Birding Italy Trip #04

Bacino artificiale di Glorenza, Val Venosta - Artificial basin of Glorenza, Val Venosta ( photo by Maurizio Azzolini)

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany and Val Venosta/Vinschgau, N Italy, 9 to 16 August 2004 by Míchéal Cowming

After initially deciding on travelling to Italy, my girlfriend and I decided that the Val Venosta/Vinschgau area in Northern Italy was the place to head to after hearing good reviews from some family relatives who had been there earlier. The main focus of the trip was to experience the Alps and by experience, I mean trekking! This was not a problem as even though I knew how hard it would be for a smoker (ME!) , from past trekking experiences in Europe and New Zealand, I knew that all the sweating would pay off in the form of great food, spectacular scenery and hopefully, great birding!!

Knowing where we were heading now, I hastily made a quick of list of the species I wanted to catch up with on the trip. The following were top of the list and to me the prospect of seeing any at all was exciting to say the least.

(Alpine Chough, Alpine Accentor, Snowfinch, Citril finch, Golden Eagle and of course Wallcreeper!)

Upon leaving Augsburg, our first port of call was to be the “Falkenwand” or Falcon Wall which is located between Oberammergau and Ettal a few miles north of Garmisch. Upon doing a bit of research, I found that this place was known to harbour Wallcreepers, Crag Martins and of course Peregrine Falcons. Having seen many Peregrines in Ireland and Crag Martins two years earlier at Via Mala gorge, Vallespluga, in Italy, my main focus was the Wallcreeper. It was a beautiful sunny morning but unfortunately, no Wallcreeper was to be found. No Peregrines were evident either; however, the Crag Martins did appear even if at a great distance. After a short walk around the area, nothing else was apparent apart from a couple of Marsh Tits and of course the ever-present Chiffchaffs.

Onwards to Garmisch-Partenkirchen where the prime focus was a possible cable car trip to the summit of Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze. Upon arriving at the car-park at Eibsee it was apparent that this would not be the case as a return trip to the summit and back cost €43 each. At €86 a pop, the enthusiasm waned and we made our way to the Alpenspitze cable car which was much more reasonably priced and still brought us to a height of 2030 metres. Having enjoyed a breath-taking trip up, literally (I hate heights!!), I was half hoping for maybe a Snowfinch or Alpine Accentor at the Hut which always have a restaurant. Unfortunately not! It was beautiful but very quiet. Still after about 20 minutes, a few birds were calling down the track so I decided to investigate. On walking down the track I noticed a Kestrel overhead. After giving it a glimpse, I headed on only to hear a loud shriek from where I had been looking. I turned back and saw the Kestrel again only this time it was being closely attended to by a Chough…..an Alpine Chough!!! Yes, a smile!! A new bird for me!! After 2 minutes it landed and disappeared into a high ravine. Great I thought and followed on after the calling birds. Knowing full well that the calling birds were pipits, I couldn’t locate them among the rocks and boulders until finally, one by one they showed. Water Pipits! Alpine breeders of which I had only seen 2 or 3 previously in Ireland.

We then descended slowly for the rest of the day seeing a few Nutcrackers, a flock of 20-30 Crossbills and a couple of Black Redstarts which were the best.

After awakening, my girlfriend decided that we would go a few kilometres to Hammersbach to see the Höllentalklamm which is a gorge between the Alpenspitze and the Zugspitze. The prospect of hiking again was daunting as both our legs were tender to say the least but how worth it it was as you will see. After seeing a lonely Buzzard and a couple of Spotted Flycatchers we began the ascent which took about 2 hours to the end of the gorge. Instead of continuing to the hut right at the end, we decided to return on the high path above the gorge.

After about 20 minutes on the return path, I was complaining for the 100^th time about how no Wallcreepers were to be seen in such perfect habitat. I had no sooner finished my sentence when a flash of white/grey caught my eye to the right. Looking out across the gorge, I wasn’t sure if it was a butterfly or bird as distances are seriously distorted in such areas. However, it kept coming towards us and by now I knew it was no butterfly! This bird was coming closer and closer in a bouncing undulating flight and there it was…a flash of red and the binoculars were up. Wallcreeper!! I shouted. We both watched the bird pass us, high above the gorge and then disappear around a corner. The smile on my face was big and also on my girlfriend’s face as she knew the complaining had finished. No more Wallcreepers for the trip and no more birds of note for the rest of the day. On to Gorenza in Italy.

Glorenza is a quaint small town enclosed by a town wall. We found a campsite close to the town centre. It can be found by driving to Glorenza from Malles Venosta, go straight through the town centre and take the narrow road to the right just before the bridge. For two people, a car and a tent this place only cost €6.20 per night. A real bargain with showers and toilets thrown in (if you’re not fussy about sleeping in a tent!!). This town offered little relating to birds apart from a few Blackcaps around the campsite and close up views of Crag martins in and around the town‘s streets. One Pied Flycatcher was also seen on this day by the banks of the river which runs adjacent to the campsite and a flyover Cuckoo early in the morning.

After a shower and some breakfast we drove a few kilometres east to Sluderno. This is another small town, a little larger than Glorenza but which lies at a slightly higher elevation, closer to the base of the nearby hills. A castle is the local tourist attraction which has a short walk around the outer walls which revealed Tree Sparrow, Robin, Great and Marsh Tit and other common birds. The castle itself is also a decent place to observe Crag Martins in the company of Swallows and House Martins. We also saw 2 Jackdaws in the castle which are hard to find in Italy or Germany from my experience.

