Birds of Lake Neuchâtel / Excursion September 2021
8:00 am, meeting at Champ-Pittet, I join Mathieu, second guide of the excursion, Catherine, who came from Orleans for this birding tour, Antonio, a regular at Salva Fauna, as well as David and Léa, from the Swiss Jura. The weather is nice, there is little wind and the temperatures are perfect. A beautiful day ahead.
We start the day at the Champ-Pittet observation tower, and along the way we follow a small group of Long-tailed Tits. The atmosphere is calm and peaceful. Suddenly a Common Kingfisher tries to enter the observatory, big surprise! On the water: groups of Gadwall, Mallard and Eurasian Coots and a Little Grebe. In the distance, flights of Red-crested Pochards and Great Cormorants. We continue with the observatory at water level. A Water Rail sneaks past the reeds in the distance, along with two Sedge Warblers and a few Eurasian Reed Warblers. In the pond, two Little Grebes are hunting and two young Common Moorhens take turns, walking on the water lilies. After a while, a Great Egret arrives to the delight of the photographers, followed by a superb observation of the Common Kingfisher, who came to fish on the dead branches in front of the observatory. We observe a fishing scene. The bird knocks out the small fish on the branch before gulping it down. Beautiful naturalistic moment. In the distance, a Common Sandpiper and two Bearded Reedlings are screaming, but we will not see them. At 10:00 am, we leave the premises.
We then reach a superb flooded plot, the result of a partnership with farmers which aims to welcome the waders in autumn migration. An area that compensates for the loss of natural wetlands as a result of human activities. The project is going very well and the plot is full of birds, it's amazing. Dozens of Common Ringed Plover, Common Snipe, Ruff, Common Sandpiper and Little Stint feed! We also find a Wood Sandpiper and a Little Ringed Plover. There is even a Bar-tailed Godwit, a very rare species in Switzerland !! There is also a hundred Mallards, Green-winged Teals and a few Eurasian Wigeons, Northern Shovelers and Gadwalls, as well as Egyptian Goose. Finally, to end the whole thing, we are flown over by a Common Kestrel, a Red Kite and a Marsh Harrier.
We have a delicious picnic lunch on a small wooden table at the mouth of the Mujon river. A very good moment of sharing and good humor. On this site, we even find in the midst of hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, two Pied Avocets! We still find all the species of ducks, with as a bonus, several magnificent Northern Pintails. Also, Great Crested Grebes fish tirelessly on the shore, and Green-winged Teals number in the dozen.
At 3 p.m., we arrive at Le Fanel, last birding hotspot of the day, in the hope of observing the Bearded Reedling. We go on the left side of the canal and on the way we again observe several species already seen previously. When we reach the end, we observe great flights of Eurasian Curlews, accompanied by Great Cormorants and Yellow-legged Gulls. On the islands in the distance, hundreds of Greylag Geese, Great Cormorants and Common Gulls are resting. In the middle, we detect a Greenshank as well as a Sacred Ibis, an introduced species, but very pretty. Suddenly, a sound alerts Mathieu. A Black-bellied Plover passes in relatively close flight !! Another rare species for Switzerland.
It’s definitely a perfect day for shorebirds. We wait in front of the reed bed, hoping to see the Bearded Reedling. But nothing comes out and we have to go already. It’s nature ! But, we cannot complain, we were so spoiled! On the way back, Antonio finds a superb Grass Snake evolving in the rocks. We finish at 6:00 p.m. with the observation of two Red Kites in a field near the parking lot. What a perfect and beautiful day!
Lucas
Guide Salva Fauna