BERN, SWITZERLAND – Supermarket chain Migros is doing its bit to make Switzerland more habitable for endangered hares, birds and plants by empowering Facebook users to help support TerraSuisse financially. Migros will supple enough seeds for an IP (integrated production) Suisse farmer working with the TerraSuisse programme to plant one square metre of wildflowers in 2012 for each Facebook user who “likes” the Terrasuisse FB page.
TerraSuisse is Migros’s sustainable development label. Farmers who apply integrated production methods, which are close to organic, make a commitment to provide small habitats, or safe spaces, within larger fields and orchards, for wild flora and fauna.
White stork electrocuted by pylon, from Swiss Federal Environment Office guidelines for making airspace safer for birds
FRIBOURG, SWITZERLAND – Scattered storms in Switzerland and France in the past week have taken a toll on storks, says the Musseum of Natural History in Fribourg: two banded (tracked) white storks out of 87 in Fribourg were killed within 10 minutes of each other Wednesday 24 August when they landed on pylons. A week earlier a stork died during a storm in Geneva and two in Ajoie.
Electric lines are the most common cause of death of some large birds, including swans. The Swiss federal government in 2009 published a guide to making the air space safer for birds, intended to rid the country of unsafe pylons.
Max shades her 3 new young ones, who bring the number of her offspring to 26 in 9 years (photo ©2011 Heidi Buergermeister)
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Good news for Max the Swiss stork fans: a third baby bird has been spotted in the nest, making Max’s 2011 family the same size as her usual ones. Only two young ones had been spotted before this week until official photographer and neighbour Heidi Buergermeister saw a third head.
Happy Mother’s Day this week to Max!
The three little ones bring to 26 the number of offspring she has had, in 9 years.
One of Switzerland’s best-loved families could well be Max the stork and her annual crop of babies. Max, who will soon be 12 years old, has been banded and tracked longer than any other bird in the world. She migrates every fall to southern Spain or northern Morocco, then returns to the Swiss-German border area, Tuefingen, on the north side of Lake Constance, to mate and have her young.
She was born in 1999 in Avenches, canton Vaud, and the Museum of Natural History in Fribourg follows her movements closely and keeps her growing fan club informed.
Max mating back in March 2011 - Photo ©H.Burgermeister
Fribourg, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Max, the White Stork is at it again; raising a family that is. Two baby chicks were seen in the celebrity stork’s nest although the number could be higher.
According to a spokesperson for the Fribourg Natural History Museum which has been tracking Max since her birth in 1999, the stork has raised 26 young at her decade-old nesting site on the Swiss-German border.
At night either Max or her new partner, whom she paired up with in mid-March, looks over the brood while the other brings home the food. During the day the new parents protect the young from the strong sun.
Max, born in May 1999 in Avenches, Vaud, is a migratory bird who has been tracked for nearly 12 years, longer than any other banded bird in the wild.
The stork spends her summers in Germany, just over the border from Switzerland, then she heads south every winter to bask in the warmer weather of southern Spain or, occasionally, Morocco.
Max, the world's longest tracked bird in the wild, up to her usual Spring business
Fribourg, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Max is at it again: the Swiss white stork has been coupling madly this at her decade-old nesting site on the Swiss-German border.
And, as she has taken to doing for the past couple years, she’s first been coupling noisily with a new fellow in town, from 20 February to 8 March and then, when her old mate of the past few seasons arrived, she shifted back to him.
The new fellow appeared at first to have successfully kicked out the old mate from the nest, but the morning of 9 March Max and her mate of five years were busy together in the nest. Stay tuned for further nesting episodes.
Max is a migratory bird who has been tracked for nearly 12 years, longer than any other banded bird in the wild.
Mating in Switzerland in spring: bees do it, birds do it, Max the stork definitely does it
Spring and migratory birds and mating in Switzerland are an annual mix, and probably few other birds are watched as actively as Max, who was given a band 11 years ago and has since been followed closely by the History of Natural Science in Fribourg.
She spends her summers in Germany, just over the border from the country where she was born, Switzerland, then she heads south every winter to bask in the warmer weather of southern Spain or, occasionally, Morocco.
