April 11, 2007
Local patches
Being car-less, my everyday birding is more or less limited to sites I can reach by foot from Orsay. My flight path back from Montpellier took me more or less directly over Orsay, providing me with a bird's eye view of my regular stomping grounds. So here's a quick guide to my local patches (incidentally, all fairly easily reachable by public transport from central Paris).
1. Bassin de Bures. This area of wet meadow bordered by the river Yvette holds a bunch of interesting birds throughout the year. Winter brings many Grey Wagtails (Bergeronnette des ruisseaux) and a few Water Pipits (Pipit spioncelle) to the site, while summer breeders include Fan-tailed and Grasshopper Warblers (Cisticole des joncs; Locustelle tachete) and Reed Buntings (Bruant des roseaux). Just off of the photo, the Coupieres basin is smaller, but tends to hold more water and has more extensive reeds, hosting Reed and Marsh Warblers (Rousserolle verderolle), wintering Snipe (Becassine des marais) and breeding Water Rail (Rale d'eau).
2. Orsay campus. Where I work. A nice combination of woodland, scrub and open areas, the campus is excellent year-round for finches - Hawfinch (Grosbec casse-noyaux) is reliable and irregular winter visitors include Crossbill (Bec-croise des sapins) and even a 'trumpeting' Northern Bullfinch (Bouvreuil trompetteur). From a UK perspective, interesting breeding birds include Serin (Serin cini), Black Redstart (Rougequeue noir), Crested Tit (Mesange huppee) and Firecrest (Roitelet a triple bandeau). Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Pic epeichette) and Kingfisher (Martin-pecheur) can often be found along the River Yvette.
3. Bois des Rames. Great for woodpeckers, including Black (Pic noir), Short-toed Treecreeper (Grimpereau des jardins), breeding Kestrel (Faucon crecerelle), Sparrowhawk (Epervier d'Europe), Common Buzzard (Buse variable) and Tawny Owl (Chouette hulotte), and passage migrants including Pied Flycatcher (Gobemouche noir).
4. Plateau de Saclay. The farmland, meadows and patchy woodland here are a haven for many birds declining in the UK: Grey Partridge (Perdrix grise), Corn Bunting (Bruant proyer), Tree Sparrow (Moineau friquet), Turtle Dove (Tourterelle des bois) and Skylark (Alouette des champs) can all be encountered in good numbers here. Last year Common Redstart (Rougequeue a front blanc), Melodious Warbler (Hypolais polyglotte), Hen Harrier (Busard Saint-Martin) and Hobby (Faucon hobereau) were all present in the breeding season.
5. Etangs de Saclay. This large pair of lakes have enormous potential for pulling in migrant and wintering waterbirds, but unfortunately viewing is limited to a busy causeway, and birds at the far end of the lake are nigh-on impossible to ID! Oddities I've seen here include Ring-necked Duck (Fuligule a bec cercle), Little Tern (Sterne naine), Smew (Harle piette), White-fronted and Bean Geese (Oies rieuse et des moissons), while breeders include Little Bittern (Blongios nain).
Posted by rjhall at April 11, 2007 11:36 PM