Palatinate Forest
The Palatinate Forest (, ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park () covering 1,771 km and its highest elevation is the Kalmit (673 m).
Palatinate Forest
This is also true for a number of rare birds, including the hoopoe, kingfisher, wheatear, black woodpecker, whinchat and stonechat. Whilst the strictly protected peregrine falcon has been resident in the rock country of the Wasgau for several decades, hazel grouse and capercaillie appear to have died out in the Palatine Forest region. Typical autumn and winter species include the brambling and chaffinch, which overwinter here and occupy the woods in large flocks. They used to be hunted with blowpipes at night during the so-called Böhämmer Hunt ("Böhämmer-Jagd"), until this sport was ended by the 1936 Conservation Act.
The forest is home to a sizeable population of amphibians and reptiles, as well as a host of beetles, butterflies and other insects. A common sight are great anthills, the nests of wood ants, of which there are several species in the region. The Wasgau and the area of the Hermersberger Hof are two of the few places in Germany where colonies of narrow-headed ant have survived. And the highly endangered great and spotted antlions may often be seen in the sands of the bunter sandstone (Rehberg beds). Their larvae build funnel traps in the sand and feed on ants and other animals that fall into it using their pincer-like mandibles.