I used to be very glad to have the ability to spend the week of Christmas and the brand new 12 months on the Tegernsee, a small lake in southern Bavaria, along with my household and my girlfriend. Though just a few sudden hick-ups occurred, similar to vital journey delays (which have develop into the norm when utilizing Germany’s trains) and optimistic Covid assessments that prevented some relations from becoming a member of, it was refreshing to spend a while some other place, significantly in a scenic and stress-free surroundings just like the Tegernsee.
Whereas I did reap the benefits of the consolation inside, we did commonly enterprise outdoors and I used to be glad to have just a few good birding moments. The lake itself didn’t produce something out of the peculiar nevertheless, with Eurasian Coot, Nice Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Frequent Pochard, Mute Swan, and Gray Heron. I hoped for Black-throated Diver, which typically winters in lakes in southern Germany, however was not fortunate (you might need observed a sure sample rising in my earlier posts, concerning this species…).
The city of Rottach-Egern, the place we stayed, was equally unremarkable when it comes to birds. The usual backyard birds had been round, though Eurasian Bullfinch and Hawfinch had been good additions to the journey checklist.
A fantastic space for a brief hike is from the car parking zone “Klamm” to the “Königsalm”, south of the Tegernsee. This path first passes by way of forest earlier than reaching a bigger pasture space increased up, offering a superb mixture of habitat. Coal Tit, Crested Tit, and Goldcrest had been among the many pleasant birds round, and so they had been significantly cute having fluffed up their feathers within the chilly, turning into tiny balls hopping across the foliage. Nonetheless, the primary shock was within the type of a Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker, which I noticed in dangerous mild however comparatively nicely because it clambered up a tree earlier than flying off. I didn’t anticipate to see this lifer, one of the vital standard species within the Alps.
Whereas there are a number of species I’m nonetheless very keen so as to add to my checklist within the Alps, similar to the varied recreation birds, Alpine Accentor, White-winged Snowfinch, and many others., I used to be very content material with simply performing some average birding on this household vacation, significantly as I didn’t have any expectations and was nonetheless handled with the woodpecker.