The following is a brief trip report to north west Sardinia, July 17th to July 24th 2009.
To sum it up, it was hot! The temperature gauge in the car showed 48 degrees C one day (118F), and that wasn’t a stationary car standing in the sun, that was a car which had been running for an hour with the air conditioning on and all windows open. It was boiling. On another morning I went out at 5:30am and the temperature was already 28 degrees C.
In such conditions breathing was difficult, let alone birding! A 10 minute walk at any time of day left you lathered in sweat, and birding was just impossible after about 8am. I had a go at it though, and even climbed a small hill at midday on one occasion. I didn’t bother with a scope, because that really would have killed me off, and it would have been useless in the heat haze.
So when I talk about the birds I saw, or didn’t see, bear in mind that I wasn’t seeing the place at its best, and it was very tough work. Plus of course, being July, there was no migration and most of the resident species had stopped singing.
Just warming up nicely!
Tyrrhenian Wall Lizard
Scarlet Darter (Broad Scarlet)
Lang's Long-tailed Blue
Long Skimmer
Barbary Partridge
Let’s start with the town birds. We stayed at Alghero, and the common birds around the town were Spotless Starlings, Hooded Crows, Yellow-legged Gulls, Tree Sparrows and Spotted Flycatchers. These were common birds in most coastal towns we stopped in. We also saw a couple of adult Audouins Gulls and a few Shags at Alghero, and Spanish Sparrow and (surprisingly) two Rock Sparrows at Bosa.
I visited Lago di Baratz on three occasions, twice early morning and once in the afternoon. The main species here were Ferruginous Duck (two adults with eight chicks), Red-crested Pochard (4), Hobby (2), Purple Heron (1), Cattle Egret (1), Cetti’s Warbler (2), Firecrest (5), Marsh Harrier (1) and Turtle Dove (2). No sign of Purple Gallinule. It was also swarming with dragonflies, with loads of Lesser Emperors, Scarlet Darters, Long Skimmers and Black-tailed Skimmers, plus damselflies which I didn’t bother with.
Twice we visited the town of Bosa, about 50km south of Alghero. This is the best area in Sardinia for Griffon Vulture, and although we didn’t find them easy, we did see four birds about 5km north of Bosa. Also here, Lesser Kestrel (2), Peregrine, Buzzard and Crag Martins.
However the place I enjoyed best was the nature reserve around Mount Timidone, Porto Conte, not far from Cape Caccia. I “discovered” the place late one afternoon, only to find that it was about to close for the day, which was probably a good idea given the intense heat. However a brief discussion with the woman on reception revealed that it would open again at 8am the following morning.
So next day we were there just as it opened, at 8am. We drove slowly down a track, looking into a field, hoping for Barbary Partridge, when suddenly a Wild Boar shot past! I drove up to a gate, and four of them legged it right past us and into the woods! It was always a major ambition of mine to see these animals in Europe, and I just couldn’t believe how lucky we had been, and after so many misses previously in the Coto Donana.
We decided to eat our breakfast here, in the car, in the hope that the boar might reappear, but they never did. However we did see two Fallow Deer, and at last, Barbary Partridge, my only lifer of the holiday. Just like buses, once I’d seen one, suddenly there were three family parties in view at the same time!
We moved into the main part of the reserve, and saw Marmora’s Warbler (2), Blue Rock Thrush (1), Griffon Vulture (1), Alpine Swift (100), Pallid Swift (100) and Crag Martin (2). Also here, many Corsican Heath butterflies, lots of Tyrrhenian Wall Lizards and a single Pygmy Algeroides.
Finally we did the touristy thing and visited the Caves of Neptune at Cape Caccia, where there were lots of Alpine Swifts, and a few Rock Doves.
So in the end it was an enjoyable holiday. I find it difficult to get new species in Europe these days, so to come away with Barbary Partridge and to have the added bonus of Wild Boar was very pleasing. I guess that if you’re going to go birding at the end of July in the Mediterranean, you have to be realistic!
