Happy New Year

Wintering cranes

I always had the idea that, for wintering, cranes  need large, undivided open areas and this is the reason why their number in Italy is always very low. As a matter of fact agricultural Italian areas are fragmentized by roads and fenches, with buildings and other kind of humane presence. However when I was in the Hula Valley (Israel) some days ago I was really surprised of the incredible number of wintering cranes (more than 40.000 individuals!). That lowland area looks pretty similar to several agricultural areas of Italy where cranes are always scarce. It is true that in the Hula Valley farmers feed cranes for turists and for productive reasons but I don't think it's enough to explain the huge difference in number between Middle East and Italy. For sure biogeographical reasons interact with food availability in explaining the winter distribution of this amazing species since the Middle East is the first area with available habitat south of Caucasus and the mountainous areas of Kurdistan, excluding the desertic and semi-desertic areas of Syria. In any case it has been impressive to observe tens of thousands of these birds moving at sunset and flying just over my head.

 

Autumnal mood from the North Sea

Helgoland is a very particular place. Two small islets deeply shaped by buildings and infrastructures. Lot of turists, mostly german people, come here for weekend (also to buy no taxed goods). However presence and abundance of animals is notable. The colony of gannets on the cliffs of the island is impressive, you can stay among these birds watching inside their reptile-like eyes, hearing their calls and enjoying the same smell of a henhouse.

Moreover in autumn there are lot of migrating birds on the islands such as waders, eiders, sparrowhawks, northern wheatears and different species of gulls. But to be honest, since I'm a Mediterranean man and here these animals are close to the extinction, the most awesome animals to watch are seals. Common and grey seals stand on the beach of the smallest and sandy islet greatly contributing to leave a great piece of wildlife there.

 

 

 

 

     

 

End of summer

At the end of summer, storms have a lot of energy. The clash between low pressure cells with the hot air present in the Mediterranean area can produce impressive storms with a huge lightning activity. This happened some days ago in Calabria and I tried to cacth this impressive atmosphere. There was a cloud making lights and thunders for hours.

Summer has gone and passed...

Breeding kestrels

This spring/early summer was really a good season for the breeding kestrels in Central Italy. I followed about 20 pairs and a great numbers of juveniles have fledged. It was fun to see all those loud chicks, and in a nest localized in the old tower of Perna we applied a webcam that was online on the website birdcam. Here below some pictures that I have taken at this nest from where four chicks have grown and now are flying free over the Roman landscape.

Sunset at the Strait of Messina

Here following a couple of photos from a stunning sunset at the Strait of Messina.

Last winter

This warm and dry winter has finished. Despite many Mediterranean wetlands remained without water during the whole season, good numbers of waterfowls were observed in the coastal areas of Italy. Here following some shots that I have taken last winter in Central Italy.