Just back from a marvelous two weeks staying at my father's house in Villes-sur-Auzon, a small village in the Vaucluse department of Provence. The birding was infinitely better than a late March trip I took a few years back. To wit -- I thought I would come home with 30-40 lifers. I actually snagged 62. The full list follows, with lifers in bold, and detailed descriptions elsewhere. Note that I did not go to the seacoast and that migration had finished.
1. Great Crested Grebe
2. Great Cormorant
3. Little Bittern
4. Grey Heron
5. Purple Heron
6. Little Egret
7. Mute Swan
8. Mallard
9. Griffon Vulture
10. Monk Vulture
11. Marsh Harrier
12. Black Kite
13. Buzzard
14. Sparrowhawk
15. Kestrel
16. Hobby
17. Red-legged Partridge
18. Coot
19. Little Bustard
20. Little Ringed Plover
21. Common Sandpiper
22. Yellow-legged Gull
23. Common Tern
24. Woodpigeon
25. Rock Dove
26. Turtle Dove
27. Collared Dove
28. Scops Owl
29. Hoopoe
30. Bee-eater
31. Cuckoo
32. Great Spotted Woodpecker
33. Skylark
34. Woodlark
35. Common Swift
36. Alpine Swift
37. House Martin
38. Swallow
39. Sand Martin
40. Crag Martin
41. White Wagtail
42. Yellow Wagtail
43. Northern Wheatear
44. Black-eared Wheatear
45. Robin
46. Stonechat
47. Whinchat
48. Nightingale
49. Black Redstart
50. Redstart
51. Blackbird
52. Blackcap
53. Sardinian Warbler
54. Whitethroat
55. Chiffchaff
56. Bonelli’s Warbler
57. Melodious Warbler
58. Woodchat Shrike
59. Great Tit
60. Coal Tit
61. Blue Tit
62. Crested Tit
63. Long-tailed Tit
64. Magpie (recently split from N.A. Black-billed)
65. Jay
66. Starling
67. Carrion Crow
68. Jackdaw
69. Raven
70. Chaffinch
71. Goldfinch
72. Greenfinch
73. Citril Finch
74. Serin
75. Linnet
76. Crossbill
77. House Sparrow
78. Tree Sparrow
79. Corn Bunting
80. Ortolan Bunting
81. Cirl Bunting
Birds I searched for diligently but didn't turn up: Egyptian Vulture; Short-toed Eagle; Stone Curlew; Roller; Kingfisher; Black Woodpecker; Water and Meadow Pipits; Rock, Blue Rock, Song and Mistle Thrushes; Reed, Great Reed, Cetti's, Fan-tailed, Subalpine, Dartford, Wood and Garden Warblers; Marsh Tit; Golden Oriole; Rook; Rock Sparrow; Alpine Accentor; and Yellowhammer. But that's a pretty good list to hunt for next time, no?
Posted by MadMonk at June 4, 2004 12:37 PM