The Wild Birds of Basel Zoo

White stork on its nest under a daylight moon.

Spring is nesting season for birds of course. White storks and gray herons take advantage of the protected environs of the Basel Zoo to raise their young. Here they build rookeries in the tall trees shading the zoo and, occasionally, on a nearby building. They also take advantage of the large quantities of free food available and lack of predators to worry about when foraging for it.

The beginnings of a white stork rookery.

A fight between the owner of a nesting site and an intruder.

Displaying. This is accompanied by a lot of beak clattering sounds.

Flying in with nesting material.

Look at the base of this nest. House sparrows regularly nest in the bases of stork nests.

Gray Heron

Blackbird

Egyptian goose. These have escaped the local zoos and are now breeding in the area.

Gray wolf. I have to tell the story of this wolf. It was very intently focused on a toddler who was waving its arms above its enclosure. It kept coming to the moat separating its territory from the fence above. It would splash its paws in the water and then stare up at the child. I've never seen behavior like that but some sort of moment was happening between this wolf and that toddler.