April 27, 2007
Tues 17th: wot no Nuthatch?
Today we left Porticcio to head to our other accommodation in the mountains, stopping off near Vizzavona again to dip the Nuthatch. The afternoon was spent
hiking in the dramatic Gorges de la Restonica.
From our start point at the end of the road, we quickly encountered Alpine Chough (Chocard a bec jaune) and Crag Martins (Hirondelle de rochers) flying around the cliff face. The rocky slopes held a few Water Pipits (Pipit spioncelle), perhaps the target of the smart male Sparrowhawk (Epervier d'Europe) we encountered. Several lizards were seen right up to the snow line!
The highlight of the day was a majestic Lammergeier (Gypaete barbu) which soared overhead.
On the drive out of the valley, we made several short stops for Corsican Nuthatch, but to no avail. Equally a walk through pine forests close to our accommodation in Vezzani drew a blank. Perhaps the males had already paired up and were singing less frequently - was I going to miss the star bird of the island? A whistled conversation with the local Scops Owls (Petit-duc scops) in our garden resulted in a brief twilight sighting.
Posted by rjhall at April 27, 2007 4:42 PM