Max's 2010 winter migration path
Fribourg, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – That Swiss symbol of seasonal changes, Max the white stork, confirms what every parent of school children has suspected for the past two weeks: summer is really, truly over. Max has headed south in her annual winter migration.
Max is the world’s longest banded tracked stork, followed by the Natural History Museum of Fribourg for 10 years.
She suddenly left her summer home near the Swiss-German border 8 September and headed southwest across France to Spain. She arrived in Madrid 14 September, Tuesday, where she has been relaxing since.
All bird-watching eyes are now on Max to see if she opts for a winter in Spain or if she decides to head to yet warmer temperatures in Morocco, as she has done some years.
Max is a cover girl this month, featuring on the front of the Swiss bird magazine Nos Oiseaux.
Don’t book your low-cost cold weather flights yet. Max may yet give us more clues about the best places to winter.
Expect more wind and plenty of rain in Lake Geneva region
Wisteria in Bernex, still on the vines, but not for long with Tuesday's wind
Wind, egg out of nest, fly into egg to eat supper: nature at work on a windy Geneva day
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The wind blew and blew in the Lake Geneva region Tuesday 4 May, with the national weather service predicting slightly less wind Wednesday on the plains and near the lake.
Rain is forecast to continue for the rest of the week, but alternating with sunny spells starting Thursday. Temperatures in the range of 6-12C, up to 15C in canton Valais, with the snow line remaining at 2,000 metres.
The Tribune de Geneve reports that the high winds are taking their toll on birds’ nest in Geneva, including a pair of swans nesting near the Hotel Wilson, whose seven eggs spilled out when waves hit the nest.
Geneva’s bird centre has been busy accepting calls for help with stranded or injured birds, according to the Tribune. The phone number: +41 79 624 33 07.
The Swiss Ornithological Institute has just made life easier for anyone who wonders what that bird is, on Lake Geneva or up in the woods or out in the garden. It has published, in five languages, the Swiss Bird Guide, for CHF38, available online from the institute’s shop. The book features:
- 500 colour photos, 256 pages, 105 x 18cm
- Information of species exclusively in form of symbols, pictograms an graphics
- Including CD with pictures and birc call (for Windows and Mac)
- Introduction and bird names in 5 languages
Geneva's Cointrin Airport Saturday 17 October: long lines, but quick service
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – British Airways flight A319 turned back Wednesday 14 October after striking a bird at Cointrin Airport while climbing out of Geneva, reports Aviation Herald, which tracks airline incidents. The crew reportedly landed in Geneva 12 minutes after takeoff, after noticing a burning smell: emergency services were on standby, and the flight was delayed by two hours.
The incident was not, in fact, that unusual, but it might have given pause to the crowds of people flying out of Geneva Saturday 17 October at the start of the Geneva school holidays. The new security check area, which has replaced the old passport control booths, had two long lines of travelers, but the system appeared to operate efficiently: some 300 people were moved through several security gates in 20 minutes.
Noise guns to disperse birds in a direction away from the tarmac are used after other preventive measures fail
Cointrin takes its bird incidents very seriously: “bird strikes” as they are known in the business cause the aviation world $1.1 billion a year and they can provoke deadly airline crashes, such as one at JFK airport in New York in 1975 and another in Paris in 1996. Geneva airport had more than 60 strikes in 2008, but most caused no serious harm and only a handful were responsible for more serious damage, according to airport figures.
Max the white stork and partner, 2009 (photo ©H Buergermeister)
Tuefingen/Salem, Germany (GenevaLunch) – Max the white stork has a new family, with little heads popping above the top of the nest where the 10-year-old mother has been sitting on her eggs. For the time being the number of new little ones is unknown, but between 2002 and 2009 Max has given birth to 20 offspring. She was born in May 1999 near Avenches, in Switzerland, but she and her regular partner meet up and build a nest each spring on the north side of Lake Constance.
Lake Geneva welcomes northern European and African migratory birds.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Birdwatchers in Switzerland participated in the 2008 Euro Birdwatch 4-5 October and counted nearly 150,000 migratory birds, according to swissinfo.
