While I love this blog, I now pretty much only write on my other two blogs: BirdingBlogs.com and 10,000 Birds - I would love to see you there!
Showing posts with label Eurasian Treecreeper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eurasian Treecreeper. Show all posts

Sunday, 18 January 2009

Snowshoe tour in Tirol - Schlick 2000/Fulpmes in Stubaiertal

Schlick 2000 is a popular alpine skiing resort just outside of Innsbruck, Tirol, in the Stubaier Valley. The skiing is quite good - particularly in December and January with lots of natural half-pipe things for snowboarders and skiers to play around on. There are also a number of winter walking trails in the area and one trail designed especially for snowshoe walking. Yesterday, I decided to check it out.

Schlick 2000 parking lot in Fulpmes, I took the Gondola up to the middle station. From there, one heads out behind the ski school (to the north) and quickly gets in to the woods. The trail gently makes its way up through the woods and is very well sighnposted; orienteering - even after heavy snows - should be no problem whatsoever. I had thought that the skiers would detract from the walk, but they were far enough away for the trail to be very peaceful and wonderfully enjoyable.


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In the first half of the snowshoe trail, I came across a couple of Common Crossbill flocks, noisily feeding in the Norway Spruces (Picea abies) that dominate the woodland. Their German name - Fichtenkreuzschnabel - refers to their preference for spruce (Fichte) which pretty much sums up where you always tend to find them. The groups I came across were very vocal - I suppose they are probably getting ready to breed now while the spruce have an abundance of seed.

I also came across the occasional treecreeper (Baumläufer), some Coal and Great Tits and Nuthatches in the lower, denser forest. Well, maybe dense is not the best word to describe the forest there. In the lower sections of the trail, the canopy is fairly closed, but the heavy snow meant that the under-story was rather open and made it very easy to explore a bit off trail.


Further up the trail, the forest canopy thinned and eventually the forest petered out. Nearing the top of the trail, one is rewarded with great, big expansive views over the Stubaier and Wipp Valleys and their surrounding peaks. Taking a tea-break, I scanned the cliffs and peaks for Alpine Ibex and Golden Eagles without success. A pair of Spotted Nutcracker surveyed their lands from treetops at the edge of the tree line.


Reaching Schlicker Alm (1645m asl), you can enjoy some traditional Tirolean mountain food (and a beer ;-) before heading back down again. The return could be done back alone the trail you came up, but if you packed a Rutschblattl then getting down the sledding track is much faster and a whole lot of fun. I have no idea what I would call a Rutschblattl in English but it is this little plastic plate that you sit on, and a handle that comes up between your legs. It kinda looks like a miny, flimsy plastic shovel and is mainly a kids toy for sliding down little slopes. Anyhow, they cost almost nothing and weigh even less so are perfect for taking on snowshoe tours. Getting back down slopes (or sledding tracks) with a Rutschblattl is a whole lot easier than walking back down with snowshoes on! I have to say that maintaining complete control of the thing is probably never going to happen for me; your bum tends to take a few knocks; and they were not designed for high-speed toboganning but they are a whole lot of fun.

Happy birding (and snowshoe walking)
Dale

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

Snow shoe birding in the Alps / Tirol

Christmas time saw great weather in the mountains - we had had fresh snow just before Christmas and lots of blue skies since. I tried to play in the snow every day - skiing, sledding, walking and - thanks to Father Chistmas - show shoe hiking.


It really is wonderful to spend hours of quiet and solitude in the tranquil mountains. There is something about the woods in winter - there is a stillness that the snow brings that I can't quite describe. It is as though everything is holding its breath, waiting for something.

Just before New Year's, I took a hike from Axams to Axamerkogel. The forest down near Axams was alive with life. Well, maybe not dripping with life, but pretty cool for winter birding at least. What I have noticed is that one can walk for long periods of time without hearing one little peep from a bird and not seeing anything anywhere, and then suddenly you stumble upon a mixed-species bird party. It seems that the birds form the roaving groups that can have as many as a dozen bird species in them, all feeding together. Common winter party-goers include Coal Tits, Great Tits, groups of Firecrests, Eurasian and Short-toed Treecreepers, and Eurasian Nuthatches (Tannenmeisen, Kohlmeisen, Wintergoldhänchen, Waldbaumläufer, Gartenbaumläufer, Kleiber). Sometimes one of the other tit species will join - Crested Tits, Blue Tits (Habenmeisen, Blaumeisen). The Long-tailed Tits seem to join these mixed-species feeding parties occassionally, but their association seems to be a lot more loose: groups of five/six Long-tailed Tits will move around foraging together, join a foraging party for a while, and then slowly drift off in their own direction...

Heading out of Axams in the morning, I saw a flash of a raptor (looking very Accipiter-like) through the trees but did not get a good enough look to make an ID. Later on, coming down the mountain, a beautiful, big female Northern Goshawk rushed through the trees overhead (Habicht). So the other, smaller Accipiter was probably the male.

I have seen a few Northern Goshawks lately - always deep in the forests and always rather shy. But lovely to see nonetheless.

The raptor life here is - at the moment - dominated by tons of Common Buzzards (Mäusebussards). Everywhere we go, we see them circling overhead, sitting in the fields and peering out from their telephone-pole lookouts. The Common Kestrels continue to pester the pigeons in town.

I have seen very few Golden Eagles recently. Their daily range is much increased in Winter and this may have something to do with it. But, a couple of times I have seen them right down low in the valleys - and on one occassion we even saw a pair circling over the Inn between Kematen and Zirl. It is very unusual to see them so low down. I wonder what they were doing...?

Winter might not be the most exciting time for birding in the Alps, but the beauty of the forest and mountains certain keep one entertained between birds!

Happy birding
Dale Forbes