Birding in Augarten, Vienna
When: September 2018 Weather: Cold 11C
Nikon P900, Leica Monochrom 50mm APO summicron
Having explored the further afield Lobau wetland forest a few days earlier and written about in an earlier post, we decided to head for the Augarten, a city park that was an easy 30min walk from our hotel in Stephansplatz…

One of the entrances to the Augarten from the southern approach

Inside there is a lovely porcelain museum and tea house which serves a decent hot chocolate!

the first bird to greet me was the Great Tit, characterised by its black head

Great Tit

Great tit with white cheek and jet black head

and then in the forested paths, a whole lot of these little guys zipped around us and looked on curiously….I’m sure that if we’d brought some bread along, they would have come to our hands…

These are Blue Tits, who have a light blue crown and a white stripe above the eye to differentiate it from the Great Tit

the brilliant september sunshine lit up the park, at one end of which there was an imposing and rather sombre looking tower

Close up…the towers are actually old world war two artillery bunkers and shelters…hence ‘never again’

Hooded crows were common and not at all shy

Hooded crow

and then hearing a tweet from nearby, I found this little fellow

It was lovely Eurasian Nuthatch pecking at the hole making a nest

Eurasian Nuthatch

and nearby, a brilliant flash of red heralded the great Spotted Woodpecker…

Great spotted woodpecker

and the final bird of the morning was this garden warbler; thanks to B Kaufman for help in ID

garden warbler

and this tiny red squirrel bade us farewell at the end of the morning
This was a delightful way to spend a couple of hours in a pretty landscaped garden within easy reach of the city centre…recommended.
Any plans to visit the Netherlands, Doc?
Unfortunately my travel plans don’t include Holland for now…. thanks for viewing my blog
Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you plan to visit. We have some terrific birding experts here.