Gargano Peninsula Italy
Now declared a national park, the Gargano peninsula is an exceptionally good area for birds, both breeders and migrants. The promontory itself is a large limestone headland that juts out into the Adriatic off southern Italy. The varied topography and habitats undoubtedly help to explain the abundance and diversity of birds but its position results in large numbers of migrants passing through. As well as the high sea cliffs there are sand-dunes and much cultivated and grazing land, also mountains and areas of bare rock, rivers and streams. In the north there are beech woods and elsewhere, maquis and garrigue, Holm and Turkey oak groves and Aleppo Pine woodlands.
Raptors include Egyptian Vulture and kites, Short-toed Eagle, Lesser Kestrel, Lanner and Peregrine. In the forests are Black, White-backed and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers and Eurasian Eagle Owl, European Roller and many passerines breed in the area. Three species of swift nest along the cliffs. Little Bustard and Stone-curlew breed in the grasslands.
The Gargano Peninsula is a paradise for botanists with more than 2,000 plant species recorded including over fifty orchids. The rarely seen Ghost Orchid is very common in the woods here. The Foresta di Umbra is a woodland reserve at the heart of the peninsula and can be reached on the Peschischi to Manfredonia road. Both these towns can provide accommodation but better placed is Monte Sant' Angelo in the foothills.
Birds
Birds you can see here include:
Western Honey-Buzzard, Black Kite, Red Kite, Egyptian Vulture, Short-toed Eagle, Northern Goshawk, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Lesser Kestrel, Common Kestrel, Lanner Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Little Bustard, Stone Curlew, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Turtle Dove, Great Eagle Owl, Eurasian Scops Owl, Common Swift, Pallid Swift, Alpine Swift, European Roller, Hoopoe, Green Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, White-backed Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Tree Pipit, Black Redstart, Common Redstart, Whinchat, Northern Wheatear, Black-eared Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush, Dartford Warbler, Subalpine Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Wood Warbler, Willow Warbler, Goldcrest, Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Eurasian Nuthatch, Short-toed Treecreeper, Red-backed Shrike, Lesser Grey Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Golden Oriole, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Rock Bunting, Black-headed Bunting
Content and images originally posted by Steve
Reviews
ruggiel's review
Again, information here poorly reliable. Who is the author? Nobody knows....
Black-Woodpecker is not present in the area (never been) and the White-backed (subspecies lilfordi) is very rare and recent data are very limited. Egyptian Vulture is totally extinct (last records in the early '90s) and Little Bustard on the brink of extinction.
If you come downhere please do not forget to visit Frattarolo and Lago Salso marshes, last site for Slender-billed Curlew in the Mediterranean Basin and worth for a visit. And buy a new guide, please!
