AUSTRIA: Birds and Music

 

“Traditionally, September in Burgenland is hot, sunny, and windless.  This year we arrived to cold, wet, and blustery weather.  Initially a little dispiriting, this proved to be a blessing.  Our first day driving around the Seewinkel pools yielded an endless succession of waders.  Yet none of these had been present a few days earlier at the end of an unprecedently dry summer.  A return visit a week later proved equally rewarding.  Opportunities for instructive comparisons abounded – Temminck’s and Little Stints, Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers, Redshank and Spotted Redshank, Wood and Green Sandpipers, Dunlin and Curlew Sandpiper, Greenshank, Knot, Sanderling, Ruff, Avocet, Curlew – plus Collared and Pied Flycatchers, Baltic Gull, and such alliterative extras as Spoonbill, Shelduck, and Skylark, with close Red-crested Pochards from the Bridge of Andau.  Similarly, gambling on the clouds clearing (which they did), we took the rack-and-pinion railway up the Schneeberg and for the first time ever were the only people wandering on the mountain top – with consequent record numbers of Water Pipits (50), Redpolls (40), and Crossbills (90), plus Dunnocks, Wheatear, Coal Tits, Bullfinches, and Ravens.  With all but one of the target species so well seen, the timing of the star of the show couldn’t be faulted: an Alpine Chough appeared after lunch just before our return train.

           

With sunshine and higher temperatures now the norm once more, our first walk on the Hohe Wand was the most productive possible, with close Firecrest and Goldcrest, Crested and Willow Tits, Sparrowhawk, Nutcracker, Jay, and Black Woodpecker.  Black Woodpecker also put on impressive performances in the Palace Park and at the Gloriette (and was voted Bird of the Trip with three more votes than Black Stork and White Stork which were joint runners-up).  The Park also provided us with a constant supply of the other woodpecker species but perhaps the favourite park regular this year was an obliging Kingfisher, with a similarly obliging Short-toed Treecreeper a close second.  Wood Warbler, Marsh Tit, Robin, Nuthatch, Grey Wagtail, and Song Thrush also put in appearances.  And curiously the same tree-top twig above the Orangery which on our first pre-breakfast visit hosted our only Hawfinch of the trip was perch to our only Mistle Thrush on our last day.

 

Our visit to Hohenau ringing station paid dividends not for the passerines in the nets (just Tree Sparrow and Blackcap) but for the thermalling Black Storks and the sequence of raptors whilst we were waiting there – Imperial and Lesser Spotted Eagles, Red Kites, Saker, Goshawk.  White Storks still lingered at Rust, Purple Herons at Mörbisch, Moustached and Savi’s Warblers and Bearded Tits at Breitenbrunn, and Red-backed Shrikes at several locations, whilst our day in Hungary added White-tailed Eagle, Penduline Tit, and Crested Lark.

 

There were a few DBs (distantly briefs) – Pygmy Cormorant (breeding for the first time in Austria), male Golden Oriole (flying ahead of the lead vehicle), Golden Eagle (both presumably on passage), and Bee-eaters (more distant than brief) – and the occasional disallowed leader-only bird (female Black Grouse and Fieldfare from the Schneeberg train).  But in general most of the 140 or so species recorded were seen very well, as indicated by the many excellent photographs obtained.

 

As to the music, our only disappointment was the Grace Bumbry gala evening.  Otherwise the concerts were quite superb: a spectacular opening performance of The Seasons by Adam Fischer and the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic, who also thrilled us on three subsequent occasions with Haydn’s symphonies 103, 15, and 97 and his Heiligmesse Sancti Bernardo von Offida, Mendelssohn’s symphony 4 and Dvorak’s 9th, Weber’s clarinet concerto 2, and Tchaikovsky’s variations on a rocco theme for cello and orchestra. 


The Mahler Chamber Orchestra played Beethoven’s overture The Consecration of the House, Haydn’s symphony 99, and Schumman’s 3rd; the Vienna Academy Bruckner’s 1st and Haydn’s 95th; the Vienna Chamber Orchestra with Rudolf Buchbinder a piano marathon of Schumann, Haydn, and Chopin; the Vienna Concert-Verein Haydn’s 88th and Gulda’s cello concerto; and the Freiburg Baroque Chamber Orchestra Mendelssohn’s violin concerto and Haydn symphonies 2,27, and 80.  All so different.  But all so joyful.

