Sumpf- und Wasservögel Vorarlberg

In the DACH region Sumpf- und Wasservögel is the umbrella term for those bird groups whose life cycle is bound to waters, reed belts, marshes, bogs, floodplains and wet meadows. The largest block are the Anatidae with dabbling ducks like mallard, teal and wigeon, diving ducks like pochard and tufted duck, sea ducks like eider, common scoter and velvet scoter, the fish-eating mergansers as well as swans and the numerous geese. The herons Ardeidae are represented along banks and reed belts by grey heron, great egret and bittern. The rails Rallidae live mostly hidden in reeds and include coot, moorhen, water rail and spotted crake. The Scolopacidae form a very diverse group of waders such as common snipe, Eurasian curlew, woodcock, ruff and black-tailed godwit. The gulls Laridae range from the inland black-headed gull to the large herring, lesser black-backed and great black-backed gulls of the coast.

Habitats reach from small ponds, streams, river floodplains and inland bogs to large lakes, reservoirs and estuaries. A key role is played by the Wadden Sea of the North Sea, which is visited every year by ten to twelve million water and wading birds and serves as a hub of the East Atlantic Flyway for moulting, resting and wintering. In addition Lake Constance, the Danube floodplains, Lake Neusiedl, the Müritz and many uplands bogs offer important inland habitats. This diversity between Wadden Sea and inland waters explains the high species number of the group and the strong ecological role of wetlands, which are also protected under the Ramsar Convention as wetlands of international importance for water and wading birds.

In hunting law the group is highly uneven. In Germany the Federal Hunting Act lists not only individual species but in part whole families such as ducks, geese and gulls as huntable, yet the majority of single species are protected by year-round closed seasons or fully shielded by the Federal Nature Conservation Act. Clearly huntable in most federal states are mallard, greylag goose and woodcock, in some states also the non-native Canada and Egyptian goose, locally also mute swan, coot and selected gull species. Herons, rails other than coot, most waders, mergansers and all strictly protected species have a year-round closed season. The EU Birds Directive with its annexes and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement AEWA set binding protection duties for many migratory species. For hunters on the water this means careful identification, sober target recognition and a close look at the regional open seasons of the federal state before any shot is taken.