Well, I suppose it had to happen. My wife and I have for some years now taken holidays where we would do a bit of walking. Not the strenuous type where you have to walk 25 miles in under three hours. We like the more leisurely approach, walk, stop, enjoy the view and then on for a little bit further and then repeat the whole process again.
This year the holiday just had to be different, we are now novice bird watchers, keen but not very good at identifying birds (even with the help of books). So, this year the holiday combined bird watching and walking. Easy I hear you say, but not in our case. The first problem, where and when do we go? After many hours of debate we decided to go to Austria in July. Secondly, what birds will be able to see? Again this one was easily answered, just ask people on Bird Forum. With the questions answered and armed with a list of possible birds to see and bird books to help us identify them it was off to Austria.
We stayed in a small village (Ishgl near Innsbruck). It was a picturesque village with traditional Austrian buildings and a mountain stream running near by.
Day one saw us both up and keen to go birding. Looking out of the bedroom window of the hotel before going for breakfast we saw our first bird. It was a young wagtail. Great, but now came the tricky part. Was it a Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail or had we seen our first White Wagtail. Out came the bird books and an hour later (slight exaggeration) we had decided it was the white variety. Now down to breakfast just before they stopped serving food!!!
Things didn’t improve during our stay we saw a number of birds which we still don’t have a clue what they were but here is a list of those we could identify:-
White Wagtail
Crested Tit
Dipper
Alpine Chough
Crag Martin
Swift
Grey Wagtail
Swallow
Mistle Thrush
Black Redstart
Common Buzzard
Redpol
Serin
Siskin
Kestrel
Greenfinch
Chaffinch
Fieldfare
Great Tit
Gold crest
House Sparrow
Black Bird
Rook
Nuthatch
Nut Cracker
Whinchat
Wheatear
Coal Tit
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Cuckoo
Magpie
Bullfinch
Goldfinch
Wren
Here’s looking forward to next years holiday where hopefully we will see more birds and be more proficient at identifying them!!
Looks like a beautifule place. It is hard when you go somewhere new and see a brand new bird. I was nearly hit in the face by a warbler as I hiked through some willows. He retreated and sat of a limb but I couldn't id him. It took me two days and more looks at the bird then at the book and back again than I can count. It is a challenge.
Sounds like a great trip.Bird IDs in new areas are always hard.