Wildlife to see in Switzerland in September
3 spectacles at their peak in Switzerland in September, and 2 more still going on. Wild animals only: no zoos, no wildlife parks, no hunting. Open Switzerland in September in the interactive calendar for listening times on the day you pick.
At their peak in September
Red deer rut in Val Trupchun, Swiss National ParkDozens of stags roaring simultaneously on the open alpine meadows of the 'deer arena' with the Trupchun walls echoing them back; antler clashes across the stream; marmots still whistling in September; chough flocks.
Autumn migration over the Alpine passes: Col de BretoletDawn: flight calls of thousands of pipits, chaffinches and siskins funnelling through the pass at head height, robins ticking in the dwarf pines after a night flight; at night, thrush and robin calls overhead against absolute mountain silence.
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.
Also going on in September
Cicadas of Ticino and the Valais rock steppesCicada orni ticking merging into a wall in the chestnut and oak woods, Lyristes pulsing from pines, grasshoppers on the steppe; in the Valais, bee-eaters and a föhn wind.
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.
More: Switzerland all year · September along the whole flyway