Wildlife to see in Switzerland in May
5 spectacles at their peak in Switzerland in May, and 1 more still going on. Wild animals only: no zoos, no wildlife parks, no hunting. Open Switzerland in May in the interactive calendar for listening times on the day you pick.
At their peak in May
Black grouse leks in the Alps and JuraBubbling 'rookooing' rolling across a snow-patched alpine meadow from several cocks, sneezing 'tchu-shwee' hisses, wing-flutter jumps; ring ouzel and water pipit around them; cowbells not yet arrived.
Bolle di Magadino: spring fall-outs and nightingalesNightingale night chorus in the riverside scrub, Cetti's explosions, reed and great reed warblers, cuckoo, penduline tit; tree frogs; waders on the delta mud; Lake Maggiore lapping.
Frog and toad choruses of the Mittelland marshesTree frog 'krak-krak-krak' volleys carrying a kilometre, water frog chorus, midwife toad's single flute notes from stone walls, natterjack ratchet in gravel pits, bittern and cuckoo behind.
Gull, tern and heron colonies of the Grande CariçaieA wall of black-headed gull screaming from the artificial islands, terns overhead, cormorant grunts, reed warbler and Savi's warbler from the largest reed-belt in Switzerland, bittern booming at dusk, tree frogs, beaver tail-slaps.
Alpine ibex, chamois and marmotsIbex horn-clashes in the December rut, hoof-clatter on rock, chamois alarm hisses, marmot whistles echoing, chough flocks, water pipit; the wind.
Also going on in May
Bearded vultures and golden eagles of the EngadinSilence and wind — the recording is of the alpine air, chough flocks, marmots and the occasional whoosh of a 2.8 m wingspan overhead; the visual spectacle is the point.