France & Corsica, May 2000 continued... by Yann Kolbeinsson
Corsica:
27th April: at 09.00 we took the ferry from Nice to Bastia in Corsica where we arrived at 15.30. Almost the first birds we saw in Corsica were 3 Audouin's Gulls in the harbour. Then we drove south to Ajaccio where we stayed overnight. Otherwise not much birding today.
28th April: early morning at the Capitello river mouth near Ajaccio provided views of male and female Little Bittern. Then we visited La Pointe de la Parata for seawatching. During mid-day we were in Golfe de Sagone where we watched birds at the Liamone estuary including a single Temminck's Stint. Between Liamone and Ajaccio we also found a good birding spot (Col de S. Bastiano) with a dark morph Booted Eagle and a European Honey Buzzard migrating over. In the evening we went to Corte (in mid-Corsica) where we stayed overnight. The day list score was 73 species
29th April: we searched for Corsican Nuthatch and Marmora's Warbler around Corte (at Vallée de Verghello and Col de Sorba). After finding these birds, with a little help from a tape recorder, we went to the eastern shore of Corsica, and visited Plage de Padulone/Aléria where an adult Pomarine Skua and an adult Arctic Skua passed by and Etang d'Urbino, where we watched an Osprey fishing. The day list score was 66 species.
30th April: headed north to the Cap Corse with a visit to the Asco Valley. From Haut-Asco we walked towards Altore (2000metres). We then returned to the lowlands again and went to the northern-most tip of Cap Corse (via Bastia), at the small village of Barcaggio. There we assisted at a ringing camp for two days. The day list score was 48 species.
1st May: all day at Barcaggio, Cap Corse. The day list score was 70 species including another Little Bittern, two female Little Crakes, a Great Snipe and a mist-netted Collared Flycatcher !
2nd May: we stayed at Barcaggio until noon, when we headed south to Bastia with a stop at Macinaggio. When we reaached Bastia we went to the NE shore of Etang de Biguglia before taking the night ferry to Nice. The day list score was 86 species
3rd May: from Nice we headed directly to the mountains inland of Cannes, Caussols (where we picked up Orphean Warbler in exactly the same bush I has seen one six years earlier!) and Calerne (with a stop at the Var estuary) before returning to the Alpilles mountains to look for the Bonelli's Eagle - this time successfully. Then we went once more into the steppe at La Crau where a splendid Roller was found. Our best day score at 105 species.
4th May: my companions returned to Iceland whilst I stayed in Cannes until 8th May. During these few extra days I managed to add a Collared Pratincole and a Melodious Warbler, both at the Var estuary, to the trip list total.
In total we managed to find 215 bird species between 19 April and 4 May; 185 of these were seen in Southern France while we managed to find 131 species in Corsica during our 6 day stay there.
Click here for the Species List of this trip
Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to the following birders who provided me with information about good birding spots in Southern France and trip reports from Corsica; Maxime Zucca, Maurice & Mireille Boët, Frank Dhermain, David Laloi, Gilles Faggio, Tony Clarke and Remco Hofland.
