The Great Gray Owl - Wildpark Bad Mergentheim
First published in 2015
On Pentecost, we went to my favorite wildlife park: The Wildpark Bad Mergentheim. They claim to be one of the biggest in Europe and they really have quite a huge number of species in their 35-hectare habitat.
If you are not familiar with the concept of a wildlife park: Don’t mix it up with a zoo. The approach is to show the animals in as much of a natural surrounding as it is possible without putting them or us in danger. This also means that you might not see the animals when you’re there at the wrong point in time, because there is enough room to hide.
I usually try to be there at 9 am when they open because it can get pretty crowded especially over the weekend. They also offer two guided tours a day. As these are feeding tours they are the best chance to really see all animals. But you have to move with the crowd and I always have the feeling to watch a show. So I try to be at the places I want to be a little bit earlier when the animals are already around but behaving more “natural”. On the other hand, there are places you can only enter during such a feeding tour - most impressive to me: You can get really close to some Vulture.
This Great Gray Owl was sitting on a tree right behind the entrance to the aviary. I could have easily touched him if I wanted to. This is one of the situations when it pays off to be there early. Only we and another couple were around and the bird seemed to be as interested in us as we’ve been interested in him. An hour later, he and his companions were sitting way more in the distance.
