Alpine Birding Spots 2 - Adolf Pichler Hütte / Kemater Alm

Lots of people that come to the Alpine Birds blog from google are - quite obviously - looking for info on Alpine Birds. And I love to talk about the places I love going birding. So I would like to try get a new blog series going about great birding spots in the Alps - well, at the the places that I like to go looking for birds, or just to appreciate nature. Here is the second one in the series:

Adolf Pichler Hütte / Kemater Alm

These two mountain huts lie just southwest of Innsbruck, but deep enough in the mountains to feel well away from civilization. Surrounded by stunning hills and the towering Kalkkögel Mountains, this quiet valley is a snow hole in winter and a lush green paradise in summer.

Summer time birding:

Entering the Senderstal (Sender Valley) from Grinzens (see map directions to birding spot here), you will need to buy a parking ticket at the machine at the entrance to the valley, just outside of town (€3, there is also a boom gate there). Have a look around in this area for Treecreeper, as well as Nuthatch and Crested Tit. Continue driving slowly up the valley road, following the little stream. On your way up through the forest, keep a look out for Three-toed Woodpeckers. They can be very shy, so it may take stopping the car for a bit and having a good (quiet) look about. The best place to do this is probably at the open parking area about half way up the valley (where you can leave your car parked for a bit and explore the forests). If you are lucky you may pick up a Greyheaded Woodpecker, a black grouse or a capercaille (but no guarantees on any of those!)

The drive up the valley follows the stream so you really want to find the local White-throated Dipper pair, and maybe a Grey Wagtail.

Kemater Alm and the stunning Kalkkögel Mountains

When you get to Kemater Alm (basically the first buildings you reach), you will need to park your car. You are now at 1646m (5400ft) above sea level. Take the trail along a gravel road (signposted to Adolf Pichler Hütte), heading straight for the stunning Kalkkögel Mountains. As you leave the farmhouse area, keep an ear and eye open for Willow Tits - they can be very abundant in the scrubby vegetation and sparce trees, particularly just south of the gravel road, and along the next 1 kilometer of road up towards the hut.

As you wander through the open alpine grasslands, look for the Water Pipit and groups of Alpine Accentors and Black Redstarts in the boulder-strewn areas.

As you get slightly higher up, scan the steeper rough ground for Whitewinged Snowfinch (they breed higher up but you have a decent chance of seeing them if you look really hard), and the cliffs for Wallcreeper. Always keep an eye in the sky and you might be treated with a Golden Eagle.

Field of Mountain Pine and open high alpine birding areas

Especially at migration time, the large areas of shrubby Mountain Pine (Latschenkiefer, Pinus mugo mugo) can be filled with life and one never knows what could be moving through. One day I will find a Siberian Warbler there!

The spotted nutcrackers are likely to be a permanent (or at least frequent) sound on your walk up. They typically spend alot of time in the Arolla Pines (Zirbelkiefer, Pinus cembra) - gnarly old trees that mostly grow right up between the forest and tree line.

An Arolla Pine, aka Spotted Nutcracker food!

When you get to Adolf Pichler Hütte, stop for a refreshing "Radler" (a beer shandy of Sprite mixed with beer) and some Kasknödel, eaten in a soup, with salad or Sauerkraut (a traditional cheese dumpling). Soak in that awesome view and enjoy!

After a bite to eat, head further up the hill, toward the ridge-line saddle behind the hut. At this point the path takes you down the other side back towards Kemater Alm (and you car), but what it is also wonderful to take a little stroll out along the ridge to the north. The view is stunning and well worth the 5minutes of extra effort ;-)

The lookout point at the end of the ridge

Note: if you do go out along the ridge line, you will need to back track to get back to the saddle and go down along the path to the west - you will not be able to get down directly from the ridge to Kematen Alm.

The path now takes you north along the western side of the little ridge. There is more vegetation here than on the trail up to Adolf Pichler Hütte, so your chances of picking up tits (especially Willow Tit) are rather high.

This valley appears to be an important migration path for Pipit, Fieldfares and other thrushes and at times there can be very large numbers moving through (esp. in on the autumn migration).

Winter time birding:

Park your car down in Grinzens and walk the road up the valley. The normal road becomes a Rodelbahn (sledding track) in wintertime, so you will not need any special equipment to go birding here in winter - just warm shoes and clothing.

