Just had a great holiday in Sicily for 2 weeks, with loads of good food, landscapes, birds, food, sun and food! Back in rainy England now so i'll post my sightings.
We stayed on the North East coast at Giardini Naxos, with Etna steaming away not far to the west. Around our apartment we had many Tree Sparrows, Serins (my first lifer) and a sparrow-eating Jay. A couple times I spotted a falcon moving in front of our view of Etna; it was large, but had the colouration of a kestrel (light tawny brown with black wing tips, and this was at a distance). It kept trying to take House Martins from the vast numbers whizzing in the air. Put it down as Saker, as it seems to be the only falcon that fits what I saw even though its apparantly more of a winter bird in Sicily, but if anyone thinks otherwise let me know.
The first week mainly consisted of going to ancient ruins in Siracusa and Taormina. However, I managed to get a few more species every now and then. One evening we walked down to the nearby beach. Apart from what seemed like hundreds of croaking toads on the beach, several birds were found in the scrub including a Zitting Cisticola and a Spanish Sparrow (both lifers).
The second week proved more exciting in terms of wildlife. We hired a car for 3 days, and on the first two we decided to find good nature spots. The first day we drove up into Mount Nebrodi, North of Etna. At the first place we stopped, we walked up a little dirt road through some open forest. Didn't prove as productive as I thought. Woodlarks were the only bird of note (although they were embarrassingly another lifer for me
). There was however the largest collection of butterflies I've ever seen in the wild at one time, from deep indigo to bright summery yellow to zebra-patterned ones. Back in the car, we attempted to find a lake in the middle of the Mount Nebrodi Park where there was supposed to be a great habitat for migratory birds. Unfortunately our little Fiat couldn't quite conquer the rocky roads, so we tried to walk the rest. 5 minutes into the walk and we were facing one of the most fearsome, most terryfying beasts that roam our planet...pigs! We stumbled across a group of about 5 adults with a few piglets on one side of the dirt road. The adults, especially one huge black male, glared and started edging towards us. As we tried to walk past on the other side of the road, their edging grew quickly into trotting. I tightened my grip on my tripod. My folks did the same with their walking sticks! The trotting grew into stampeding. As we tried to move back, a couple of them diverted past us with the piglets sprinting behind. Just before the big male got to us, he too changed direction and followed the others, and our battle was called off. Shame really, I was in the mood for bacon
.Anyway, back to birds. Our walk through the countryside was good, even if a little hot; we're from England, we're not used to the sun! A few Nuthatches were hopping on the trunks, and a pair of Grey Wagtails were splashing in a trickling stream. The lake however was further than we thought, and we decided to turn back. The return walk to the car was on the whole uneventful; and by that I mean we weren't attacked again. We did meet an old italian philosopher/hippy/happy bloke which was interesting, relating people and the world to chess and stuff. I just nodded and smiled and let Dad do the talking.
The next day, we went a little further and in the opposite direction. We set off early down the East coast, past Siracusa to a coastal reserve in the South called Vendicari. This was an amazing place, and strongly recommend it to any birders going to Sicily. It's mostly popular for its beaches which were inviting, but the reserve side of it was fantastic too. After walking through low scrub occupied by lizards and Crested Larks, we came to the lakes. We found a little stone shelter to cool off in and for me to scope through. There was nothing on the lake in front of us, and it was hard to ID anything on the next one due to the heat haze. My spirits were raised immediately at the sight of a large bird of prey flying from the water and into the sky. Its dark feathers looked golden in the strong sunlight, but as it turned and showed a white front with a dark eye band, I recognised it as one of my favourite birds. The Osprey flew nearer to us, above the empty lake in front, giving us a fine display. We watched it for a couple minutes before it disappeared over the land, but it decided to come back for an encore with prey in its talons.
After a while, I wanted to move round the second lake as it seemed to have a few birds on. My folks stayed in the shade of the hut while I departed. Along the exposed path a Kestrel was hovering and diving for prey, and beyond it the turquoise sea was stretching out to the horizon. I arrived at the far end of the lake, and a couple Little Terns were hovering around me. I set my scope up and scanned the muddy shores that had Gulls on. There was far more species around than I thought. The gulls were mainly Slender-billed Gulls (lifer), and accompanying them were Sandwich Terns; later I discovered a single Gull-billed Tern amongst them (another lifer). Loads of waders were feeding, the most obvious being a lone Black-winged Stilt. As I scanned the mud, Ringed and Kentish Plovers were very numerous, the latter being a lifer. Other species identified included Ruff, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Redshank, Wood and Common Sandpiper. The water had 2 Greater Flamingos with a Spoonbill in between (which seemed to think it was one of them), Little Egrets, Grey Herons and a family of Shelducks. A Yellow Wagtail and Great Reed Warbler (lifer) were also noted before my folks came to get me after they were greeted by a snake in the stone hut.
After a fantastic day at Vendicari, the wildlife aspect of the holiday was over, with only a few species added to the list. Hope you enjoyed the read, I'll leave you with my list. Names in bold were lifers:
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Spoonbill
Greater Flamingo
Shelduck
Mallard
Osprey
Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Kestrel
Saker Falcon
Black-winged Stilt
Ringed Plover
Kentish Plover
Wood Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Redshank
Spotted Redshank
Greenshank
Ruff
Black-headed Gull
Slender-billed Gull
Little Tern
Sandwich Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Rock Dove & Feral Pigeon
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Turtle Dove
Barn Owl
Swift
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Skylark
Crested Lark
Woodlark
Sand Martin
House Martin
Swallow
White Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Wren
Robin
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush
Blackbird
Whitethroat
Chiffchaff
Great Reed Warbler
Reed Warbler
Zitting Cisticola
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Nuthatch
Magpie
Jay
Jackdaw
Hooded Crow
Raven
Starling
House Sparrow
Spanish Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Serin
Cheers, Mark