds of Red-billed and Yellow-billed Choughs.
Other sightings included max. 20 Rock Sparrow, 2 Rock Bunting, 2 Dipper, 4 Alpine Accentor and 50-100 Shorelarks on 13.2., scattered around the whole resort in thick fog. The rather surprising finds on ca. 3000 m were a Lanner Falcon, a Long-legged Buzzard, a Green Sandpiper, a Common Snipe and one pair of Levaillant’s Woodpecker.

 

After a fabulous three-week trip to Morocco with A. & M. Tiefenbach, which produced sightings of most of the target species and some western palearctic rarities such as Cape (Kelp) Gull Larus dominicanus vetula, I spent five relaxing, frisbee-playing days back home in Graz. Now I’m in the West Nile Valley/Egypt for the upcoming four weeks, monitoring bird migration in the western desert.
The warm welcome on my first visit to the land of pyramids & pharaohs included the confiscation of my whole optical and photography equipment on arrival at the airport of Cairo. Birders, be warned! Officials of the customs authority highhandedly decided that the usual binoculars, scopes, cameras and lenses (all!) were night vision equipment and could therefor, in times of revolution, not be brought to the country. All efforts, also by the management floor of the New & Renewable Energy Authority (thanks at this point!), who commissioned the project I’m working for, failed and the equipment will most likely stay with the dear customs authority for my whole time in Egypt (I hope at least this goes well and the box will still be there when I go home). So, sadly no new bird photos. My heart is bleeding when I see Pied Kingfishers hovering above river Nile on eye-level in sweet morning light..
At least I can use the time and start uploading pictures from Morocco. You can find the highlight observations of the Morocco trip on go-south.org (entry from 22 February 2012) as long as I’m working on the trip report.

Wohl dank der warmen Temperaturen und dem Fehlen von Schnee im Flachland ist es zu verdanken, dass sich der laufende Winter ornithologisch recht unspektakulär gestaltet. Ein paar Aufnahmen sind dennoch dazugekommen.
Interessante Beobachtungen in Graz umfassten den zum zweiten mal überwinternden Wanderfalken, der seit 4.10. nahezu täglich vor meiner Wohnung jagt und zwei Wasseramseln.
An den vielen Wasserflächen im Leibnitzer Feld war der bisherige Winter gerade zu unspektakulär. Keine Seetaucher, keine Meeresenten, keine Zwergscharben und erst mit dem Kälteeinbruch Ende Dezember/Anfang Jänner die ersten nennenswerten Ententrupps entlang der Mur. Am Stausee Gralla hält sich aber seit Mitte Dezember eine diesjährige, wohl wilde Blässgans unter den fütterbaren Haus- und Stockenten auf. Die extreme Zutraulichkeit ließ es zuerst zwar schwer fallen, an die wilde Herkunft des Tiers zu glauben. Die in den ersten Tagen aber nur zögerlichen und unbeholfenen Versuche, das Brot zu fressen, auf das sich das andere Geflügel stürzt, sowie der tadellose Zustand des Gefieders, Flugfähigkeit und das Fehlen eines Rings sprechen aber für einen Wildvogel.

 

Ebenso in Gralla verweilte einige Tage lang eine fast adulte, beringte Mittelmeermöwe. Mir war das Tier nur fliegend auf kurze Distanz vergönnt, S. Zinko und A. Tiefenbach konnten durch Ablesen des Rings aber bestätigen, dass es sich dabei um den ersten beringten Jungvogel (geschlüpft 2008) des Grazer Brutpaars handelt! Das ist die erste Beobachtung von einem der Jungvögel seit dem Verlassen des Brutplatzes. Der Vogel verschwand gegen Ende Dezember, wer weiß, vielleicht ist er schon die 30km nach Norden geflogen um Teil der Grazer “Kolonie” zu werden. Seine Eltern, die einzigen, in der Steiermark brütenden Möwen, mussten heuer ihren Brutplatz innerhalb der Grazer Innenstadt verlegen, da das ursprünglich genutzte Hausdach durch eine Renovierung “unbewohnbar” wurde.
Am neu gewählten Brutplatz wurde das Nest leider bald zerstört und es kam zu keiner Brut – die Zukunft der Grazer Möwen ist also ungewiss, ich bin gespannt auf die kommende Brutsaison.
Auch diesen Winter treibt sich im Leibnitzer Feld wieder eine Hand voll Moorenten-Verwandter herum. Bis jetzt konnte ich aber erst eine reine Moorente sehen (Tillmitsch 15.12. 1 W), während die Hybriden mit Tafelenten heuer noch auffälliger geworden sind. Das Männchen in Gralla überwintert bereits zum dritten Mal. An den Schottergruben der Schwarzl-Teiche konnte ich am 5.1. mit S. Zinko und M. Weißensteiner sogar drei (2 M, 1 W) solcher Hybriden feststellen.
Weitere Einzelbeobachtungen: 1 ad. Seeadler am 19.12. an der Grenzmur, 1 M Kolbenente am 5.1. an den Schwarzl-Teichen.