Where to watch Wallcreepers in Italy in winter

The Wallcreeper Tichodroma muraria breeds in remote rocky canyons high in the mountains from the Spanish Pyrenees and European Alps (usually 1000-2000m = 3300-6600' elevation) through the Himalaya to China, and it can be elusive and frustrating in its summer haunts. In winter birds move to lower elevation to inhabit cliffs in quarries, castles, ruins, and boulders in river beds. Birds in winter are not as secretive as breeders and can be tame. Individuals can be very dramatic when flying as the spectacular carmine wing-patches are most apparent in flight. Otherwise the plumage is sooty-gray but breeding-plumaged males have black throats. So, there's no wonder the Wallcreeper, the Hoopoe of the rock face, is one of the most desirable birds in Europe.There are lots of places where Wallcreepers are reputed to be but, the snag is, a site where the birds were giving crippling views one year might be a waste of time the following year. This particularly applies to wintering localities. So, let me suggest to visit areas claimed to host easily accessible wintering Wallcreeper. In N Italy I suggest to visit two small quarries close to the towns of Vicenza and Padua. The first one is the Lumignano cliffs in the Berici Hills, the other is the Zovon quarry in the S Euganean Hills. In C Italy one of the best site is Vecchiano, Tuscany, with its quarries and finally don't forget to visit the famous reserve "Gole del Sagittario". The reserve, created in 1991, is 450 ha wide and it is located at an altitude that goes from 500 to 1500 metres above the sea leve in the territory of Anversa degli Abruzzi in the province of L'Aquila. Photo courtesy of Lorenzo Pardini taken recently in the Vecchiano quarries.

23:18 - Monday, January 2, 2006 - post comment

wallcreeper

We saw a wallcreeper at 27 Dec 2005 near Manarola, Cinque Terre, at the rocks
near the sea.

Johan Bos - 21:46 - Tuesday, January 10, 2006

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