The canton of #Graubünden is the largest canton of Switzerland. It has international borders with Italy, Austria, and Liechtenstein. The canton's capital is #Chur and the principal way to arrive here is by Car (in my case, from Freiburg-Basel in the direction of Zürich and Chur. Another option is from Konstanz to Zürich and then travel to Chur). By Train, from Freiburg to Chur takes almost 3 hours. From here I traveled through the Unesco route (by the #Bernina Express) in direction to the Village of #Alvaneu Dorf
Image (Above): view from the Train on the way to the city of Chur
The Alpine Village Alvaneu-Dorf (957 meters). In Winter, the road to Aclas Dafora is "blocked" by deep Snow, and the main way to go is walking about 30 to 45 minutes.
Route von Alvaneu Dorf (A) - Aclas Dafora (B) and Furcleta (C)
I took this image from the Hut where I spend some Days. A beautiful view at blue hour, just after sunset.
Aclas Dafora, at 1693 meters. From here I started the trip to the Furcleta at 2573 meters, looking for some Alpine Wildlife.
The route between Aclas Dafora and Furcletta (2573 meters)
In this place, I found the Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta helvetica), an elusive bird that is found in isolated populations in the mountains above the tree line during the breeding season and mostly found between 1800 and 2700 meters. In summer and autumn, however, it can usually be found above 3000 meters.
A beautiful female of Rock Ptarmigan, above 2000 meters
Details of their feathered feet, which help them to walk on deep snow and to dig snow burrows for refuge from severe cold.
Also here I was able to photograph some individuals of Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra). These "hoofed goat-antelope" it is possible to find them in the high alpine meadows above 1,800 meters. Here they can leap up to two meters high and run at up to 50km/hr, but in the deep snow that will be difficult to achieve.
With the Sun to my Left and the deep snow, the contrast was perfect to Take some Pictures.
Here is my Brother Rodrigo Photographing Alpine Marmots (Marmota marmota), before a big snowfall comes at the end of the fall season.
Alpine Marmots living in meadows and subalpine grassland, fattening themselves up before going into hibernation at the end of September. But we found them almost at the end of Oktober. Normally they are easy to hear (you can often hear their distinctive high-pitched chirp) but less easy to spot as they disappear into their burrows. With the sound of the Snow under our Feet, was not so easy to get so closed, but in the Rock area the Animals were relatively quiet and allow us to take some Pictures. Look at below!
Some pictures from that day (over 2000 meters)
And after a couple of hours of walking and Photographing, we arrived in the Furcleta (2573 meters). We also saw Alpine chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus), Alpine accentor (Prunella collaris), and one Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos).
Of course, the Alps have many more species of animals worth seeing. Which one is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below
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