Traveling the globe with a camera and paintbrush...
 |
| Green-backed Woodpecker - life bird #1,290! |
 |
| Eurasian Magpie |
 |
| a Great Tit goofing off |
 |
| a little artsy European Stonechat |
 |
| Common Sandpiper |
 |
| one last African Sacred Ibis flew by to send me off That's all for birding in Italy on this trip. We found 62 species, 4 of which were new for my life list. Our next trip will be a biggie for collecting birds, so keep an eye out for new posts starting the middle of November! |
We are working our way back toward the airport in Venice after 3 relaxing days in Ravenna looking at mosaics. We decided to revisit two birding spots before stopping for the night in Ferrara - Comacchio where we hoped to find two vagrant Lesser Flamingos but got fogged out on the first try and Ripristini Bellini where we dipped (missed) on the vagrant Sociable Lapwings on our first try.
As we were driving along on the two-lane country road, my loving husband and exceptional birding companion / valet, who is quite versed in what to do when I yell “Bird!”, went to the next roundabout, headed back to where we came from, and pulled over on the grassy shoulder at almost the precise location where I saw this Eurasian Curlew in a field. What a team!
After a little picnic of buffalo di mozzarella, prosciutto, salami, pecorino and chocolate, I headed down the spit at Comacchio while Avi headed back to the car to get his binoculars. Before he even got back, I had one of the lesser flamingos in sight . It was pretty far out, but there was no mistaking the shorter stature and black bill. Sadly, no good photos because they were too far away.
✅ Lesser Flamingos is my1,288th life bird!
Feeling smug, we headed straight back to the car and over to Ripristini Bellini to try our luck on the lapwing. The birding area is a series of farm fields and it was full of birds -about 30 Ring-necked Pheasants, as many Northern Lapwings, and we flushed about 30 Gray Partridges that were in the grass by the road. I never thought we would see a skittish Gray Partridge, let alone a big covey of them! (Of course there was no time to line up my camera for a decent shot.) We never found the Sociable Lapwings.
✅ Gray Partridges is my 1,289th life bird!
And to top off the day, I found the first [eBird] record of a Fieldfare in the area in two years! (To clarify, other birders may have seen Fieldfares in the area and not recorded them. This does happen a lot as there are a lot of birders, especially outside the U.S., that keep their lists in other ways or don’t keep lists.) It’s not new to my life list, but still exciting.
Our tally for the trip so far is 57 species of birds this week n Italy, 3 of which were new to my life list.
We stayed overnight in San Marino (the city and country). The city is built on a rocky outcropping, Mount Titano. I was saddened, but not shocked that there were no birds besides pigeons as it is autumn and there is very little vegetation in the city. That said, I still had to log the one (feral) species, just to add it to how many countries I’ve birded in, lol.
 |
| I present to you, the feral San Marino Rock Pigeon |
 |
| Possibly a Long-legged Buzzard - it would be considered a "rare bird" (i.e. out of its normal distribution area), but someone else saw it a week ago in the same area and the Merlin app claims this is what I took a photo of) If this is true, it is a new life list bird for me - #1288 |
 |
| Common Buzzard |
 |
| Trying to find a Lesser Flamingo in a flock of Greater Flamingos in the fog is like looking for a needle in a haystack. (We didn't find one.) |
 |
| Great Crested Grebe |
The Po River is the longest river in Italy. It runs across the widest part of Italy from the Alps in France to the Adriatic Sea (where we are). Sadly parts of it are very polluted, but the delta on coast is full of wildlife. It's is nicknamed the Italian Camargue.
Big news - I found a new bird for my life list - the African Sacred Ibis! I'm up to 1,287 and aiming for 1,500 by June 2026.
 |
| I found it interesting that the black on the ibis doesn't really show in flight, except for the head and beak. |
 |
| It's a treat to see any rail in the wild because they are very shy and usually you only see one. I was treated to 8 Water Rails having a meeting before heading into the reeds for the day! |
 |
| Pygmy Cormorant |
 |
| Great Egret - can be found on 5 continents (not Antarctica or Oceania) |
 |
| Black Redstart |
 |
| Eurasian Spoonbill There are 6 species of spoonbill in the world. I've seen three. I'll have travel further afield to find the other three. |
 |
| I learned some new field id marks. Is it an otter (nope, not slim/sleek enough and tail is thin/hairless), beaver (nope, no paddle tail), muskrat (nope, ears are visible)? It's a nutria (native to South America, but introduced everywhere)! |