Arosa Part 2 (20Jul2026)

As part of the hotel pricing, they usually give you free or discounted tickets to some of the local attractions which in the case of Arosa is the gondola up to the Wiesshorn peak which sits at 8,700 feet!  First up though was some birding around the lake in town which is on the way to the gondola.

Northern Pintail - a north American bird so most definitely some bird enthusiast brought it in.  The leg was tagged.

Common Pochard 

A punk rock looking Red-crested Pochard

Common House Martin

Tufted Duck

The mountain itself was beautiful but relatively birdless.  We took the gondola up and hiked down.

Northern Wheatear

It was a long hike but uneventful.

Back down at the lake I spent some time with the ducks while Melissa window shopped.

Common Swift

Northern Shoveler

Eurasian Coot

Down the hills from the hotel was another reservoir type lake we hiked around.

Common Goldeneye!  Another American species that someone brought in and now there is a breeding population here.

I have never seen juvenile Common Goldeneye before so I was confused by this bird.  It looked like a Ruddy Duck with a Goldeneye bill.

White-throated Dipper!

Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck

Our time in Arosa came to a close and we had to load up and start driving back to Zurich.  

I was scanning the skies as we drove and stopped a few times but they always turned out to be Common Buzzards.

In Zurich we stayed at the airport Hilton to get ready for our flight in the morning and I checked some nearby fields but mostly came up empty.

Eurasian Kestrel

All together, I would say Switzerland is a great country to visit even if the birding was not great in July.  The scenery and hiking are unbelievable and make it worth going regardless of your interests.

Arosa Part 1 (19Jul2026)

We arrived in Arosa a little after lunch.  Arosa was the perfect place to wind down our trip to Switzerland.  It is an alpine resort town that is a little off the beaten path so it felt like the place where the Swiss go to vacation instead of some of the other destinations that seemed like where everyone else went to vacation.   Central to the town is a nice lake where I got some nice pics of summering waterfowl.  It is not clear which of them were there on their own volition versus ones that maybe were brought in.

Red-crested Pochard

Eurasian Wigeon

The view from the town

Black Redstart

Eurasian Red Squirrel - dubiously named as I saw nothing red about it.

Carrion Crow

Eurasian Collared Dove - I was looking hard for European Turtle Doves but no luck.

European Crested Tit

Coal Tit

Northern Nutcracker!  A major target for me.

Eurasian Coot

There was still plenty of light left in the day so we decided to take a hike.  It ended up being my favorite hike of the trip.  It was late afternoon, almost dinner time, so there was no-one else up there and we had the place to ourselves.

That's Melissa lagging behind me for once, I think because she was on the phone with her parents.

Water Pipit

Chamois!  This guy was quite far off on the hillside, but the light was excellent so even with heavy cropping the photos were good.

The evening light made this place magical.

Alpine Salamander

Another Water Pipit

Eurasian Linnet

Female Linnets

Common Redpoll

Young Northern Wheatear

Somehow we made it back in time for a late dinner at the Velsana Hotel which was excellent.  I had a Beet Gazpacho to start and Zander for the main course.  Zander is the lake perch which is the default fish in alpine spots.  It was delicious.  We also had Campari Orange cocktails.  The only thing that could have made the day better is if Argentina had won the World Cup.  It was kind of an anticlimactic game.

We spent a full day in Arosa the next day, so I will have a post dedicated to that.