As you wander up the road, keep a decent pace and listen out for bird parties. The tits in particular can be very vocal in winter and so the best way to find any birds at all is to simple try to find the tits. Once you have located some tits calling, scan every tree in the area for anything else. In the snowy forests, the birds form mixed species bird parties. These can be large and they are evidently very popular with our feathered friends because it is seldom that one sees too many birds outside one of these mixed species flocks. Favorite wintertime party participants include:

nuthatch (Kleiber)

crested tit (Haubenmeise), coal tit (Tannenmeise), great tit (Kohlmeise)

short-toed treecreeper (Gartenbaumläufer), eurasian treecreeper (Waldbaumläufer)

great spotted woodpecker (Buntspecht), three-toed woodpecker (Dreizehenspecht)

chaffinch (Buchfink)

robin (Rotkehlchen)

blackbird (Amsel)

the other rather vocal group are the Common Crossbills (Fichten-Kreuzschnabel) - they form large, noisy groups in winter and the males go bright red. they tend not to be as mobile or nomadic as in the rest of the year, as they oftentimes breed in winter (when the Spruce seeds ripen).

If you make it to Kemater Alm, have something warm to eat and drink and then head out behind the Alm towards Adolf Pichler Hütte (closed in winter) - you might pick up a Rock Ptarmigan or Whitewinged Snowfinch out on the snow fields. If you are thinking about going in to this area (especially in late winter/spring when both species are getting ready to breed), then first ask someone at the Kemater Alm about the avalanche risk. Snow Finches are wonderful, but not worth uncalculated risks.

Best time to go: Autumn (the colours are great)

Interesting bird species: White-throated Dipper, Spotted Nutcracker, Three-toed Woodpecker,Alpine Accentor, White-winged Snowfinch, Willow Tit, Golden Eagle.

How to get there: go to the google map, click on the first P(arking) symbol and say "to here". type in your starting location and google maps will do it all for you. Grinzens is approximately 20 minutes from the center of Innsbruck.

View Adolf Pichler Hütte / Kemater Alm in a larger map

Happy birding,

Dale Forbes

Here Rock Bunting, here Rock Bunting, come on...

Does not quite roll off the tongue, but I bet you can guess what I am going to write about ;-)

Of the buntings, it is only really the Yellow Hammer (Goldammer) that has any real level of abundance in Tirol. The Ortolan Buntings are hanging on by the skin of their teeth (teeth ?) in the Silz area and I had heard rumours of a few Rock Buntings (Zippammer) about on the "hot", rocky northern slopes of the Inn Valley. So I started to ask about, and it seemed that they had been seen by a few different people right by my house, on the slopes above the winefarm in Zirl.

first Rock Bunting photo - sun playing havoc with my photo success...

Sunday morning I hauled my still sleepy legs out of the house just before sunrise and headed first up to Ehnbachklamm to look for the Wallcreeper on my way to looking for the Rock Buntings [kill two metaphoric birds with one stone]. As I was about to enter the Ehnbachklamm (a very tight little gorge), I heard my first Rock Bunting singing in the trees above me.
Astonishment.
To say the least.
I have been here innumerable times and never picked up the Rock Bunting!

Still no wallcreepers. grrrr. they are a figment of photoshop's imagination!

So I headed back down the hill and up the other side of the gorge, towards Martinswand and the Zirler Steinbruch (quarry). It did not take me long to find the next pair to Rock Buntings, doing just what rock buntings do: sitting on a dead tree, right on a cliff, singing. Wonderful.

Racing up the road to try to get a better position, I got to the quarry edge and heard another two Rock Bunting (territory three and counting!), but I carried on up to the little bridge over the rocky channel where I had seen the second pair. Poor photographs ensued, and maniacal climbing of cliffs with telescopes. I still didn't get a great photo, but at least I got to watch the pair feeding on the cliff. As the pair flew up from the cliff, it was interesting to see how the female would fly to the lower branches of an exposed tree, and the male would fly directly to the top of the tree/bush/snag to sing his merry little heart out.

those are the houses of Zirl in the background

The Bonelli's Warblers (Berglaubsänger) were back in full force with at least 20 individuals calling across the mountain slope. Good to have them back!

Heading out towards the Kaiser Max Grotte (a cave overlooking Innsbruck in the Martinswand), I picked up yet another Rock Bunting. It was ridiculous to see how many I was finding of a lifer that has, for all this time, lived just a few minutes walk behind my house. I blame at least part of this on the "I did not expect it so did not find it" psychology. The other part is, quite clearly, my incompetance ;-)

you put your left leg in, you take your left leg out, you do the hokey pokey and turn around...