Later we drove a little further east from Sluderno and turned left taking a high road into the hills (basically looking for somewhere with a view to stop and eat for a while!). After only a few hundred metres on this road, we pulled into the right and enjoyed a picnic in a small tract of forest overlooking the valley. After the meal, I took a short walk and found the following species; Mistle Thrush, Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, Chiffchaff, Pied Flycatcher, Black Redstart, Serin, Greenfinch and Bonelli’s Warbler (1^st for me!!)) The Bonelli’s was observed for about 10 minutes before losing it but was very enjoyable nonetheless. From this area, I could see the large Glorenza artficial basin below in the valley and that was where we headed next.

As we reached the area close to the basin, we parked the car and proceeded to walk a circuit around the lagoon taking about an hour and a half. The lagoon was mostly dry but did contain an adequate amount of water. The following species were noted; Black-headed Gull, Grey Heron, Common Sandpiper (2), Green Sandpiper, Mallard and 1 Swift. Along the route other birds of note were Black Redstart, Pied Flycatcher, Fieldfare, Reed Bunting, Wheatear (3) and Whinchat (2-3). Back to Glorenza for the night.

Today we drove east to Parcines where we hiked to the Cascata waterfall and back down the “Höhenweg”. More Pied Fly’s, Crag Martins and one of only 2 Magpies for the whole trip. A quiet day’s birding all in all but as always, the scenery was beautiful. That evening we drove further east to Merano/Meran and onto nearby Tirolo village.

Friday the 13^th!!! Didn’t even notice that it was the notorious day until the day after. Dorf Tirol is a nice place, high up over the much larger town of Meran (Merano) and is an obvious tourist destination for those with trekking, scenery and of course relaxation in mind. Today, we went to a local Falconry which doubles as a bird hospital/rescue service. It can be found in the grounds of the local castle and the show costs €7 or so with the usual array of falconry demonstrations etc. These places still leave me with a mixture of awe at seeing such beautiful birds of prey up close and personal and also a hollow feeling at seeing them caged. Nonetheless, I found solitude in the fact that our contributions were helping in the rehabilitation of injured wild birds, of which they receive between 200 and 300 per year.

After the demonstration we drove about 12 kilometres to Avelengo/Hafling, the home of the famous Avelignesi/Haflinger horse. After enquiring with the locals, we found that these horses were best observed at nearby Merano 2000 which is at a much higher level than the village itself. We drove to the base of Merano 2000 that evening called Falzeben and walked the first half hour up the track as it was getting late. As you can tell birding was not high on the agenda today but when we got to the first hut a half an hour later, I was in for 3 nice surprises. By the edge of a beautifully constructed “BioTop” pond, stuffed with newts and tadpoles, I looked up into the evening sky and saw a rather large bird back in the direction of Tirolo village soaring high. Golden Eagle!! The pale windows in the wings were apparent from even that distance and another lifer for me! As I watched it, another bird of prey crossed my view and came in our direction…..Short-toed Eagle!!! Another lifer!! You can imagine the smile on my face. My girlfriend who is German and not a birder was however chuffed to have seen a wild “Steinadler”. As we turned, smiling, to go back to the car, another bird caught my eye flying high past us! I put the bins up to my eyes and it was an Alpine Swift! I had only ever seen one before in Ireland so Friday the 13^th ended with 2 lifers for me and only my second Alpine Swift!! Excellent!! Back to Tirolo village.

Today we woke up fully knowing that a big trek was on the way. We got on the Hochmutbahn (cable car) and it promptly took us up to the “Bergstation” in 4 minutes. We started the trek from here at 8.30 am and did not get back to this point via a circuit trek until 18.05 that evening.

Overall, it was a quiet but testing trek until we had to climb the Rotel-Spitze (2625 metres). Man!!! That was bloody tough and did I complain or what!!!! It was steep, high and of course wet!! Not a pleasant experience but as always, when we finally got to the top….worth it! The view was great, and on the other side of the summit was a lake called “Langsee” at the back of which was a smaller lake called “Grünsee”.

Up to then, only common birds were seen, Nutcrackers as always and Goldcrests and various Tits. As we walked along the shores of the lakes, many Wheatears and Black Redstarts were feeding about the rocks in the company of Water Pipits. It was also close to Langsee that we saw wild goats (2) and a Marmot (I don’t know the proper name but it’s like a large Prairie Dog). This was a surprise but a welcome one.

As we made our way back, a Dipper was seen at Grünsee, as well as many Kestrels and Ravens and 1 Dunnock ( which gave me a scare for a second as it flitted among the rocks!! Alpine Accentor?...Unfortunately Not!) Then, to ease the disappointment, I heard a call overhead and there before us were 2 Golden eagles circling and calling over our heads. After watching them for 5 minutes they both appeared to dive to the other side of the valley a long way off apparently in pursuit of some kind of prey. They were lost to distance after a short while….fantastic!

The rest of the trek involved us high tailing it so as not to miss the last cable car back to the car park. Needless to say we didn’t miss it and saved ourselves a further 2 hour hike down in fading light.

Our final day before heading back to Germany involved us driving back to Merano 2000 from Tirol village to search for the Avelignesi/Haflinger horses. Upon arriving at the car park early, plenty of crossbills were making noise in the trees dotted around the car park. After gearing up, we continued up the track we had such fortune on two days before and continued on to a height of 2000 metres plus at an easy pace. Unfortunately, no further new birds were encountered but all the while, Nutcrackers, Wheatears, Black Redstarts, Ravens, Kestrels, Crag Martins and a beautiful summer plumaged Linnet feeding young were the highlights of the day. We also added Crested Tit to the list and found our Haflinger Horses which were very tame and approachable affording great photos.

All in all, for me it was a week where I got to see 5 new birds and many others we never see in Ireland. The scenery and great pizza in this part of Italy cannot go recommended highly enough. It was great to trek so much and test our fitness (or lack of) and basically to see beautiful countries other than our own. Thoroughly enjoyable!!!!!