Explorer and Independent Biologist

Saturday 18 December 2010

Seewinkel in Winter's icy grip

I think it is very likely that I was the only person counting birds in the frozen Seewinkel National Park on the Austria-Hungary border on a weekday, just four days before the Winter Solstice!  The bird species diversity there in winter is a tiny fraction of that in summer; however, every biological record is valuable, and there are always exciting things to see. I could certainly  not have watched three See Eagles feasting on a dead swan if I had stayed at home!

Balls of mistletoe are starkly visible on the denuded deciduous trees

 
 Even the Einserkanal starts to freeze over and the Andau Bridge 
looks very different now to how it did during my last visit

Lake Neusiedl is frozen over...

...while the cycle track at Sandeck is more like a skating rink!
The watchtower is a relic of the Cold war

A pair of Hooded crows find something to eat during a snow flurry...

...but the sun is trying hard to show itself through the snow clouds

On a winter afternoon the setting sun illuminates the inflorescences 
of reeds in the Seewinkel National Park

8 comments:

  1. Lovely photographs.

    It has been rather bitter cold over here in the States as well.
    In Orlando Florida last week it was in the 20 degrees cold. Way below freezing. Funny how the weather is so unpredictable.

    I long for the spring season. 91 days to go.

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  2. Yes, they are lovely. Though I was hoping to see then Swan-eating eagles too.

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  3. that last shot is a beauty! I agree with Raelha. BTW I have a mistletoe growing in my turpentine tree as well as Orchids

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  4. You blood thirsty little thing Raelha!

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  5. Thanks for comments! I'm afraid the eagles were out of my photographic range and the light was rather poor.

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  6. Winter does have a beauty all its own, and you help us see that quite well here, Maalie!

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  7. Good photos. I really liked the last one. That global warming is something isn't it?

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