Top 100 Birding Sites of the World

Information

SITE RANK

HABITAT Beaches, coastal lagoons, salt marsh, freshwater lakes and marshes, woodland

KEY SPECIES Pygmy Cormorant, herons, Glossy Ibis, Greater Flamingo, Ferruginous Duck, Red-crested Pochard, Collared Pratincole, Mediterranean and Slender-billed Gulls, terns including Gull-billed and Whiskered, Little Crake

TIME OF YEAR All year round

Black-winged Stilts abound on the delta’s saltpans, allowing visitors to enjoy their delightful, elegant mating display.

Italy’s Po Delta region is one of Europe’s best-kept birdwatching secrets. Situated in the north-east of the country, on the Adriatic Coast, it is of vital importance for all sorts of breeding, passage and wintering birds, so it is a classic site throughout the year. Over 50,000 waterbirds use the site in winter, while several species of gulls and terns reach into the thousands of breeding pairs. Irresistibly for those with wider interests, the delta also happens to span the gap between two of Italy’s most fabulous cultural centres, world famous Venice to the north, and the smaller, picturesque and underrated Ravenna to the south. Thus it is a good destination to visit in order to share pastimes, and the birding half will most certainly not be disappointed.

Although a great deal of the delta has been built over and strung with canals and dykes over the years, there is still plenty of superb ‘wild’ habitat left, especially for wetland birds. In 1988 the area was declared a regional park, covering some 591 sq km, and since that time has been adapted for all sorts of tourist interests, including birdwatching. There are dozens of excellent walks and loops that are easily followed into the best areas, many fitted with hides or raised platforms, making the birdwatching easy. In Italy, where birds have been traditionally shot rather than watched, the facilities and provisions for birding represent a significant shift in people’s attitudes; the sport of hunting is no longer widely supported, although not many of the locals yet go birding themselves. Inspired by places like the Po Delta, this could quickly change.

At first sight this can be a bewilderingly big area to work, but there are plenty of reserves within the delta area where birders can focus their attention. In the northern stretch, for example, nearest to Venice, a large arm of the sea, the Sacca di Gor, is a superb place for resting and roosting gulls, including Slender-billed and Mediterranean Gull and Gull-billed Tern. Nearby is the large brackish lagoon of Valle Bertuzzi, where Black-winged Stilts and Mediterranean Gulls nest on the salt flats, and the adjacent reedbeds hold such species as Purple Heron and Great White Egret, which actually occur widely. In all, the Po Delta is by far the most important breeding site in Italy for herons, and one of the most important in Europe.

Further south there is another gem of a place, the Valli di Cammachio, a huge complex of lagoons (the largest in Italy) and nearby salt marshes that simply teem with birds. Italy’s largest colony of Greater Flamingos (nearly 1,000 pairs) is found here, along with its only colony of Eurasian Spoonbills. Other breeding species include Kentish Plovers (maximum 100 pairs), Mediterranean Gulls (nearly 2,000 pairs), Gull-billed, Common, Sandwich and Little Terns and Collared Pratincoles. At Boscoforte, on a small peninsula that juts out into the giant lagoon, there have been nesting attempts by the very rare Lesser Crested Tern among the more numerous species. In the many reedbeds surrounding the lagoons are significant numbers of Eurasian Bittern, Purple Heron, Western Marsh Harrier and Great Reed Warbler, while the breeding wildfowl of the area include Common Shelduck, Gadwall and Garganey. Montagu’s Harriers nest in the surrounding fields.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature reserve at Punte Alburete represents something of a change of scene. In contrast to all the open lagoons and salt marshes in the northern part of the delta, this reserve protects a small area of flooded forest made up of willow and ash trees home to, among other attractions, Italy’s only colony of Pygmy Cormorants. The 2-km route around the reserve also takes in reedbeds and meadows, and overall this is one of the richest sites for birding in the whole delta. The roll-call of herons is especially impressive, with Purple, Black-crowned Night and Squacco Herons and Great White Egrets all breeding, along with Little and Eurasian Bitterns. There is also a colony of Glossy Ibises. Ducks are well represented, with scarcer species such as Ferruginous Duck and Red-crested Pochard usually present in the freshwater.

South again and the saltwater, or at least brackish, theme returns, with the lagoons at Pialassa della Baiona and Pololonga supporting one of the best gull breeding sites in the delta: Black-headed, Mediterranean and Slender-billed Gulls nest here on specially constructed islands, along with Common, Little and Gull-billed Terns. The same species also occur not far away at the southern edge of the delta, at the Cervia Saltpans, together with large numbers of Yellow-legged Gulls (some 16,000 pairs have been counted). These huge saltpans, which date back at least to the time of the Romans, are still working today; and while the extreme salinity restricts the number of species using the waters, the pans are much appreciated by Pied Avocets and Black-winged Stilts, while Kentish Plovers breed on the bare surrounding sand. Outside the breeding season, the saltpans attract Greater Flamingos and large numbers of waders, including Dunlin and Ruff, and wildfowl such as Eurasian Wigeon.

Finally, some 30 km inland near the town of Argenta, but still within the regional park, the scene changes once again. The delightful Valle Santa reserve encompasses a freshwater lagoon skirted by wet meadows. Both Spotted and Little Crake breed in the reedbeds here, while Whiskered Terns nest on the water-lilies and Eurasian Penduline Tits frequent patches of willow scrub. Very different in character from most of the rest of the delta, it demonstrates the exciting and diverse range of habitats that occur in this part of what is, ornithologically, largely a neglected country.

Punta Alburete hosts Italy’s only colony of Pygmy Cormorants.