Yesterday we drove down to our usual site near Tarquinia, where we have spent many memorable hours, the last time almost exactly one year ago, somewhat hoping to revive our birding season, which apart from our long weekend in Apulia two months ago, had been decidedly below expectations.
The morning started off very warm, but a breeze soon made it more bearable. On the main road, just before the turnoff for our destination, a Little Owl perched on a post. When we got to the car park, there were two cars there already and the people who were around them all had binoculars, not an usual sight in Italy. We joined them (finding out that they belonged to the same birding organisation we are members of) for a long morning scanning the area, but sightings were few and far between. The odd Lesser Kestrel, a couple of Short-toed Eagles, a Buzzard, Black and Red Kites, Calandra and Crested Larks, Subalpine and Sardinian Warblers, Bee-eaters, Cattle Egrets. No Spectacled Warbler, nor Black-headed Bunting, species that we had previously seen at this site.
Anyway the morning passed quickly thanks also to the pleasant conversation, and before lunch we decided to have a look down the track that leads north from the car park. This yielded more of the same plus Roller, Honey Buzzard, another Little Owl and Turtle Dove. We had a quick lunch in a pizza-by-the-slice place and then tried the road along the course of the Mignone river, which was much quieter than usual, with only a few Lesser Kestrels, some Bee-eaters, two or three Rollers and an unexpected Marsh Harrier.
We returned to the same place of the morning, but pickings were very scarce, apart from at least 9 Lesser Kestrels hovering above the fields. As it was getting late and a longish drive home awaited us, we left the car park and took the track back towards the main road. A few hundred metres before the intersection we heard a long forgotten song: Black-headed Bunting! Scanning the tops of the bushes we soon located a splendid male, washed in early evening light. We called the other birders who joined us in a few minutes and spent a happy half-hour together looking at this fantastic bird.
The drive home was certainly much happier than we had anticipated!
The morning started off very warm, but a breeze soon made it more bearable. On the main road, just before the turnoff for our destination, a Little Owl perched on a post. When we got to the car park, there were two cars there already and the people who were around them all had binoculars, not an usual sight in Italy. We joined them (finding out that they belonged to the same birding organisation we are members of) for a long morning scanning the area, but sightings were few and far between. The odd Lesser Kestrel, a couple of Short-toed Eagles, a Buzzard, Black and Red Kites, Calandra and Crested Larks, Subalpine and Sardinian Warblers, Bee-eaters, Cattle Egrets. No Spectacled Warbler, nor Black-headed Bunting, species that we had previously seen at this site.
Anyway the morning passed quickly thanks also to the pleasant conversation, and before lunch we decided to have a look down the track that leads north from the car park. This yielded more of the same plus Roller, Honey Buzzard, another Little Owl and Turtle Dove. We had a quick lunch in a pizza-by-the-slice place and then tried the road along the course of the Mignone river, which was much quieter than usual, with only a few Lesser Kestrels, some Bee-eaters, two or three Rollers and an unexpected Marsh Harrier.
We returned to the same place of the morning, but pickings were very scarce, apart from at least 9 Lesser Kestrels hovering above the fields. As it was getting late and a longish drive home awaited us, we left the car park and took the track back towards the main road. A few hundred metres before the intersection we heard a long forgotten song: Black-headed Bunting! Scanning the tops of the bushes we soon located a splendid male, washed in early evening light. We called the other birders who joined us in a few minutes and spent a happy half-hour together looking at this fantastic bird.
The drive home was certainly much happier than we had anticipated!
