Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)
I've already had several shots of this squirrel on my wildlife camera. As I hiked the strenuous route to the camera again, I was able to watch it playing with its partner. When squirrels play with each other, they are often less attentive and therefore easier to photograph.
This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.
'Wildlife Wild' shows pictures of animals living in the great outdoors.
Middle spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)
This young middle spotted woodpecker is already practicing as a climber of the highest difficulty level. Young birds are often difficult to distinguish from other species or can be confused with them. The great spotted woodpecker also lives in this forest, and in much larger numbers, which is why you have to look very closely.
This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.
'Wildlife Wild' shows pictures of animals living in the great outdoors.
Beaver
I had already seen this female beaver a week earlier at six o'clock in the evening (unfortunately without a camera...), which is very early for these shy nocturnal animals, especially in a town like Aarau, where many people also roam the neighborhood forests in the evenings. On this second sighting, even before five o'clock in the evening, I was able to photograph and film it on land thanks to the equipment available this time. It only allowed itself to be disturbed when a couple of joggers came along the path, talking loudly to each other. I always find it fascinating how animals use their “hands”. I first observed this many years ago with a grizzly bear in Canada, which used its fingers to carefully pick berries from a bush.
This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.
'Wildlife Wild' shows pictures of animals living in the great outdoors.
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)
The yellowhammer is a beautiful bird, with its bright yellow color it could also be native to the tropics. On Biodiversity Day, however, I must unfortunately mention that it is one of the big losers of species loss in Europe and especially in Switzerland. Cultivated landscapes with hedgerows, orchards, fields and meadows are being rapidly lost due to modern agriculture, and we urgently need to change this.
This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.
'Wildlife Wild' shows pictures of animals living in the great outdoors.
European Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)
The pied flycatcher is a bird that I've only known for two years. At least in the woods where I am often on the move, it is not that rare. Last Sunday alone, I saw half a dozen of these secret forest dwellers. Two of them seem to have moved into a bird house provided by the local nature conservation association. Hopefully there will be offspring soon.
This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.
'Wildlife Wild' shows pictures of animals living in the great outdoors.
Chamois
As excellent climbers, chamois spend a lot of time at the top of this mountain's ridge. However, I usually see them grazing a few hundred meters below on the meadow in the nature reserve.
This picture is part of the category Wildlife Camera.
Grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)
I recently discovered a new location where a shallow area of a stream merges into a rocky one that is almost like a mountain stream. This is a habitat for dippers, kingfishers and grey wagtails. The latter like to stay right at the transition, where you can now see the reddish colors of the bushes in the background in autumn.
This picture is part of the category Portrait: Grey Wagtail.
Wolf
Speaking of predators... I was hugely surprised and delighted when I looked at the photos from the last few weeks: a wolf had actually stopped right in front of my camera! And if it hadn't rained that Monday, I would have been up there on the mountain at exactly that moment – but the wolf probably wouldn't have been. It was a young wolf on the move, which had killed a few sheep about ten kilometers away. It wandered on and may have found a female in the distant Jura mountains and started a family.
This picture is part of the category Wildlife Camera.
Young chamois
At this location, the chamois appear in front of the camera almost every day. I also encounter these animals in this area almost every time I visit. This photo is from a series where the young animals were playing in front of the camera on the small meadow. Later, they even lay down and slept for a short time.
This picture is part of the category Wildlife Camera.
Beaver
This morning I had not expected to observe beavers at all and was busy with long exposures of sleeping mute swans, when in between the first beaver appeared, and that in the first light of the soon rising sun. Since he immediately disappeared on the riverbank, and after him more beavers, I concluded that I had discovered a beaver den.
This picture is part of the category Wildlife Wild.
'Wildlife Wild' shows pictures of animals living in the great outdoors.
