Goosanders on the Inn

A couple of times a week I check the Inn to see if I can find anything interesting on the river. This is not normally fruitful, but the river is beautiful enough to make the journey always enjoyable. Last weekend I went down to my normal patch (the Inzinger Gaisau) and popped down to the river.

Shockingly, a pair of goosander (aka common merganser, or Gänsesäger in these parts) paddled out from one of the side streams and quickly scampered across the river. Surprise cost me a precious few seconds as I set up the digiscoping setup, but eventually (when they seemed to be miles away already) I managed to snap off a few ghastly photos. But at least you can see the beautiful creatures. But you might need to use some imagination.

A lovely female goosander with the rusty crest and fluffy neck hair

a couple of shots of the male goosander (that white and black fleck). wouldn't it be nice if they bred somewhere near here, hey?

The goosander is rather rare in these parts and I have only really come across them at migration time when they move through the Alpine zone. The german version of wikipedia refers to a breeding area somewhere on the northern rim of the Alps, but I am not sure where that is, maybe Bodensee on the border between Austria (Voralberg), Switzerland and Germany.

I don't suppose the Inn would make the best of fishing grounds for the goosander as the water visibility is usually very low. the water is normally a creamy green colour; beautiful, but unlikely to be very useful for a bird that searches for little fishes visually. but somehow a couple of great cormorants find a way to manage...

There were also a couple of dozen white wagtails (Bachstelzen) about on the river bank. Over the last week, they have spread out more as they found and setup their breeding spots.

I also tried to get a photo of the recently returned Fieldfares. In German they are called Wacholderdrosseln. Literally: Juniper Thrush. Not because they like to eat juniper berries, or because they are somehow associated with this genus in a habitat sense, but because they evidently taste good when eaten with juniper berries. They have a rather interesting, not massively thrush-like call (listen here from garden-birds.co.uk). one of the many sounds I love to hear

Happy birding
Dale Forbes