Field Observation 5
On Saturday, April 4th, I visited the Landschaftspark Wiese, a nature park in Basel, Switzerland. The weather was sunny and warm (60° Fahrenheit) with almost no clouds in the sky. I arrived at the park around 1:30 pm and left around 4:00 pm. The park consists of several different habitats. There are open fields around the edges of the park, with small plots for farming. The park also has many wooded areas, with small footpaths for visiters and several small streams, and ponds. The Wiese river runs one side of the park.
As I entered the park I immediately came across a large pond where there were several different species of duck. I saw 3 Mallards and 1 Eurasian Coot. I also saw a small duck with a red bill that I later identified to be a Eurasian Moorhen. At the other end of the pond, which was unfortunately blocked off to visitors, I could see a orange/brown duck with a white head and a black tail through my binoculars. The duck was making a loud call that sounded like "Whaa Whaa". I did some research when I got home and I believe that this was a Ruddy Shelduck, a non-native species of duck that was introduced to Switzerland from southeast Europe and Asia. They may even be considered invasive, as they compete with some of the local wildlife. All of these ducks are resident to short-distance migrants. This could be because, even during January, the coldest month of the year, the temperature here has an average low of about 0°C. Therefore the water most likely won't freeze over, allowing the ducks to remain in this habitat for most of the winter, or only travel a short distance south for a short period of time.
As I continued walking I spotted a Grey Heron along the edge of the park, between the pond and a field. According to my research, some Grey Herons remain in Switzerland for most of the winter, while others travel a short distance south. Similarly to the duck species, this may be because there are many small streams, rivers, and ponds here which don't freeze and which provide reliable access to food such as fish, insects, and other small animals to eat.
Next, I came across a small bird feeder near the edge of the path in the woods. Here I saw several species of birds including a Eurasian Nuthatch, going down a tree headfirst, a Eurasian Blue Tit, a Great Tit, and a Common Chaffinch. All of these birds except for the Common Chaffinch are year round residents. They can probably avoid most of the bad weather in the winter by staying in the sheltered low branches and brambles of the forest. There is rarely a significant amount of snowfall here and they can most likely find seeds and insects. The Common Chaffinch is a partial migrant. In Switzerland, the smaller females often travel further south/west than the males as they are smaller and less resilient to the cold. Therefore in is more common to see males in the winter here. They usually leave around September and return in April. This is because the days are consistently much warmer here now (in the 50s and 60s degrees Fahrenheit) and many plants and flowers are blooming, meaning there is more available food.
While walking along the edge of a field near the forest later, I spotted a woodpecker high in a tree. I believe it was a European Green Woodpecker as it was quite large with a long bill and looked to have light coloring when it flew across the field. These are also year-round residents. I think this may be because it is relatively easy for them to find small insects in the tree trunks throughout the winter. Because they nest in holes in the tree, they remain very well sheltered.
I returned to the park the next day in the afternoon and made a few more interesting observations which I wanted to add to this journal. I saw a Common Buzzard perched in a tree as well as two Great Spotted Woodpeckers which were quite a bit smaller than the Green Woodpecker I observed the day before.
Although I didn't observe many migratory birds during this field observation, there are several which have returned to Switzerland over the last few months. In my last journal, I wrote about a White Stork, which is apparently one of the first long distance migrants to return to Switzerland in as early as the beginning of March from as far away as Southern Europe and Africa. White Wagtails, which I observed last time, also migrate 100s of miles all the way to Southern Europe and Africa (sometimes as far as Kenya apparently!) and return in March and April.
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