For birders all over the world

The Strait of Messina is the narrow channel separating mainland southern Italy from the big island of Sicily. Sadly, this site is notorious among bird-protection associations for the raptor shooting that has been happening here for decades at the hands of poachers. However, very few birders outside Italy know that this site is also one of the most rewarding birding areas in Europe.

In fact, the Strait of Messina is surely one of the most important European migration flyways for both raptors and storks as well as many other species.With this article we hope to publicise the site among European birders and to recruit volunteers for the annual survey undertaken each spring to study and protect the birds migrating across the strait.

The Site

The Strait of Messina separates the Calabria region of southern Italy from Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean. At its narrowest point the Strait is 3km wide while further south its width reaches 15km. The main towns of the Strait are: Messina, on the Sicilian side, and Reggio-Calabria, on the Calabrian side. These lay along the opposite coasts and are rather large cities (up to 700.000 inhabitants each). At the north-easternmost point of Sicily, Capo Peloro, there are only sparse houses and a small fishing village: Ganzirri. Nearby are two small coastal lakes: Lago di Faro e Lago di Ganzirri. These two wetlands are not very productive due to the deep water and human activities (despite being Nature Reserves) but at the right times may offer some good birding: Marsh Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt, Temminck's Stint, Spoonbill, Glossy Ibis, the 3 marsh terns, several gulls included Caspian and Slender-billed Gulls, and ducks.

On the Calabrian side, south of Reggio, there is one more wetland: the Saline Joniche salt-pans. This salt-pans are full of birds in spring and autumn with Flamingos, several herons, and waders all on show as well as Red-rumped Swallow (a few pairs sometimes breed).

Capo Peloro is an excellent site for seawatching, and during strong southerly winds is a productive raptor migration watch point as well.

Two mountain chains form the immediate backdrop to the Strait: the Monti Peloritani in Sicily and the Aspromonte in Calabria. Most of the raptor migration is studied from several sites up on the Peloritani, where migrating raptors and storks can be watched and counted at close range.

The observation points are mainly situated along these mountains and vary from 150m above sea level up to 1,127m on sunny, clear days with strong north-west winds.

The landscape here is breathtaking; from the top of this peak, at the tip of Sicily, one can see most of the north-easternmost part of the island, between two seas, the Tyrrhenian to the west and the Ioanian to the east. In the far distance on the Tyrrhenian Sea are the Eolie Islands while to the south the view is dominated by the largest and most beautiful European volcano, Mt. Etna. Underneath you are woodlands and cliffs descending steeply to sea. Against this spectacular backdrop, migrating raptors can be seen soaring down the valley below you, or gliding against the snow-capped Mount Etna.

The Birds

The Strait of Messina is a major European hot spot for raptors. Since 1984, 40 species of raptors have been recorded (39 until the spring 2000 - Corso, 2000; 2 Black Vultures observed in April 2001 brought the total to 40), no single site in Europe has recorded such a variety of raptors, and few other sites have in the Western Palearctic. Two distinctive subspecies, rare elsewhere in Central-Western Europe, are regularly observed as well: Peregrine of the race calidus, and Common Buzzard of the race vulpinus ("Steppe Buzzard"). There are also some recent very probable observations of Crested Honey Buzzard, Pernis ptilorhyncus. The vagrants include: Black-shouldered Kite, Levant Sparrowhawk, Steppe Eagle, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Spotted Eagle, Barbary Falcon, Black Vulture, Lammergeier and Amur Falcon.

The latter has been by far recorded in Europe only at the Strait of Messina (Corso & Dennis, 1998; Corso, 2000) and the site is the only one where WP-listers may hope to see this species, although it is exceedingly rare (6 records in total).

With regards to the regular species the Strait of Messina is one of the most important migration (in some cases the most important) flyways in Europe for : Honey Buzzard, Eleonora's Falcon, Long-legged Buzzard, Montagu's Harrier and Pallid Harrier. For the last species, the area is by far the best one to see good numbers of birds and the most likely place in Europe to add the species to one's life list. For example, in April-May 2001, 132 birds were counted with an additional 20 in March (Corso, in prep.), thus setting a European record.

Furthermore, for Kestrel, Hobby and Marsh Harrier (record daily count of c.1200), the Strait is one of the most important sites in the WP.

Yet another highlight of Messina is the possibility to encounter Lanner Falcon of the very rare and localised subspecies feldeggii, a distinctive race of which very few birders have field experience (Corso 2000 & 2001).

The number of raptors counted crossing the Strait is around 23.000-35.000+ each spring. For the autumn season we still lack data as the first survey only took place in fall 2001. The results are quite interesting with even more Marsh Harriers counted. The raptors counted in spring are likely to represent about 50-60% of the total passage: an estimation of 70-75000 raptors migrating across the Strait is realistic.

