We’ve just returned from eleven days in Austria. We were staying at Zell Am See in the Pinzgau region of Salzberg. The highlights of the trip included a trip to Krimml waterfall and two trips to Großglockner, which wasn’t just for the fun of driving the high alpine road.
On the first trip to Großglockner we saw four Golden Eagles, a pair low down in the valley near Fusch and two sub-adult birds at Edelweißspitze. We also saw Snowfinch (Lifer), Alpine Chough and Alpine Marmot at Edelweißspitze. At the Großglockner view point we saw Crag Martins, Alpine Choughs, Snowfinch, Black Redstart and Alpine Accentor (Lifer). While I was photographing an Alpine Chough, my wife Gwen, saw a Wallcreeper, but by the time I got to where she was standing, it had flown around the cliff and out of site. There were a lot of Marmots here, and a large herd of Ibex. I think the only thing we didn’t see was Großglockner itself as it was shrouded in cloud.
Krimml waterfall is a spectacular cascade of water 380m high. It was a long steep climb to the top of the waterfall, with just a Grey Wagtail and a Dipper to show for it. As we neared the top of the waterfall, Gwen noticed a bird fly into the top of a tree, when I got my bins on it, it turned out to be a Nutcracker (Lifer). From the track above the top of the waterfall, we scanned the tops of the trees and found a few more Nutcrackers. Whilst watching one of the Nutcrackers, a smaller bird flew through my view. I followed it with my bins and as it turned towards the cliff, I could see the crimson wings of a Wallcreeper, but unfortunately it dropped down out of site behind the trees.
We scanned the cliffs for about an hour, expecting it to work its way back up the cliff, but no sign.
We decided to call it a day and head back down. Just down from the top you can see right up the gorge that the Wallcreeper had flown into. So we had to have one last scan, and what do you know, there was the Wallcreeper at the bottom of the cliff. We watched this stunning little bird work its way up the cliff for about fifteen minutes, until it disappeared around the cliff.
Our second trip to Großglockner was in better weather, with clear blue sky. We set off early and headed straight for Großglockner to beat the crowds. The plan was to get there early to get some photos of Snowfinch and Alpine Accentor, but unfortunately we just got brief views of Snowfinches flying past. An Alpine Accentor did show very well, though it did prove very hard to get shots of, as it was very active, and kept flying off with a beak full of insects. We decided to leave Großglockner as the crowds got too big. On the way back down we decided to stop at Fuscher lake. As we pulled into the car park we noticed a stall with a couple of scopes pointing to where we had seen two Golden Eagle on the first trip. As we walked over to the stall we could see it contained information about Lammergeiers. Talking to one of the guys on the stall, it turned out he was involved in the Lammergeier reintroduction program, and the scopes were on a couple of juveniles that he had released the previous weak. While we chatted to this guy, I noticed a large raptor soaring above the cliff. Looking through the bins I was amazed to see it was an adult Lammergeier. Apparently this is the female from the next valley, and they think she was one of the first birds to be released twenty years ago. She flies in every day to have a look at the two young birds. We got superb views of her as she perched on the cliff above the juveniles. Back at the car we set our scope up to have a look at the female, when we noticed a bird land on the cliff next to the juveniles. It was an immature Golden Eagle that was dwarfed by the two young Lammergeiers. It’s not every day that you have a Golden Eagle and two Lammergeiers in the view though your scope! We then noticed a large raptor circling above the cliff. It was the adult Lammergeier again. As we watched her gain height and drift off, yet another Lammergeier appeared above the cliff, this time it was an immature bird that quickly gained height and drifted off in the same direction as the adult. As we were about to put the scope away, a Snowfinch flew in and sat on a post right next to us and started singing, giving me a chance to get some nice photos. What a day!
After trying a few sites for Black Woodpecker (Lifer), we eventually found one about five minutes walk from the hotel, just sitting on the side of a tree. We went back the next day to try and see the Black Woodpecker but had no luck. We did however see a Short-Toed Treecreeper (Lifer).
In the same bit of wood, we also heard Three-Toed Woodpecker and found trees with the bark ringed by them. We also heard a Bonelli’s Warbler, but just couldn’t get onto that either.
Bird List
Great Crested Grebe
Grey Heron
Mallard
Tufted Duck
Lammergeier (Bearded Vulture)
Golden Eagle
Common Buzzard
Goshawk
Sparrow Hawk
Kestrel
Lapwing
Raven
Carrion Crow
Alpine Chough
Jay
Nutcracker (L)
Black Woodpecker (L)
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush
Ring Ouzel
Robin
Wren
Black Redstart
Common Redstart
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Spotted Flycatcher
Swallow
House Martin
Crag Martin
Swift
Alpine Accentor (L)
House sparrow
Starling
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Bullfinch
Chaffinch
Siskin
Linnet
Serin
Redpoll
Common Crossbill
Snowfinch (L)
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Willow Tit
Crested Tit
Goldcrest
Nuthatch
Treecreeper
Short-Toed Treecreeper (L)
Wallcreeper
White Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Water Pipit
Dipper
Reed Bunting