#Wildlife in Switzerland… #nature #birds

Our flat here in N.E. Switzerland is metres away from a belt of woodland. In winter, the view to the north is tall tree trunks with Lake Constance and Germany beyond, and in summer we have peaceful shades of leafiness on the other side of the balcony railing. One effect of this is we get a motley selection of birds whizzing past at all hours of the day. Another is the fact that the dawn chorus is all the alarm clock you need in summer, which is sometimes a good thing…

I’m not very good at birdsong. In fact until a week or so ago, the only ones I could identify by the noise they make were crows and cuckoos, which are kind of obvious, and woodpeckers, not quite the same thing. But at some point this spring I became aware of a different bird voice, one with a very distinctive call. It stuck around, although I never saw it in the woods, and one day when it spent all morning yelling at its mate who yelled right back, I went online to see if I could find out more. Long story short, I couldn’t. I had no idea what it looked like, and none of the bird calls I listened to were ‘my’ bird.

Then Son 2 came for a visit and heard the bird too. Random googling is not Son 2’s thing. Within minutes, he had recorded the bird call, uploaded it to an ornithology site, and received an answer. ‘Our’ bird was a Red Kite. This meant little to me until I saw a picture, and yes, I had seen these birds circling around overhead several times. I just had no idea they sounded like they do. They’re rather splendid… If you want to hear them, have a listen on Youtube.

A few days later, I saw them circling overhead again, and this time they were calling to each other as they went. They’re still around – I wonder if they’ll stay, or come back next year?

Next week, writer Rachel Sargeant will be here with her choice of classic comfort books and also her own new release, out on Tuesday.
I’ll leave you with another Red Kite. Don’t think I’d like to get too close to them…