April 27, 2007
Monday 16th: Welcome to Corsica
We took the overnight ferry from Toulon, arriving close to Corsica by dawn. Seawatching was extremely quiet, and I only managed one each of Yelkouan and Scopoli's (Cory's) Shearwaters (Puffins yelkouan et cendre). A couple of Yellow Wagtails (Bergeronnette printaniere) and Robins (Rougegorge familier) provided entertainment on the crossing. We made straight for our accommodation in Porticcio, picking up the first of many Hooded Crows (Corneille mantelee) in Ajaccio, and struck lucky with a Hermann's Tortoise crossing the road.
In the afternoon we drove north to the Liamone estuary, picking up a Tawny Pipit (Pipit rousseline) in the sand dunes. A few passage (and breeding?) waders were visible from the road bridge, including single Whimbrel (Courlis corlieu), Bar-tailed Godwit (Barge rousse) and Sanderling (Becasseau sanderling), plus a small flock of Avocets (Avocette elegante) and a few Little Ringed Plovers (Petit Gravelot).
We decided to head up into the Foret d'Aitone,
which supports extremely high densities of the local subspecies of Chaffinch (Pinson des arbres)
and Coal Tit (Mesange noire) - or is that Bearded Tit?
We pressed on to the Col de Vergio, where we found a lot of bird activity, including my first Corsican Finches (Venturon corse) of the trip. A very pretty finch, and apparently much easier to see than its mainland cousin.
Also present here were many displaying Water Pipits (Pipit spioncelle).
We encountered a small group of Mouflon, though none had the full ram's horns.
Any further thoughts of birding vanished with the arrival of Hell's Angels...
Driving back down towards Evisa, we made a random stop at the car park promisingly signed 'Sentier de la Sitelle' (nuthatch path). I think I heard a male Corsican Nuthatch (Sittelle corse) sing once, but it never repeated itself. The general area was excellent for forest birding, with more Corsican Finches plus the local races of Treecreeper (Grimpereau des bois), Great Spotted Woodpecker (Pic epeiche), Mistle Thrush (Grive draine) and a confiding Crossbill (Bec-croise des sapins).
Sunset over the Spelunca Gorges.