 

Our twelve days of birds and music highlights were augmented by private tours of the palaces at Eisenstadt and Fertod, Forchtenstein castle, and Haydn’s house and his birthplace at Rohrau and by a series of fine meals culminating in gourmet dining at the Hotel Ohr and the Esterhazy restaurant.  But the finishing touches to a very happy holiday were without doubt the many encounters with dear Sunbird friends – festival director Dr Walter Reicher (who invited us on our arrival to a rehearsal of The Seasons), mayor Andrea Fraunschiel (whose re-election posters smiled at us from every street corner: surely the most attractive chief official of any state capital), delightful Doris Fischer and her husband Adam (the brilliant driving force behind the festival),  Richard Wigmore (whose comments on the music are always so enlightening), Robert Avery and Rudi Morovitch (who both helped to create this remarkable festival), Anthony von Hoboken (son of the cataloguer of Haydn’s works who, maybe surprisingly, died only 24 years ago, aged 95), the affable Prince Anton Esterhazy and the gracious Princess Ursula (who also brought a 21st century reality to the pages of history), and the countless other regulars who make this happiest of festivals such an intimate family affair.

 

Once again Eisenstadt proved to be the best place in the world to spend mid-September.  And as Adam Fischer said after his performance of the Farewell Symphony brought the festival to a close ‘After the Festival is Before the Festival’.  Already we can look forward to next year’s 20th anniversary celebrations.  It seems that we may be able to choose from a special gala concert, two gala evenings (with Diana Damrau and Patricia Petibon), the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic performing ‘Il Ritorno di Tobia’, the English Concert with Vessilina Kasarova, the Basel Chamber Orchestra with Viktoria Mullova and Pieter Wispelwey, L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra with Nuria Rial, Anima Eterna, RSO Vienna, and a final concert by Adam Fischer with Fanny Clamagirand.  What’s more the festival has been extended.  We shall be there from 3rd to 14th September 2008.”  Brian Bland

 

BIRD LIST

 

This is a list of all the species seen during the last fourteen Austria Birds & Music tours.

 

Column A = Number of tours this species has been recorded

Column B = Number of days this species was seen on the last tour

Column C = Maximum daily count for this species on the last tour

(H)            = Possibly heard only

 

A

 

B

C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14

Little Grebe  

4

12

 

Tachybaptus ruficollis

11

Great Crested Grebe

2

1

 

Podiceps cristatus

3

Red-necked Grebe

 

 

 

Podiceps grisegena

4

Black-necked Grebe

 

 

 

Podiceps nigricollis

14

Continental Cormorant

5

25

 

Phalacrocorax (carbo) sinensis

1

Pygmy Cormorant

1

1

 

Phalacrocorax pygmeus

4

Common Bittern

 

 

 

Botaurus stellaris

1

Little Bittern

 

 

 

Ixobrychus minutus

1

Night Heron

 

 

 

Nycticorax nycticorax

2

Squacco Heron

 

 

 

Ardeola ralloides

8

Little Egret  

 

 

 

Egretta garzetta

14

Great Egret

5

50

 

Egretta alba

14

Grey Heron  

6

11

 

Ardea cinerea

12

Purple Heron  

2

3

 

Ardea purpurea

12

Black Stork  

1

6

 

Ciconia nigra

11

White Stork

2

2

 

Ciconia ciconia

13

Eurasian Spoonbill  

2

2

 

Platalea leucorodia

14

Mute Swan  

4

14

 

Cygnus olor

14

Greylag Goose  

4

‘000s

 

Anser anser

1

Ruddy Shelduck

 

 

 

Tadorna ferruginea

7

Common Shelduck  

1

1

 

Tadorna tadorna

1

Mandarin Duck (I)

 

 

 

Aix galericulata

4

Wigeon

1

6

 

Anas penelope

11

Gadwall  

1

4

 

Anas strepera

14

Common Teal

3

‘000s

 

Anas crecca

14

Mallard  

8

100

 

Anas platyrhynchos

4

Pintail

 

 

 

Anas acuta

4

Garganey

1

1

 

