Black-headed gull

During a break from work, I went to Irchelpark in the center of Zurich to hopefully find and photograph the pintail I had seen there the day before. Unfortunately, it had already left the pond there and was probably on its way back north. As it had snowed during the night, I nevertheless took the opportunity to take a photo of the Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) wintering there. The heads were already somewhat colored again, the first signs of the magnificent plumage that I had always seen on Texel last summer.

This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.

Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)

I've already had several shots of this squirrel on my wildlife camera. As I hiked the strenuous route to the camera again, I was able to watch it playing with its partner. When squirrels play with each other, they are often less attentive and therefore easier to photograph.

This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.

Middle spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)

This young middle spotted woodpecker is already practicing as a climber of the highest difficulty level. Young birds are often difficult to distinguish from other species or can be confused with them. The great spotted woodpecker also lives in this forest, and in much larger numbers, which is why you have to look very closely.

This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.

Beaver

I had already seen this female beaver a week earlier at six o'clock in the evening (unfortunately without a camera...), which is very early for these shy nocturnal animals, especially in a town like Aarau, where many people also roam the neighborhood forests in the evenings. On this second sighting, even before five o'clock in the evening, I was able to photograph and film it on land thanks to the equipment available this time. It only allowed itself to be disturbed when a couple of joggers came along the path, talking loudly to each other. I always find it fascinating how animals use their “hands”. I first observed this many years ago with a grizzly bear in Canada, which used its fingers to carefully pick berries from a bush.

This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.

Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)

The yellowhammer is a beautiful bird, with its bright yellow color it could also be native to the tropics. On Biodiversity Day, however, I must unfortunately mention that it is one of the big losers of species loss in Europe and especially in Switzerland. Cultivated landscapes with hedgerows, orchards, fields and meadows are being rapidly lost due to modern agriculture, and we urgently need to change this.

This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.

European Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)

The pied flycatcher is a bird that I've only known for two years. At least in the woods where I am often on the move, it is not that rare. Last Sunday alone, I saw half a dozen of these secret forest dwellers. Two of them seem to have moved into a bird house provided by the local nature conservation association. Hopefully there will be offspring soon.

This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.

Grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

I recently discovered a new location where a shallow area of a stream merges into a rocky one that is almost like a mountain stream. This is a habitat for dippers, kingfishers and grey wagtails. The latter like to stay right at the transition, where you can now see the reddish colors of the bushes in the background in autumn.

This picture is part of the category Portrait: Grey Wagtail.

Beaver

This morning I had not expected to observe beavers at all and was busy with long exposures of sleeping mute swans, when in between the first beaver appeared, and that in the first light of the soon rising sun. Since he immediately disappeared on the riverbank, and after him more beavers, I concluded that I had discovered a beaver den.

This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.

Grey heron (Ardea cinerea)

This gray heron was standing in a stream when I rode by on my bicycle. With the experience in the back of my mind that these animals flee immediately when you stop, I rode a few meters further, turned around and rode past him again until I reached a small footbridge. There I stopped in the cover of the bushes, unpacked the camera, and sneaked onto the bridge from where I could get a good look at it and take a picture. I chose to convert to black and white because I thought the lights were pretty, but the colors were very pale green because of the surrounding trees.

This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.

Tawny owl (Strix aluco)

This picture seems almost kitsch. But this is how a modern camera sees the remaining light long after sunset, while we humans can barely see our hand in front of our face. In fact, the photo was even more colorful when I first saw it, which I reduced a bit when I developed it. Because it was quite stormy, the branches in most of the photos obscured part of the tawny owl, if not, the welcome blur resulted. I have been visiting this meanwhile quite well-known tawny owl near my home regularly for some time, but I never managed to take a photo like on that evening before. I was really grateful to it, that it was sitting so calmly and also looked friendly, while the long exposure was running.

This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.

Dragonfly in the spotlight

I met this Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens) just before sunset in a small nature reserve, where I could photograph frogs, butterflies and dragonflies several times before. It was sitting on a small stick in one of the three small ponds, which unfortunately dried up completely shortly after because of the drought in the summer of 2022.

This picture is part of the category Close-Up & Macro.

Grey heron (Ardea cinerea)

Autumn unfolds its colors at and on the small lake, which is actually an old arm of the river Aare, and the gray heron casually standing on one leg asserts itself as the boss on the water. The place is well protected, no human being can get there, which he knows of course. Nevertheless, he is very attentive and would fly away at the slightest disturbance.

This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.

After last year's sharp decline in the number of kingfishers, probably due to the summer floods, I finally found them again in recent weeks. Up to four blue flashes drew their circles at the same time and tried to mark their territories. Only one, however, the place deer namely, sits down regularly and also for a longer time on the fallen tree, which is very weathered over the years.

This picture is part of the category Portrait: Kingfisher.

Common Buzzard

This young common buzzard was probably just told by his parents to care for himself. For a long time he sat on this branch directly above a frequently walked path and screamed for his life. For me a stroke of luck, I could photograph him in beautiful light.

This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.

Marbled White (Melanargia galathea)

After I could hardly find marbled whites last year probably because of the continuous rather bad weather, I had more luck again this year. Although these butterflies are not quite colorful, they still give me great pleasure with their wing markings every time I discover them in the meadow.

This picture is part of the category Close-Up & Macro.