Corncrakes and curlews of the Styrian Ennstal
Corncrake (Crex crex) — Austria's main population; curlew, whinchat, snipe, quail; tree frogs in the fen. Ennstal between Liezen and Admont (Wörschacher Moos, Pürgschachen Moor), Austria.
Best time: 15 May – 20 Jun (May to June). Where: Wörschacher Moos (Wörschach – Liezen), Pürgschachen Moor (Ardning), Ennsauen near Admont (Austria). Time of day: Corncrakes from 22:00 to 03:00, best between freight trains.
- You can go on your own
- Free
- No binoculars needed
- Sound 5/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 15 May – 20 Jun. Mid May to 20 June, before the wet-meadow mowing
Active from 5 May to 5 Jul (May to July) in a typical year.
Time of day
Corncrakes from 22:00 to 03:00, best between freight trains; curlew bubbling and snipe drumming in the hour around sunrise.
- Night calling: 22:00 → 03:00
- Dawn waders: 45 min before sunrise → 1 h after sunrise
What will you hear?
Rasping corncrakes from the wet meadows, curlew bubbling and snipe drumming at dawn, quail, tree frogs from the raised bog, cowbells and the Enns.
Binoculars?
No binoculars needed. Night rasping from the meadows beside the boardwalk; binoculars only for curlews at dawn from the tower.
Where to go
- Wörschacher Moos (Wörschach – Liezen) — Fen meadows managed for corncrake and curlew under LIFE projects; boardwalk and observation tower. Map
- Pürgschachen Moor (Ardning) — Austria's best-preserved valley raised bog; boardwalk; tree frogs, corncrake at the edges. Map
- Ennsauen near Admont — Riverside meadows below the Gesäuse; quieter than the Liezen end. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Wörschacher Moos: park at the Wörschach boardwalk entrance and use the boardwalk and tower — free, open at night. Pürgschachen Moor: the boardwalk from Ardning. Ennsauen: the riverside tracks below Admont. Tracks and boardwalks only; the meadows are private.
Cost: Free.
Field-recording notes
The Ennstal carries the B320 and the Salzburg–Graz railway — traffic dies after midnight but freight trains run all night, so record between them; the Ardning end is quieter. Meadows are private and corncrake nests are on the ground: record from tracks and the boardwalks, no entering uncut grass. Frost-fog on the valley floor in late May is superb acoustically. Mowing dates are contractually delayed to July on the managed parcels, so the peak lasts longer here than in unprotected valleys.
Sources
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More: all spectacles in Austria · wildlife at night · Austria in May · Austria in June