South-eastern Sicily, Italy - January 6th - 13th 2001 by Diego Rubolini, Violetta Longoni, Roberto Garavaglia and Ottavio Janni (click here to contact Ottavio)
Introduction
In January of this year four of us (Diego Rubolini, Violetta Longoni, Roberto Garavaglia and Ottavio Janni) travelled to Siracusa in Sicily to spend a week with our friend and Italian birding guru Andrea Corso in order to bird the marshes, coast, fields and mountains of south-east Sicily. Our goals were to see some of the regional specialties (such as the Great Black-headed Gulls and Richard's Pipits which have wintered regularly in the area for the last several years), twitch some of the rarities found earlier in the winter by Andrea (Lesser Spotted Eagle and Steppe Grey Shrike), study gulls, bask in the warm weather, pig out on local food and generally enjoy the excellent birding to be found in Sicily in January. We had great success on all counts.
Itinerary
6/1: Penisola Magnisi, Lentini Lake, Simeto river mouth 7/1: Vendicari marshes 8/1: Penisola Magnesi, Siracusa salt pans, Capo Passero, Vendicari 9/1: Siracusa north coast, Siracusa salt pans, Capo Ognina, Capo Murro di Porco 10/1: Cala Grande del Cassibile, Longari & Cuba 11/1: Lentini landfill, Simeto river mouth 12/1: Priolo salt pans, Augusta salt pans, Lentini Lake 13/1: Iblei Mountains
Logistics
The easiest way to reach Siracusa from abroad is by plane to Catania, then by train or rental car to Siracusa (about an hour away). A wide range of accommodation is available in Siracusa, and all of the sites described in this report are within an hour's drive of Siracusa. Andrea Corso now works as a birding guide in the area, which he knows extremely well. He can be contacted at fcorso@isabenergy.inet.it with cc: to aliffi@tin.it.
Daily Log
January 5: I arrived at Siracusa at 7pm by train from Naples and was met at the station by Roberto (who had been in Siracusa for work since Jan. 2) and Andrea. Diego and Violetta were missing, as they had forgotten (!) to take their flight from Milan and were arriving by train instead. Night in hotel.
January 6: RG, AC and I started the day at Penisola Magnisi, where AC had found Italy's 2nd Steppe Grey Shrike in December. Many of the classic Sicilian countryside birds (such as Crested Lark, Spotless Starling, Spanish Sparrow) were much in evidence, and it didn't take long to find the shrike. After brief looks at the shrike we had to leave in order to make it on time to Lentini Lake, where we met Andrea Ciaccio, Pippo Rannisi and others to bird the lake, which can be visited only by prior arrangement. This large artificial lake is one of the most important wetlands in Italy, and for the past several years has regularly hosted small numbers of Great Black-headed Gulls, the only wintering population in Europe, as well as large numbers of other waterbirds. The lake did not disappoint: the main highlights were 3-4 adult Great Black-headed Gulls, a single Richard's Pipit, perhaps as many as 1,000 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and excellent numbers of Caspian Gulls (perhaps as many as 100+). Other highlights were White Stork, 40+ Spoonbills, about 130 Ferruginous Ducks (Lentini Lake is one of the most important sites in Europe for this species), 4 Cranes, 8 Temminck's Stints (rare in winter in Italy), 80+ Little Gulls, 3 Whiskered Terns, a fly-over Red-throated Pipit and a Bluethroat. The only disappointement was raptors: on a visit the previous week AC and others had Bonelli's Eagle, Lanner, Saker, and "Siberian" Peregrine (calidus), but none were to be found today. In the afternoon we visited the Simeto river mouth to study the large gull flocks just offshore. The hundreds of Lesser Black-backed Gulls present seemed to be mostly a mixture of graellsii, intermedius and Dutch intergrades (one bird with a Dutch ring confirmed this hypothesis), but the highlight were the 3 Pomarine and 2 Arctic Skuas observed at very close range as they harassed the gulls. In the evening we were back at Siracusa train station to pick up DR and VL who had finally arrived after a harrowing 23-hour train ride. Spectacular seafood dinner and night in hotel.
