Whereas spending almost two weeks in southern France for a trip with my college pals, I couldn’t resist the temptation to sneak away one morning for a small birding outing. I found the Coussouls de Crau whereas digitally scouting the area for birding websites a couple of months earlier. As the one steppe in France, it presents some very thrilling birding alternatives. A couple of birds happen right here which have a really restricted distribution in France. Probably the most thrilling species right here – and one among my favorite species in Europe – is the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, which happens nowhere else in France.
Apparently, this space is a part of an historic riverbed of the Durance, which modified its course to movement into the Rhône. Earlier than nevertheless, the river deposited giant volumes of pebbles and different rocks that along with an impentrable layer of minerals inhibits plant roots from accessing the groundwater, abandoning an space with little or no vegetation. Not less than that’s how my not so geologically-inclined mind understood the data boards positioned alongside the tracks by means of the steppe.
I didn’t count on to be so lucky as I ended up being, as I noticed almost all of the goal birds I hoped for: Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Little Bustard, Little Owl, Tawny Pipit, and Iberian Gray Shrike. Another good species included Pink-legged Partridge, Quick-toed Snake-Eagle, Stone-Curlew, Nice Noticed Cuckoo, European Curler, Corn Bunting, and Eurasian Hoopoe.
Birding circumstances weren’t as straightforward as I anticipated although. I arrived at dawn and inside 2 hours, the warmth made viewing birds at a distance almost inconceivable. Birds had been additionally fairly shy, so I attempted in useless to get good photographs. The one first rate photograph I obtained was of a Tawny Pipit. Curiously, it sat on the identical signal as one other photograph I noticed on an E-bird guidelines of the identical space. Clearly its an animal of behavior. Or the guardian of the pipeline.
Eurasian Hoopoes had been fairly frequent in areas with denser grass. I noticed a bunch of six birds which appeared fairly shocking to me. Their bouncing butterfly-like flight above the step was a beautiful sight, paying homage to the Wallcreeper I noticed in Germany earlier this 12 months.
Iberian Gray Shrike is just not thought of a separate species by all authorities. No matter it being a species or subspecies, this chook with its dusky salmon-coloured breast and slender white eyebrow was enjoyable to look at.
The one goal chook I didn’t see was Calandra Lark. I had a number of possible views of this species in South-East Europe a couple of years again so I’d’ve actually favored to get a great sighting of this species, however this should watch for the subsequent journey.
Autor Luca
