News · 08. February 2020

Yes, it's been a while. Having been back at Rome for almost a week again, I decided to celebrate this with a small trip to the coast. Since the Vasche di Maccarese are only accessible on Sunday, the destination was chosen quickly, namely the area around the ruin Torre Flavia. Back in September I spent there two enjoyable hours with seawatching, so why don't give it a try in February? If you are arriving via public transport, which means by train, you will have to face at first the problem of...

News · 01. December 2019

Sadly, even after three further weeks I can't offer many news from the birding front. Today and yesterday have been the first days with really 'good' weather since of my last blogpost. As I didn't have time for a longer trip today, I decided to go for a walk on the afternoon. Shortly after I had passed the bridge "Ponte San Angelo" when I finally encountered these two ridiculously tame Yellow-legged Gulls that landed just in front of me while I was taking photos of the beautiful scene. Here in...

News · 10. November 2019

For almost a month I haven't updated the site and in this period the whole situation has changed. October seemed to be actually more of a prolongation of summer than the begin of autumn. With the first days of November the rain has eventually arrived and also the temperature has dropped a bit. Now it really feels like autumn, not just because of the weather but also in respect of the birdlife. Today the weather seemed a bit unstable, so I remained within the city boundaries instead of taking...

News · 19. October 2019

The last two weeks have been quiet here. Despite of visiting twice the Villa Doria Pamphilj and once the park Pineta Sacchetti I didn’t succeed in finding any good birds during this time. Fortunately, I could convince myself today to explore a new area instead of adding another and probably unproductive visit of the two other mentioned sites to my roman birding career. So, I travelled almost an hour with the Metro A to the south-eastern part of the city to one of the entrances of the “Parco...

News · 05. October 2019

Normally, you wouldn't consider one of the most popular tourist destination of the world to be a good place for finding birds. The Forum Romanum is probably an exception in this regard. Naturally, my main reason for visiting the site wasn't birdwatching, however I found it to be astonishingly productive, at least during the first hour, when I was almost alone there. As you can probably imagine by the end of the day I had a decent selection of common birds, but there were also one or two...

News · 26. September 2019

As promised I was birdwatching on the coast this time. The building you can see on the picture above is called Torre Flavia, though it seems a bit odd to call it a tower. Nonetheless, I spent two enjoyable hours next to it scanning carefully the horizon time after time. However first things first. The above mentioned site is part of the small town Ladispoli approximately 30 km northwest of Rome and - as you can imagine - easily approachable via train. From the train station you have no other...

News · 21. September 2019

After my small trip to the Vasche di Maccarese last week it was finally time to explore a site that's a bit closer and more suitable for regular visits. My choice, the "Villa Doria Pamphilj", is another roman park, but the habitat is significantly different to Pineta Sacchetti. While the latter is mainly characterized by scrubland, the "Villa Doria Pamphilj" looks to my eyes more urban and less wild. You'll find an artificial lake in its centre, several well cared lawns and obviously arranged...

News · 15. September 2019

My destination today were the Vasche di Maccarese (vasca is italian for pool) a bit outside of the city. The site is cared by the WWF and can only be accessed after prenotation. Having informed the visitor centre a few days ago, I hoped to enjoy an hour or two in the reserve before returning back to Rome in the evening. However there probably was a bit of a misunderstanding, since on my arrival the gate was locked and there was no sign that this would change so soon. Fortunately, I was able to...

News · 13. September 2019

For the first official birding trip I chose the public park "Pineta Sacchetti" situated in the western part of the city. In fact, I was there a bit late in the morning and naturally it seemed at first that I wouldn't get much to see. Well, apart from the ubiquitous Ring-necked Parakeets and Hooded Crows, by which I was greeted immediately after entering the park. However, only five minutes afterwards I heard a discreet rattling call out of one of the bushes. Despite of waiting some time in...