January 7: All day at Vendicari marshes, a very scenic and birdy nature reserve in far south-east Sicily. The main highlight here was excellent studies of a juvenile Lesser Spotted Eagle, perched and in flight. This bird had also been found by AC in December and is Italy's first confirmed wintering record. Birding was otherwise relatively slow (100's of Greater Flamingos and about 20 Slender-billed Gulls) and the warm weather even allowed for a brief swim in the sea. In the afternooon car trouble cut short our birding day.
January 8: Early am back at Penisola Magnisi for some much longer studies of the Steppe Grey Shrike and great looks at Calandra Lark, then on to Siracusa salt pans which held a variety of shorebirds and waterfowl, Moustached Warbler, but not the hoped for Richard's Pipits which had been here in December. PM at Capo Passero, the southernmost spot in Sicily. Winter birding here was relatively slow, but the enormous vagrancy potential of this little visited area in migration was plain to see. Ended the day at Vendicari in order to enjoy the wintering flock of Stone Curlew, which today numbered about 50 birds.
January 9: AM in some coastal fields on the northern outskirts of Siracusa to look for Richard's Pipits, of which we found eleven and enjoyed excellent looks. Then back at Siracusa saltpans for waterfowl and shorebirds, Capo d'Ognina where we found 2 more Richard's Pipits along with Dartford Warbler, and ended the day with some seawatching from Capo Murro di Porco (Yelkouan Shearwater, Gannet, Kittiwake, Arctic and Pomarine Skuas).
January 10: am at Cava Grande del Cassabile, a mountain area southwest of Siracusa, highlighted by 6 Rock Partridges of the endemic Sicilian race whittakeri, always a tough bird to find, but also Woodlark, Cirl Bunting and fantastic looks at Rock Sparrow (40+). In the pm we birded the Longarini and Cuba marshes in far southeast Sicily. A major highlight here was a single field which held a Short-toed Lark (first winter record for Sicily), 2 Richard's Pipits, and a flock of 31 Red-throated Pipits, the largest flock ever recorded in Italy in winter, while a different field turned up a Quail, rare in winter in Italy. The ponds and marshes held at least 3 Bluethroats and some good numbers of shorebirds, including 300+ Little Stints. A brief stop at Vendicari after dark held calling Scops Owl and Stone Curlew.
January 11: We started off with a brief stop outside Lentini Lake hoping to see Great Black-headed Gull from outside the fence, but no luck (though we did get good looks at a calidus Peregrine), then tried the nearby Landfill, which provided excellent comparisons of Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls (at least 20 of the former among hundreds of the latter), and great looks at several hundred Lesser Black-backed Gulls, most of which seemed to be of the intermedius race but including at least 2 Baltic Gulls Larus (fuscus) fuscus. Back at the Simeto River mouth area, highlights included 50+ Ferruginous Ducks, Moustached Warbler, Dartford Warbler, and the skua show (4 Pomarine and 2 Arctic).
January 12: Early am back at the Penisola Magnisi/Priolo saltpans area, in order to try to get better photos of the Steppe Grey Shrike and to census waterbirds. Along with the shrike, another highlight at Penisola Magnisi was a flock of 180 Golden Plovers. We then split up, RG heading to Catania airport to catch his fight back to Milan, and the rest of us continuing to Augusta saltpans where we turned up good numbers of shorebirds and waterfowl, including good looks at Slender-billed Gulls (flock of about 40). We went back to Lentini Lake in the pm and this proved to be one of the highlights of the trip: among the tens of thousands of gulls were about 3-4 Common Gulls (rare in Sicily) and a close adult Great Black-headed Gull which was greatly enjoyed by all, especially DR & VL who had not yet arrived on Jan. 6. Even better however was the juvenile Bonelli's Eagle which flew right past us giving great looks, a bird which we had given up on after missing it on Jan. 6. Other excellent finds here were 2 Common Swifts (quite rare in winter), Wood Sandpiper (also rare in winter), Caspian Gull, and Yellow Wagtail (rare in winter).
January 13: Dropped off DR & VL at the Siracusa train station in the am for their train back to Milan, then AC and I headed for the Iblei mountains inland from Siracusa. Our main goal was to see the endemic siculus race of Long-tailed Tit, and we succeeded with excellent looks. According to AC this form is not only morphologically but also vocally distinct, and builds a different nest from continental birds, and may be a potential candidate for a future split. Unfortunately the weather was poor for the only time on the trip, which cut short the rest of the birding. In the evening I went to the train station for my train back to Naples.
click here for full species listing and more photos !
