June 21, 2018
I am always on the look out for new bird sightings!! This trip did not disappoint me. There was a small park in Bolzano, Italy and, seriously- there was a bird house of some sort in every tree. Most were occupied by, what we call in the USA, house sparrows. But if I didn’t keep looking, I might miss someone new. Or a surprising picture like this…
where Mama bird is practically sticking her whole head down baby bird’s throat! Or…
I might have missed my only sighting of a chaffinch, which is supposed to be very abundant in Europe. But I only saw one. Maybe it was because I have never fed the birds hot dog pieces before. : )
This white wagtail was in a park in Munich, very busily searching for bugs in the grass. It must have been a lucrative spot because he was there for a long time and could have cared less about me taking photos of him.
In Austria, I saw dozens and dozens of house martins, in the sky and flying to and from their nests. Martins, like swallows, spend most of their time in the air and only eat bugs. They can mate and feed their young in the air. House martins make cup-shaped mud nests, usually below the eaves of buildings.
“Unexpected intrusions of beauty. This is what life is.” by Saul Bellow
Family portrait of barn swallows in Italy.
This shot really shows off the forked tail.
Feeding time.
This barn swallow’s nest was under the awning of a gelato stand/store but she didn’t seem to mind all of the gelato-loving people traffic.
Hope you enjoyed this final and all of my posts from my Germany/Austria/Italy trip for 2018.
Thanks for reading!
Jeannie's Travel Addiction 