April 27, 2007
Apr 22nd: Porticcio
I got up early again (no rest for the wicked) to check out a promising-looking area of habitat close between Porticcio and Ajaccio airport. I was rather surpised to find this migrant Wheatear (Traquet motteux) on the beach. Given the (relative) lateness of the date and a warm brownish tinge to the grey upperparts, could this bird be a Greenland Wheatear?
The coastal scrub held a badius race Woodchat Shrike (Pie-grieche a tete rousse),
many Sardinian Warblers (Fauvette melanocephale),
and the local race of Goldfinch (Chardonneret elegant).
Bee Eaters (Guepier d'Europe) hunted over the pasture nearby.
Perhaps the morning's highlight was the arrival of a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins feeding relatively close inshore. I even managed a few digiscoped photos of them performing their acrobatics.
A lake surrounded by reeds here looks like it has the potential to be a great birding spot - this morning I recorded Squacco Heron (Crabier chevelu), Great Reed Warbler (Rousserole turdoide), Little Stint (Becasseau minute) and Wood Sandpiper (Chevalier sylvain). In the process of trying to photograph the Great Reed, I narrowly avoided being stampeded to death by a rather large flock of sheep!
Cetti's Warblers (Bouscarle de Cetti) and Nightingales (Rossignol philomele) were abundant here, and I managed a couple of 'record shots' of these skulkers.
During our last lunch at a beachside restaurant, the waiters were unimpressed with my attempts to chum in Italian Sparrows (Moineau cisalpin) with my leftovers (smart bird though).
The ferry back was exceedingly uneventful bird-wise, with a couple of migrant Black Terns (Guifette noire) breaking the monotony mid-journey. Around sunset, and just as we were approaching Toulon harbour, we started to see large number of Scopoli's Shearwaters (Puffin cendre), including some excellent close fly-bys. A great end to a great trip!
