Birding in Italy - Rome and the Po River Delta - early July 2007

Trip report courtesy of Jake Gozart

I have recently returned home from a business trip to Rome, Italy.  I had never been to Italy or even Europe before and was excited to have a few days to see some of the sights.  Most of Rome's tourist sites were visited.  I especially enjoyed St. Peters and also the Pantheon for their spacious design.  It is incredible the Pantheon, with its huge dome, was built nearly 2000 years ago.  I don't think I will ever understand how anyone could build such a perfect dome way back then!  With no cranes or modern machinery.  Amazing.

Of course, being a "crazed" birder, I also arranged for a trip up to the Po River Delta where my wife and I enjoyed a full day of birding with Menotti Passarella Birding Italy. He met us at a bed and breakfast in Codigoro which was very nice.  I drove our rental car as he navigated throughout the Po River delta region. 

The first place we stopped at was a waste water area right beside the Ostellato sugar refinery, S of Codigoro.  Menotti wanted to show us the White Stork that was nesting in the top of an old broken down crane (metal one).  That was a treat, but so where the European Bee-eaters, Black-winged Stilts, and Hoopoe we saw there!  The Bee-eaters are incredibly colorful.  I could watch them fly around all day!  What a start to the morning!  We moved on to a freshwater pond area where we spotted Zitting Cisticola, (Common) Pheasant, (Common) Cuckoo, Gull-billed Tern, and Whiskered Tern.  We moved on to other ponds and wetland and identified (Common) Pochard, Red-crested Pochard, Ferruginous Duck, Squacco Heron, Marsh Harrier, and many others.

After lunch, Mr. Passarella, led us to find some nesting (European) Rollers near Comacchio.  They, like the Bee-eaters are a colorful mixture of blues and greens and reddish browns.  What amazing colors!  We also saw a Green Woodpecker in the same area and my wife saw a Golden Oriole!

From there, we headed towards the bay called Valli di Comacchio and the Greater Flamingos!  There must have been hundreds of them.  Impressive!  We also saw (Pied) Avocets there and Menotti and the Avocets called back and forth to each other.  We ended the day by driving to a small stream area where we lucked upon a Squacco Heron, Little Bittern, and a not so common anymore - according to Menotti - (Common) Kingfisher!  I wish I had my camera ready for that picture!!

We enjoyed the day immensely and very much recommend Menotti Passarella!  He is very good and is available for a few hours or a week, depending on what / how much time you have to enjoy the Po River Delta.

Note:  A good place to bird in the middle of Rome is the Villa Borghese (early morning) where I saw all the Tits, Rose-ringed Parakeet, European Robin, White Wagtail, Blackcap, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers and many more.

Birds Seen (names according to Birds of Europe - 1999 by Svensson, Mullarney, Zetterstrom, and Grant)

Little Grebe, (Great) Cormorant, Pygmy Cormorant, Little Bittern, (Black-crowned) Night Heron, Cattle Egret, Squacco Heron, Little Egret, Great Egret, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, White Stork, (Eurasian) Spoonbill, Greater Flamingo, Mallard, Garganey, (Common) Pochard, Red-crested Pochard, Ferruginous Duck, Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, (Common) Kestrel, (Common) Pheasant, (Common) Moorhen, (Eurasian) Coot, (Pied) Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Little Ringed Plover, (Northern) Lapwing, Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, (Common) Greenshank, (Eurasian) Curlew, Black-headed Gull, Slender-billed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Little Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Common Tern, Whiskered Tern, Rock Dove, (Eurasian) Collared Dove, (European) Turtle Dove, (Common) Cuckoo, (Common) Swift, (Eurasian) Hoopoe, (Common) Kingfisher, (European) Bee-eater, (European) Roller, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Barn Swallow, (Common) House Martin, White Wagtail, (European) Robin, (Common) Blackbird, Blackcap, Zitting Cisticola, Firecrest, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, (Common) Magpie, Hooded Crow, (Common) Starling, House Sparrow, (Eurasian) Tree Sparrow, (Common) Chaffinch, (European) Serin, Corn Bunting.

Jake Gozart - WV, USA

18:35 - Thursday, July 26, 2007 - post comment