Anas querquedula

12

Northern Shoveler  

3

20

 

Anas clypeata

9

Red-crested Pochard

1

6

 

Netta rufina

9

Common Pochard  

 

 

 

Aythya ferina

7

Ferruginous Duck

 

 

 

Aythya nyroca

5

Tufted Duck

 

 

 

Aythya fuligula

5

White-tailed Eagle  

1

1

 

Haliaeetus albicilla

7

Honey Buzzard  

 

 

 

Pernis apivorus

1

Black Kite

 

 

 

Milvus migrans

2

Red Kite  

2

3

 

Milvus milvus

14

Marsh Harrier  

9

30

 

Circus aeruginosus

1

Hen Harrier

 

 

 

Circus cyaneus

5

Montagu’s Harrier  

 

 

 

Circus pygargus

9

Northern Goshawk  

3

1

 

Accipiter gentilis

14

Eurasian Sparrowhawk  

3

3

 

Accipiter nisus

13

Common Buzzard  

10

30

 

Buteo buteo

1

Steppe Eagle

 

 

 

Aquila nipalensis (orientalis)

1

Golden Eagle

1

1

 

Aquila chrysaetos

4

(Eastern) Imperial Eagle

1

1

 

Aquila heliaca

1

Lesser Spotted Eagle

1

1

 

Aquila pomarina

1

Booted Eagle

 

 

 

Hieraaetus pennatus

3

Osprey  

 

 

 

Pandion haliaetus

14

Common Kestrel  

11

50

 

Falco tinnunculus

5

Red-footed Falcon

 

 

 

Falco vespertinus

11

Hobby 

2

1

 

Falco subbuteo

8

Saker  

1

1

 

Falco cherrug

7

Peregrine  

 

 

 

Falco peregrinus

2

Black Grouse  

 

 

 

Tetrao tetrix

12

Grey Partridge  

1

3

 

Perdix perdix

14

Pheasant (I)  

9

70

 

Phasianus colchicus

10

Water Rail

2

2

(H)

Rallus aquaticus

4

Spotted Crake

 

 

 

Porzana porzana

4

Little Crake

 

 

 

Porzana parva

12

Common Moorhen  

5

10

 

Gallinula chloropus

14

Eurasian Coot  

4

10

 

Fulica atra

1

Comon Crane

 

 

 

Grus grus

10

Great Bustard  

 

 

 

Otis tarda

4

Black-winged Stilt

 

 

 

Himantopus himantopus

14

Pied Avocet  

2

80

 

Recurvirostra avosetta

14

Little Ringed Plover  

2

8

 

Charadrius dubius

13

Common Ringed Plover  

2

1

 

Charadrius hiaticula

9

Kentish Plover  

 

 

 

Charadrius alexandrinus

1

Golden Plover

 

 

 

Pluvialis apricaria

5

Grey Plover

1

4

 

Pluvialis squatarola

14

Northern Lapwing  

3

100

 

Vanellus vanellus

6

Red Knot  

1

4

 

Calidris canutus

6

Sanderling  

1

10

 

Calidris alba

13

Little Stint  

2

20

 

Calidris minuta

8

Temminck’s Stint

2

1

 

Calidris temminckii

12

Curlew Sandpiper  

2

2

 

Calidris ferruginea

14

Dunlin  

2

10

 

Calidris alpina

13

Ruff  

2

6

 

Philomachus pugnax

14

Common Snipe

2

18

 

Gallinago gallinago

8

Black-tailed Godwit  

 

 

 

Limosa limosa

1

Bar-tailed Godwit

 

 

 

Limosa lapponica

13

Eurasian Curlew  

1

60

 

Numenius arquata

1

Whimbrel

1

1

 

Numenius phaeopus

13

Spotted Redshank

3

6

 

Tringa erythropus

9

Redshank

2

5

 

Tringa totanus

2

Marsh Sandpiper

 

 

 

Tringa stagnatilis

10

Common Greenshank  

2

7

 

Tringa nebularia

6

Green Sandpiper  

2

1

 

Tringa ochropus

13

Wood Sandpiper  

1

1

 

Tringa glareola

9

Common Sandpiper  

1

3

 

Actitis hypoleucos

6

Turnstone