[tcvarlh]

In the Salzkammergut region of Austria they have 'Vogelfänger', fowlers then birderers now; in the long gone past this was to guarantee a supply of much needed winter meat. These days they trap the birds in autumn, cage them and hold, not keep them until spring. When I first saw this I was perturbed, I considered the whole idea wrong. As I met more and more of these people I realised the Vogelfänger was helping nature a little bit. So many small birds die from the extreme cold up in those mountains, that come spring it is entirely possible to have just a handful of nests in an area the size of Cumbria. With the Vogelfänger the Salkammerguter attempt to ensure the forests are filled with the song of small birds. The species caught are regulated and each ‘birderer’ has a quota. My father-in-law was allowed to hold Crossbills, Goldfinches, Bullfinches and Hawfinch, although I never saw a Hawfinch, Hannes reckoned they were extinct in his ‘Waid’, sadly. Pairs were caught and always males and females in equal numbers, so they were not held simply for their plumage or song. Now, whether it does any good or not, this tradition came about in defence to the ‘Gentry’s’ attitude to blast anything as ‘Sport’. The chattels of a peasant’s household could not be shot at. The birderer has duties too, nest boxes to make and install, feeding duties in poor weather, clearance, pest control, ringing, reports to make. Even Mozart knew of this tradition, Papageno is a birderer, not as the English translation will have it, a fowler. My beloved Almen and Auen would be the poorer, greyer and less awe inspiring without Vogelgesang! And I guess, two hundred years ago, taking a walk through a forest meadow full of blossoms and the song of wild birds, with your loved one had much the same meaning.
H