Austrian Birds

Our Easter trip to Graz turned up a few birds that were new to us.

Blackcap:

Despite the odd appearance, I suspect that this happy little chap is a mallard underneath:

The river provided goosanders:

And, very excitingly, a dipper, dipping in the middle of town:

Schloss Eggenberg was mainly notable for its peacocks:

Honourable mention also for the squirrels:

Our latest trip to Marchegg was similarly productive. This (probably pied) flycatcher prompted us to brake our bikes rather sharply:

We saw our first kingfisher of the year, albeit from quite a distance:

The real finds of this outing were the raptors, however. My first sparrowhawk (fairly sure):

This white-tailed eagle was hunting ducks (or at least scaring the daylights out of them):

Meanwhile a red kite was hanging around, perhaps hoping that something would come his way:

This imperial eagle sauntered over us:

The (marsh?) harrier was out hunting, making the hares very nervous:

The stork colony in Marchegg is starting to fill up; around 15 pairs (out of 50ish) have already nabbed the best nests (generally the higher ones). We saw several stealing material from empty nests:

Then they got down to business:

The village has taken its occasional residents to heart: 

Our “own” pair are ahead of the game again, and are already incubating eggs. Newly returned birds are still on the lookout for nests, so there’s defending to be done:

And after all that sitting, there’s nothing like a damn good stretch: