A new and interesting feature we hope will continue is the comparison between rare bird reports in Britain and those in different countries. Martin Suanjak is a young birder from Austria. Landlocked, mountainous and with far fewer birders than in the UK, his rarities report from October makes for great reading.
Austria's October Rarities
So the first thing: Austria
is not Australia !
We don’t have kangaroos but mountains (not just mountains though!). People are not as into birds as you Brits are, however there is growing community of
birders. My home country is not really a good ground for rarities, in my
opinion; it has no connection to the sea and migrants seem to avoid the Alps .
This October however
was not the worst for rare species:
-Due to the fact that probably not everyone
knows every village in Austria ,
I will add directions in brackets (C for central, E for east etc.) to explain which area of Austria the bird was seen.-
The first Slavonian
Grebes of the winter appeared with one very showy individual at Oslip (E). Also
the first rare geese came in with three Red-breasted Geese reported from the Lake Neusiedl
A ringed (white
darvic) Glossy Ibis was reported from Upper Austria (CN).
Three reports of skuas; two Arctics, one at the Lake Neusiedl area (E) and one near Vienna (NE) and one
Long-tailed from the Rhine estuary (W).
No really rare gulls
reported, just two Greater-Black Backs from the Lake Neusiedl
On the waders front
it’s been a good month for the south eastern county of Styria
 |
| Grey Phalarope,Waldschacher Teiche ©Andreas Tiefenbach |
The second strike for
Styria was the discovering of a late Pectoral Sandpiper at Gralla (SE). This
was just second for Styria after bird at exactly the same spot in 1972! So this
should be a big twitch for serious lister and actually
eleven people twitched it the first day (me included), so kind of a big twitch (for Austria).
The bird stayed there for 8 days and 20 people saw it in total (Imagine a
second for Yorkshire , how many people would
folk up to see it?)…
 |
| Pectoral Sandpiper, Gralla ©Michael Tiefenbach |
 |
| Pectoral Sandpiper, Gralla ©Michael Tiefenbach |
Another rare wader
were 3 Bar-tailed Godwits which stayed the whole month in the Lake Neusiedl Vienna
would be 16th record for Austria
and the first away from the main wader sites Rhine estuary and Lake Neusiedl Rhine
estuary (W). Another good wader record was a Collared Pratincole at Upper
Austria (C), but no photos were obtained.
It has been also a
good month for Raptors. Just three Long-legged Buzzard from the NE which is
much less than the record influx year 2012. In summer/autumn 2012 there where
19 Long-legged Buzzards in the main area for this species (Waldviertel and
Weinviertel), but the same time in 2013 had just 6 birds in the area.
 |
| Long-legged Buzzard ©Richard Katzinger |
 |
| Long-legged Buzzard ©Richard Katzinger |
 |
| Long-legged Buzzard ©Richard Katzinger |
A hybrid Lesser x
Greater Spotted Eagle (called Tunne) from Estonia
was tracked flying over eastern Austria
(http://birdmap.5dvision.ee/index.php?lang=en).
Another strange Lesser Spotted Eagle appeared, this one in the Lake
Neusiedl area: a bird from Slovakia which had been kept in captivity for a year after falling out of the nest. New to
freedom it wasn't very shy, didn't fly very high and landed in unusual places, like reedbeds. In the same area a calidus Peregrine was seen and photographed. The
status of this ssp. is anything but clear, with a few individuals
claimed every year, usually without photographic evidence.
 |
| calidus Peregrine, |
 |
| calidus Peregrine, |
 |
| calidus Peregrine, |
A “normal” Lesser
Spotted Eagle flew over Carinthia (S) and a Pallid Harrier was reported from
Tyrol (W).
Everyone was hoping
for a big Yellow-browed Warbler influx after the very promising numbers from
the north. But our hopes were not really satisfied. There were in total four
reports from various parts of the country, but just one with pictures (if all
get accepted this would be records number 7 to 10). The only pictures were
taken with a compact digicam, the bird was really that tame! Unfortunately none
were twitchable.
.jpg) |
| Yellow-browed Warbler ©Marion Schindlauer |
Another interesting
Phyllosc record came from Carinthia, with a
Siberian Chiffchaff (tristis), but once again, no pictures were obtained (this bird would have been the 6th
record).
At the end of the
month another long awaited guest appeared in from of a Two-barred Crossbill.
The bird was a very brief encounter and just two pictures were taken. Any
comments on this bird would be appreciated.
 |
| Two-barred Crossbill, ©Andreas Tiefenbach |
A Lapland Bunting was
heard calling at the Lake
Neusiedl
I think that’s all worth
reporting. As usual winter migrants arrived with good numbers: Bramblings,
Hen Harriers, Merlins and Lesser Grey Shrikes. Also loads of Cranes were seen
migrating through.
Thanks to Marion
Schindlauer, Andreas Tiefenbach, Michael Tiefenbach, Richard Katzinger and Leander
Khil for information and pictures.
Avid birder for a few years, Martin also goes ringing, twitching (mostly dipping) and enjoys photography. He lives near Graz, Austria. Martin has visited the Spurn Bird Observatory "It was really awesome! Go there if you get the chance!" Any information about birding Austria needed; don't hesitate to contact him!
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