Over the last springs (Table 1), the most common species have been Honey Buzzard (max. 27,297) and Marsh Harrier (max. 3,074). These are followed by Black Kite (1,008), Common Kestrel (934) and Montagu's Harrier (866). Red-footed Falcon (record number of >7.000 in 1992) is also common along with Hobby (276) while Lesser Kestrel, Saker, Peregrine, Egyptian Vulture, Lesser Spotted, Booted, Golden and Bonelli's Eagle are rarer but still regular.

Apart from raptors, the site is also very good for storks: both Black and White Storks are observed each year in numbers (from 20 up to 700+).

Overall, 315 species have been recorded in the area, a figure which includes a number of vagrants: Slender-billed Curlew, Pied, Black, Desert and Isabelline Wheatears, Sociable Plover, White Pelican, Sooty and Balearic Shearwaters, the vagrant raptors mentioned above and many others.

The place is nothing less than spectacular for northern European birders. In fact, a wide range of Mediterranean/Southern species can be seen: many Sylvia warbler as Spectacled, Sardinian, Dartford and Subalpine (3 races/allospecies: cantillans, albistriata and moltonii occur in migration), both Western and Eastern Bonelli's Warblers, Icterine Warbler, Short-toed Treecreeper, Collared and Pied Flycatchers, both Eastern and Western Black-eared Wheatears, Black-headed Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla (f) feldegg) as well as other Yellow Wagtails (such as Italian - m.f.cinereocapilla), Red-throated Pipit, Red-rumped Swallow, Alpine and Pallid Swifts, Bee-eater, Scops Owl, Gull-billed Tern, the three Marsh Terns, Yellow-legged and Caspian Gulls, Audouin's and Slender-billed Gulls, Yelkouan and (Scopoli) Cory's Shearwaters, all the herons, Ferruginous Duck, Kentish Plover, Temminck's Stint, Marsh Sandpiper and much, much more.

The final prizes are the endemic, unique and distinctive Sicilian Long-tailed Tit (A.(c.) siculus, yet a race but surely a near future split) as well as the beautiful Sicilian Rock Partridge (A. (g.) whitakeri, which may also be split).

Visiting

The site is easy to reach : by airplane via Catania Airport in Sicily or via Reggio Calabria Airport in Calabria, and then by bus to Messina. A different possibility is to arrive directly into Messina town by train from Rome Airport (6 hours) or from anywhere else. The ticket for an airplane is normally not that expensive, the train is cheaper but takes much longer. Despite the image often portrayed in certain sections of the media and in several movies, there are absolutely no problems with the notorious "Mafia". Instead, the local people are really friendly and hospitable.

The best way to visit and bird the site is to participate in the international survey held each spring since 1984 on the Sicilian side of the Strait. This offers the cheapest, easiest and most fun way to experience birding on the Strait of Messina as well as being an important way to help and be involved in bird protection. Volunteers are always needed and they may stay as long as they like (during April-May from one day up to 2 months!). Volunteers need not be experienced raptor watchers, they only need to be keen and friendly and love to stay out in the field for 7-9 hours a day. A small fee (15 Euro) to help the survey is requested per day and this includes: housing, good Italian food, drink (also nice Italian wine!), insurance, transportation to and from the airport and observation points, materials, raptor ID lessons, slide projections, etc.

slide-show (may take a second to download)

For details and to sign up as soon as possible please contact Andrea Corso . The Camp is open from 14th April to 21st May 2006.

Andrea Corso, Siracusa, Sicily.

click here for annual counts

Acknowledgements:

I wish to thank the other main counters of the Sicilian side of the Strait of Messina Raptor Survey: Carmela Cardelli, Gianluca Chiofalo, Deborah Ricciardi, Anna Giordano and Lucia Romano. All the birders who help us each spring are also thanked, in particular: Giovanni Albarella, Roberto Gildi, enzo Ientile, Giampaolo Terranova, Giuliano Monterosso, Daniele Ardizzone, Claudio Magnifico, Guido Premuda, Remo Probst, Martin J.Riesing, Rudi Schmidt and others. Thanks also to Michele Mendi, Stefano Ricci, Giuseppe Rossi, Roberto Gildi for the photos given. A warm thanks to Ottavio Janni, one of my best friends and one of the best Italian birders, for the correction - as usual - of the english version of this article.

References

Corso,A. 1998. Messina crossing. Birdwatch 70: 30-33.

Corso,A. 1999. Dati sulla migrazione della Poiana delle steppe Buteo buteo vulpinus in Italia. Alula 6: 125-130.

Corso,A. 2000. Identification of European Lanner. Birding World 13: 200-213.

Corso,A. 2001. Raptor migration across the Strait of Messina, southern Italy. British Birds 94:196-2002.

Corso,A. 2001. Biologie, Verbreitung und Bestimmung des Lannerfalken Falco biarmicus in Europa. Limicola 15 :1-41

Corso,A. in prep. Pallid Harrier influx in Europa in the years 2000-2001: a rare species recovering. British Birds.