Birding Factoids

408 species
in 50 families

4 of the 9 European
endemics are
represented here.
13 speciality birds
No national endemics
3 endangered species

Austria
Hotspots

Austria Specialities Barn Swallow - national bird - Photo copyright Marcus Martin

Photo copyright Marcus Martin

Great Spotted Woodpecker - Photo copyright Tetsu Sato

Photo copyright Tetsu Sato

European Turtle-Dove - Photo copyright Jean-Sébastien Rousseau-Piot

Photo copyright Jean-Sébastien Rousseau-Piot

Eurasian Spoonbill - Photo copyright John Firth

Photo copyright John Firth

....Important Bird Areas in Austria - English Summary -

The study entitled "Important Bird Areas in Austria" carried out by BirdLife Austria on behalf of the Austrian Environment Agency is part of an international project called "Important Bird Areas in Europe". The aim of this project is to register and document the most important bird areas in Europe according to standardized criteria.

....Neusiedler See - Seewinkel National Park -

Lake Neusiedl in this park has earned the well deserved title of "Jewel of European Nature". With an average depth of only 1.60 metres, the lake, and its salty steppes, is Europe's largest bird sanctuary. More than 300 different species live and breed here, some of them extremely rare and unique to this area. More information about the Neusiedler See .

....Donau-Auen National Park - The Danube Auen

(floodplain forests) in Vienna and Lower Austria form the biggest, largely intact floodplain forest landscape in Central Europe. The diversity of species that survive in this damp "water-forest" is impressive. Over 5000 animal species are represented in an area of 11 500 hectares. Among about 200 vertebrates, there are some 40 species of mammal, 110 species of breeding bird, 10 species of reptile, 10 species of amphibian and 50 species of fish; 70 of these species are threatened with extinction. Checklist of the birds of Donau-Auen

....Austria - Directory of Wetlands of International Importance - includes

information on all Austrian Ramsar designated sites, including:

Neusiedlersee, Seewinkel and Hanság
Donau-March-Auen
Untere Lobau
Stauseen am Unteren Inn
Rheindelta Bodensee
Pürgschachen Moor
Sablatnigmoor

....Birding Austria - the Stubai Valley and area - by Martin Tribe.

South of Innsbruck lies the Stubaier Alps. In one valley in this area lies the small village of Neustift im Stubaital. We spent a week here in late May 1995. The area is a classic alpine biosphere: mountains and alpine forests and meadows.

....Trip Report: Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic -

25 July to 11 August 1994. By Gerard Joannes. The aim of this trip was mainly to visit places and I did not do much bird-watching. I nevertheless saw a few interesting things.

....Trip Report: Vienna and Neusiedl Lake (Austria),

June 14-18, 1997 - by Theo Hofmann, Thornhill Ontario, Canada

....Trip Report: Neusiedler See and the Marchegg area (Austria ),

May 20-25, 1998 by Venlig Hilsen and Henning R. Sørensen. We went to the Neusiedler See, Austria where we visited the areas of Weiden - Seebad - Sandeck - Zicklacke - Lange Lacke - Ober- and Unterstinker Lakes - Hansag and Marchegg. The Neusiedler See area consist of 4,000 hectares and is characterised by small, shallow saltwater pools with reed beds, and by wide meadows. The area was preserved in the year 1992.

....Trip Report: Neusiedl Lake (Austria and Hungary), May 29 - June 5,

1999. By Dirk Raes. Just back from guiding a birding-tour for Ro-Travel (ro.travel.twk@ping.be) and the ornithological society De Wielewaal (Belgium) to the Neusiedler-see / Seewinkel (Austria), hereby the trip-report. A great 142 score has been obtained.

....Trip Report: Austria, 15th - 20th April 2003, by James Hanlon.

Eastern Austria may be better known for its birds, but it's clear that the Alps can also be productive if you know where to look and luck is on your side.

....Trip Report: Eastern Europe (Poland - Hungary - Croatia - Austria),

Summer 2003 - by: Rob van Bemmelen, Kasper Hendriks, Wesley Overman, and Ben Wielstra. July 2003 was the moment for 4 young birders from The Netherlands to do some interesting birding in the eastern part of Europe. July is of course not the best time to go birding because most birds are relatively non-active in summer. But, as all the participants attain some sort of school during the rest of the year, a trip this long in spring was no option. The group departed on Saturday the 28th of June and returned on Sunday the 27th of July 2003.

....Trip Report: Austria & Croatia - 3rd - 28th June 2003. By Jeremy

Barker & Sandra Götsch. This was a summer tour around Austria, cleaning up a few birds that Sandra particularly wanted to see, then a 10-day trip to Croatia, along the coast, returning inland. Effectively no information was available to us before we visited Croatia, so we missed a lot.

Tours and Guides

See DISCLAIMER
...

birdingpal.com...>>

A Birding Pal is not a paid guide, but someone who likes to help out of town visitors. You can become a Birding Pal today! Help someone to enjoy your local birding spots and find a pal to help you when you travel. Click here for Austrian Birding Pals, or join to be a Birding Pal!

....PROBIRDER - Professional Birding... for the Birder- Gerard Gorman

has a decade of experience (over 100 group tours alone) in finding and showing visiting birders from all over the world eastern Europe's special and sought after birds. All types and styles of birding can be catered for, from hard-core listers, twitchers and target birders to those into habitat birding and those with a more relaxed generalist approach. Birding by ear is a speciality and remember Gerard wrote the books that others use (Where to watch birds in Eastern Europe and The Birds of Hungary)! Four new Hungary tours this year! Personal Guiding, Group Arrangements, Itinerary Design, Target Birding All levels of ability and experience catered for.

Rare Bird Alert

European Endemics and Specialities

in Austria

Information on endemics and specialities is derived from Sibley & Monroe checklists and bird distribution lists in Thayer's Birder's Diary - Version 2.5, supplemented by material found in Where to Watch Birds in Europe and Russia - by Nigel Wheatley. Speciality birds, while not endemic, are those that can only be found in three or less countries of Europe. Information on endangered birds is derived from the IUCN Red List, Birdlife International. The endemic, endangered and speciality birds may be uncommon, extremely rare vagrants, may be extirpated in the country now or may only be present in migration. However, documented sightings of each species noted below have been made in Austria.

European Endemics in Austria - No national Endemics
___ Citril Finch ___ Crested Tit	___ Parrot Crossbill	___ Rock Partridge
... Endangered Birds in Austria
Breeding Birds		Non-Breeding Birds
___ Corn Crake ___ Ferruginous Pochard	___ Great Bustard	NONE
... Other Notable Birds in Austria (list provided by Gerard Gorman, author of "Where to Watch Birds in Eastern Europe", supplemented by material found in *Where to Watch Birds in Europe and Russia* - by Nigel Wheatley)
___ Alpine Accentor ___ Alpine Chough ___ Bluethroat ___ Collared Flycatcher ___ Great Bustard	___ Little Crake ___ Moustached Warbler ___ Red Kite ___ Ring Ouzel	___ Saker Falcon ___ Water Pipit ___ Wallcreeper ___ White-winged Snowfinch