Читать книгу Walking in Italy's Stelvio National Park. Italy's largest alpine national park онлайн

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Birdwatchers will enjoy the sight of crag martins skimming alpine meadows and lakes in search of insects. Arolla pine forests, meanwhile, are the favourite habitat of the dappled, aptly named nutcracker, expert at cracking open pine nuts with its thick beak. From a perch at the top of the tree they also act as lookouts, their piercing squawk a clear warning for other inhabitants of the wood of potential danger. Higher up are alpine choughs, elegant crows with glossy black wings and yellow beaks; they perform entertaining aerial displays of acrobatics to the accompaniment of a noisy, chattering commentary. Choughs have the incredible knack of appearing out of nowhere at the mere rustle of a picnic bag, to beg for crumbs.

On a larger scale are birds of prey such as kites, buzzards and the superb golden eagle, which has a wingspan that can reach 2.2m. These prey on small mammals such as hares and young marmots, but will also take birds. In winter the eagle has been known to scavenge the carcasses of animals such as chamois which have fallen victim to avalanches. This puts it in direct competition with the recently returned bearded vulture or Lammergeier, which also keeps an eye out for migrating birds which drop from exhaustion as they fly through the lower alpine passes in springtime on their way north. With a wingspan up to 2.8m, a body over 1m long and weighing in at 5–7kg, the bearded vulture is easily recognised, especially as its eyesight is poor so it often flies close to the ground. Its diet is composed of 80% bones, which it cracks open by dropping them from a height onto rocks. Successfully reintroduced across the Alps, it has made its home in the park. Check out the webcam in a nest in Val Zebrù: www.gipetostelvio.it is reality TV like you have never seen before.