• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Etang de Careil - BirdForum Opus


Stub.png This article is incomplete.
This article is missing one or more sections. You can help the BirdForum Opus by expanding it.
Stub.png


France

Overview

This inland lake has been bought in 1988 by the Departemental Concil of Ille et Vilaine to establish an ornithological reserver. Trails allowing birders to walk around the lake and two hides have been set up.


Access

The lake is only about a 40 minutes ride from downtown Rennes.
To get there take Rennes ringroad and use the exit to Lorient, then follow the N24, then take the exit to "Le Verger"/Monterfil and follow the D40 to Monterfil. From there, just follow the sign pointing to "Domaine de Careil".

Birds

Notable Species

Over 150 species have been seen at Careil.

Tufted Ducks.jpg=== Spring and Summer === Careil is a major breeding ground for Tufted Duck in Western France. Gadwall, Northern Shoveler and Mallard also breed here and a few Garganeys are regularly seen. The site is also home for small colony of Black-winged Stilts since 2014.
Three Grebe species can also be observed (Little Grebe, Black-necked Grebe and Great Crested Grebe) and a few waders can stop by during passage.
Other birds can be seen while walking around the lake such as : Melodious Warbler, Reed Bunting, Eurasian Golden Oriole, Short-toed Treecreeper, Hobby and Common Buzzard...
Little Owl has also been observed in the surrounding countryside.

Autumn

A good variety of waders can be observed on passage but in small numbers, they include : Spotted Redshanks and Common Redshanks, Common Greenshank, Ruff, Wood Sandpiper, Dunlin, Common Snipe...
Most of the common Duck species can be seen in Autumn.
Other birds include : Osprey, Whinchat, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret and Black Tern.

Winter

The lake hold good numbers of Ducks in Winter such as : Common Teal, Northern Pintail, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Eurasian Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Common Pochard...
Big flocks of Northern Lapwing and European Golden Plovers often rest on the small islands in the middle of the lake or in the surrounding fields.
Common Kingfisher and Great Cormorants often perch on the poles in front of the hides
All four european Thrushes species can be seen while Short-toed Treecreeper, Firecrest, Goldcrest and Great Spotted Woodpecker forage in the neighboring vegetation.

Rarities

Franklin's Gull, White-rumped Sandpiper and Green-winged Teal have been observed. Other rarities include : Glossy Ibis, Eurasian Dotterel, Caspian Tern, Temminck's Stint, Red-necked Phalarope, Black Stork, Marsh Sandpiper...

Check-list

Birds you can see here include:

To do

Other Wildlife

To do

Site Information

History and Use

To do

Areas of Interest

To do

Access and Facilities

To do

Contact Details

To do

External Links

To do

Back
Top