In terms of habitat preference, it seems the Rock Buntings in Tirol prefer steeper slopes that are: South-facing (warmer), rocky with exposed rock sections/cliff areas, steep but not vertical, low canopy cover (fairly open woodland flanking open rocky areas), and the vegetation is dominated by small/stunted Austrian Black Pine (Pinus nigra, Waldkiefer). Conversations with other local ornithologists have revealed that they occasionally move out on to the valley floor, particularly in areas adjacent to their typical habitat, and will also utilize more closed pine woodland flanking the open rocky areas. These woodlands are typically great for picking up Bonelli's Warbler.

A Black Redstart alit briefly when I was in "hunting" position. the green in the background is from the distant fields.

You see, it does help to know what you are looking for in order to find it - pyschologists have been telling us for years, and it finally makes sense.

Happy birding
Dale Forbes

Some more photos from MoonWatch

Here are some more images from my first three nights doing the MoonWatch night time bird migration surveys.


Up at the beautiful Hungerburgbahn train station - our first night out doing the night bird migration study.

Sunset up at Hoadl Haus (Axamer Lizum, 2350m asl)

Sunset and our MoonWatch setup, also Hoadl Haus (Axamer Lizum). Almost no birds migrating over the mountain top, but what a stunning location to be at full moon!

The moon rising at Axamer Lizum.

A rather frienly Alpine Accentor up at Seegrube (North Park Ski Arena, overlooking Innsbruck). We saw alpine accentors in the late afternoon at Seegrube, as well as up at Axamer Lizum that morning. Lovely birds.

Seegrube and North Park have got to be one of the most reliable and best spots in the Innsbruck area to see and photograph Alpine Choughs. Between the Alpine Accentors, Alpine Choughs and Black Redstarts, I have lots of birds to play with my digiscoping setup.

I need to leave now to go back up the mountain - another sleepless night staring at the full moon (it really is a fascinating object!)

Happy birding
Dale

Birding in the city - well, Innsbruck does have something to offer!

I just spent an hour birding and walking about the Hofgarten (in the middle of Innsbruck, Tirol). I was on my way to work this morning when I heard a Black Redstart (Hausrotschwanz) calling from the rooftop in the middle of down-town Innsbruck. That got me thinking that I really should see what else I could find. The day had not heated up yet (dont think it will, either), and the birds were really singing. oh, and I had my ELs with me.

A quick stop in at Hofgarten (which is right behind my office at the university) produced at least 400 Brambling (Bergfinken), 3 Mistle Thrush (Misteldrossel), and a few Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers (Kleinspecht).

I will write about it in more detail later in the day...

But what a lovely day to start a work day, with a bit of productive birding in the city!

Happy birding
Dale

Another cool black redstart (Hausrotschwanz) photo I found on flickr

rouge-queue noir, black redstart, phoenicurus ochruros (Limousin, France), originally uploaded by lilivanderhulst.

the title kinda says it all. this is the original title of the photo:
rouge-queue noir, black redstart, phoenicurus ochruros (Limousin, France)

I know I have some decent black redstart and common redstart photos i digiscoped last year. they are somewhere. I'll need to dig them out at some stage.

i think i will eventually get around to using flickr more - had an account there for years and years but only uploaded my first photos last week.

i think this is my photostream
otherwise, my username is capepolly (after the cape parrots i so adore in south africa)

Happy birding
Dale

The Black Redstarts are back in town

Rabirruivo // European Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros subsp. gibraltariensis) ♂, originally uploaded by Valter Jacinto | Portugal.

Hausrotschwanz // European Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros subsp. gibraltariensis) ♂

I wandered outside on to the balcony this afternoon - it was beautiful and sunny outside, lovely and warm; the first spring day we have had this year...

And then my phone rang.

Check cell phone.

Nothing.

Mild confusion.

Oh! it is not my ringtone, it is a real, live, singing black redstart singing in our neighbourhood.
The thing is, I have not heard a black redstart singing here in town for many many long months, and I haven't seen one for almost as long.
So, alone with the first day of spring, came the first black redstart song of the year, what a wonderful day!

(hear the Black Redstart song by garden-birds.co.uk)

Incidentally, I also heard a white-winged snowfinch this morning in Schlick 2000.
And there has been no sign of the Eagle Owl at all since we first spotted it last saturday. My working hypothesis is that it normally roosts somewhere on Martinswand in a favorite spot, but because there are rock climbers and mountaineers all over the cliffs over the weekend (particularly warm, sunny saturdays), the eagle owl might have to flee to a quieter, more protected spot on these days. If that theory works, and lady luck is on my side, then we should be able to find the eagle owl tomorrow. Unfortunately (or forunately ;-) I head off to Hochötz tomorrow for a day with the family - fun in the sun, with lots of slushy snow! yippee!

Happy birding
Dale

[see all posts on Black Redstarts here]