Last month I went to Italy--Rome for a few days, then a week and a half in Sicily. I knew the birdwatching wouldn't be stellar, but I had hopes of seeing at least some common birds that were unfamiliar to me. Heck, even the house sparrow has an Italian version that's all redheaded and crazylooking.
In Rome, I found plentiful evidence that birds had been seen in the past, at least by sculptors:
Hmm, on second thought I kind of doubt anyone saw this whale-bird.
Aaaand unless there were some sculptors observing during the Permian (age of 8 foot scorpions), they probably never saw a peacock THIS big:
On Palatine Hill I managed to find some live-action birds doing a love scene:
Unexpectedly, there was also a small flock of parrots hanging out there. They reminded me of the parrots I see in the Presidio. I don't know my parrots, but I think this is probably a Monk Parakeet. What's the difference between a parrot and a parakeet? DNA. How could a parrot-keet live in a non-tropical location? Well, Rome's not exactly cold, and there's plenty of tourist trash to eat. Also the berries from this tree, which looks like it's a yew.
Hooded crows were also ubiquitous throughout Rome. In fact this was the first kind of bird I saw after landing--perched along the roadside enroute from the airport.
Once we reached Sicily, there was still more artistic evidence that sometime in the past, it was inhabited by grotesque, bug-eyed eagles:
And some human-swan horse-swan hybrids:
In search of actual, living birds, we journeyed to one of Sicily's giant regional parks: Madonie. On the way we stopped at a tiny town called
Castelbuono, which was inhabited quite picturesquely by a flock of what I think were crag martins:
They taunted me, perching on nooks in the sheer wall and poking their little heads out.
Also enjoying the nooks of Castelbuono was a big flock of jackdaws. They look like stubby-faced crows. Later on, we saw them perched along the highway, hundreds of them, but all spaced out in pairs.
Another common bird was the collared dove, seen here mooning the photographer with its distinctive white tailfeathers.
Finally, we made our way to an actual wildlife reserve, Vendicari, where we hoped to see the thousands of flamingoes that winter there. Alas, they hadn't arrived yet, but we spotted a few other friends, including this guy, which I think is a redshank:
We didn't find my dream bird (the
hoopoe). We asked our host at a bed and breakfast we stayed at about it, but he didn't know the word "upupo." Then I tried to describe it as similar to a parrot, with a crest. He thought we meant the "
ghiandaia," (literally "acornist") (turns out that is a jay), and explained that during this time of year they are all up in the mountains eating olives. Something to look for next time, I guess!
Meanwhile, on the side of the house, a robin has raided the recycling to make a cushy nest of used tissues.
There also seems to be a house finch pair trying to nest in the rafters above the porch, but it was so high up I didn't get a picture.
Hmm, on second thought I kind of doubt anyone saw this whale-bird.
Aaaand unless there were some sculptors observing during the Permian (age of 8 foot scorpions), they probably never saw a peacock THIS big:
On Palatine Hill I managed to find some live-action birds doing a love scene:
Hooded crows were also ubiquitous throughout Rome. In fact this was the first kind of bird I saw after landing--perched along the roadside enroute from the airport.
And some human-swan horse-swan hybrids:
In search of actual, living birds, we journeyed to one of Sicily's giant regional parks: Madonie. On the way we stopped at a tiny town called Castelbuono, which was inhabited quite picturesquely by a flock of what I think were crag martins:
Also enjoying the nooks of Castelbuono was a big flock of jackdaws. They look like stubby-faced crows. Later on, we saw them perched along the highway, hundreds of them, but all spaced out in pairs.
Another common bird was the collared dove, seen here mooning the photographer with its distinctive white tailfeathers.
Finally, we made our way to an actual wildlife reserve, Vendicari, where we hoped to see the thousands of flamingoes that winter there. Alas, they hadn't arrived yet, but we spotted a few other friends, including this guy, which I think is a redshank:
Periodically, I see a hawk buzz the pigeons inside, making them flap frantically from one side of the cage to the other. This is the first time I had my camera ready.
I'm not really sure what the hawk is thinking as it circles the cage. Does it think that it could really catch a pigeon if it could just get at the creamy center of the bird-cage truffle? Here it is perching on top of the keepers' entrance. "Ahhhh, for the keyring.... and thumbs. Thumbs would be good."
"Or maybe somebody made a mistake and left a panel open?
"Better check all the welds just to be sure."
Maybe it's just attracted to looking at the pigeons? Here it is taking a human's eye view of them.
They don't like that very much.
But the pigeons really HAAAAATE it when the hawk goes all like:
"Pant, pant. Hunting caged pigeons is harder than I thought. They have some mighty defenses."
I used the "burst" mode on my camera for the first time. I only got one good shot that way, but it was a quite artsy one:
So the key in telling a Cooper's hawk from a sharp-shinned hawk is that the former has a rounded tail and the latter a square tail. Also, Cooper's is slightly bigger. Here is another example of a bird where I just don't have enough experience to compare the two well. This tail looks pretty round... right? But then it also looks slightly notched, which is a character of the sharp-shinned.
This bird was larger than a robin, about crow-sized, which would seem to place it in the Cooper's category. But then the female is larger than the male in most raptors, so if it's a lady sharp shinned, it could be as big as a male Coopers'. Making things still more difficult, this is an immature (=brown 'n streaky) bird. I'm sure the birders monitoring the raptor migration over in Marin could tell easily, but I'm an undecided amateur even with this pretty clear photo.
1977
1985
And in this photo you can see an entire horde of pintails thronging to be fed.
1920
And a picked clean wishbone:
Ten feet away, the head of the unfortunate pigeon, tossed aside like a candy wrapper.
And if this display of machismo and general shreddingness weren't enough, there was THIS alarming corpse nearby:
The only predatory bird I have seen at the lake is a Cooper's hawk. They definitely pick the feathers off their prey and eat the breast meat, but I have never before seen one rip the wings and head off. And they are not big enough to kill a Canada Goose! That would be like a chihuahua bringing down a sheep! Though I guess one might eat an already-dead goose? I'm thinking that something a little more butch has moved into the neighborhood. A red tail perhaps?
A recent study indicated that mockingbirds can recognize individual humans who mess with their nests. I wonder if pigeons can do the same?
Anyway, I FINALLY caught one in the act, lasciviously regurgitating crop milk right in public. Yes, that blurry yellow thing on the right is the baby.
Well, I couldn't get any good pictures of the developing baby, but luckily, Wikipedia has some. And boy are they gross. Baby pigeons are even freakier than other baby birds, due to the developing cere, or "freaky bump on top"! What is that thing for? I'll get back to you.
Later, when Pigeon Jr. was almost ready to leave the nest, I got some better shots:
Check the tail flaps...
...warm up the wings... and...
...FLAPPITY!
Uhm, yeah. False alarm. I'm not flying anywhere just yet.
