murphybrown

Greetings,

I am planning a short, two day visit to the Neckar Valley area around Heidelberg this July. Traveling with me will be my husband and two children ages 15 and 11. I plan to show the kids the hospital where I once worked as an army nurse 20 years ago as well as Philosopher's Way and the Old Bridge. Other than that, I have no other definite plans.

I recall that there was an old castle named the Burg Guttenberg that once held a bird sanctuary and aviary demonstrations. My 11 year old son is visually impaired and loves to hear birds and view them if we are able to get up close enough. I am considering taking a journey there, but have not been able to find out much about the castle's current offerings.

Our time there is unfortunately short. I would love to take my son to the castle if indeed the birds are still there, yet, do not want to invest time in this pursuit if something like a boat trip down the Neckar would be more enjoyable..

Thank you for any recommendations you are able to give!

longhorn55

On the Burg Guttenberg website is a 2013 brochure of their events. I was unable to translate the brochure (and my German is rusty now), but it looks like the birds and the bird show are still there. (We went there several times when we lived in Germany, too.)

It looks like there's still a lot to do at Burg Guttenberg and I hope you have better luck translating the brochure.

http://www.burg-guttenberg.de/de/node/1152

Woyzeck

According to their website, the castle and the bird demonstrations are still available. It appears to focus on flight demonstrations for birds of prey, which might not offer what you are looking for in terms of the audio impact.

They have their website translated in English, with opening hours, tour information, and entrance fees:

http://www.burg-guttenberg.de/en/ope...s/greifenwarte

There are also numerous videos posted on YouTube which show parts of the flight demonstrations. Just search "Deutsche Greifenwarte."

Woyzeck

There is also a large free flying bird aviary in the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart, which is only a 45-minute train ride (or > 1 hr car ride) from Heidelberg.

http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/g...iew-99425.html

quokka

You may also want to consider the palace gardens in Schwetzingen, which are an English landscape garden with many little buildings, very beautiful to visit. This park is full of birds, wild and semi-domestic: various geese and ducks, peacocks, swans, herons, even flocks of small parrots who live their life in the trees. The birds are used to visitors, though not entirely tame, and let you approach rather close. In the so-called Birds' Bath they have canaries and budgies in large cages. Then there are of course all the small birds that are native to central Europe and populate our parks, fields and forests. In July some of them should still be singing, though not all. The park is a birds' paradise.

You may want to have a look at my page about Schwetzingen over on Virtualtourist, which also has a bit about birds in it: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/f86bd/4bcc/ Check the second page of the "Things to do" tips.

I also heard from a local friend that in the middle of Heidelberg, just opposite the train station, a large flock of those feral parrots have their meeting point and sleeping trees. These noisy fellows will provide all the sound you may want.

quokka

The zoo in Heidelberg is another option - their exhibits include a lot of birds, also at least three free-flying aviaries.

murphybrown

Awesome advice. Thank you all so much! It sounds like there are abundant opportunities to enjoy the birds in the area.