Back in June we had a few days away to Munich and Vienna, plus a day in the Alps. We did Munich and Vienna zoos but as usual spent as much time watching the native wildlife as the zoo inhabitants!
In Munich we met a lovely coot family
IMG_1915 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
and a gorgeous baby crow and its parent
IMG_2076 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
We spent some time waiting until there were no people passing to share our lunch with the crow parent. He/she would take the pieces of bread, carefully soak them in the enclosure moat
IMG_2084 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
then feed them to baby
IMG_2094 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
There were many crows in the zoo and they seemed to coexist peacefully with the residents, except for during the falconry display when a golden eagle was flown!
IMG_2204 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
Vienna Zoo had lots of sparrows (we shared lunch with them too)
IMG_1395 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
The first hooded crows we'd ever seen (Many of them have leg rings, and they're partial to a bit of wafer from a banana split)
IMG_1498 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
The zoo has an amazing treetop walk through the woods at the edge of the zoo. At the start of the walk we came across a pair of colourful young squirrels
IMG_1688 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
IMG_1694 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
The absolute highlight of the trip abroad was going up the Rauschberg in the Alps in search of choughs. It was CHOUGHING cold and misty up there, but the lure of the food we'd brought with us proved irresistible for the choughs and they came over to partake. They're well used to visitors and very tame to the point of flying up to take pieces from your hand.
IMG_1226 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
IMG_1300 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
IMG_1328 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
IMG_1312 by MaisieHexagon, on Flickr
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Maisie
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
You must have been in Seventh Heaven with all those corvids. How great the choughs were tame enough to feed from your hand. That must have been brilliant and that last but one photo is fabulous. All your photos are excellent, and very informative. Thank you for sharing them.
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Knowing your affinity with corvids you must have been delighted to see so many. I take it they were Alpine Choughs. I'd no idea they could be so tame. I've only ever seen them halfway up a mountain. Lovely photos by the way.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
WOW! Fabulous set of shots but those Alpine choughs are something else! My word! What an experience!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr
Thank you all for the compliments! I first met the choughs in 2007 on a trip with my Mum (who's German) and aunt. I'd seen photos of people with choughs sitting on their feet and wanted to know if they were that friendly with all visitors. Since finding out that they'll readily come to anyone holding something remotely edible, I've always wanted to come back and bring the other half to meet them. Last time I was there it was glorious weather and the choughs were lined up on the railings by the cafe's outside seating area waiting for titbits from the diners. One man was kind enough to share his dessert by offering spoonfuls to the waiting beaks. This time we ate inside because of the cold weather, but I did save some of my Kaiserschmarrn (a very thick chopped up pancake batter served with apple sauce) dessert and shared it with the choughs afterwards.
Waiting in line
Glad you had a lovely tome in Munich, love the photo's, We saw some Alpine choughs a few years ago in Austria.
J
I loved looking through these - I love corvids as well. I've never seen a chough but I did enjoy seeing a very friendly raven at the summit of Snowdon last week! Brilliant, particularly as there aren't any in my part of the world.
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
Wow, what a lovely face to greet you as you come round the corner!
Great photos Maisie bet you were on cloud9 with all those corvids, they are amazing. Only seen Chough in the Alps but what acrobats!! Love Hoodies, remind me of summer hols up north, we had 2 down here near Cresswell earlier in the year, WooHoo!! As for Ravens, what fantastic birds their calls are so haunting.
'In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks' John Muir.
Excuse wobbily dyslexic spelling!
I'm so pleased you like the raven - here's another picture.
Nice photo's. Interesting to see the alpine variation of the Chough, confused me for a moment as I was expecting a red bill not yellow. I see lots of hoodies every year on my hols north of the border along with Ravens. I'm a big fan of Corvids as well, they're highly intelligent and great to watch.