Birds I've seen here because I love birds
I'm a very casual bird watcher. I don't go out of my way to see them, but I like to know the names of the birds I spot around the city. I also like to use the fantastic free Merlin Bird ID app to help with identification, especially for the callings :)
- Barn Owl. I've only seen one and for, like, 5 seconds, flying in a pine forest. I didn't know we had them!;
- Common Blackbirds!! It took me way too long to realize that the beautiful melody I often heard came from them;
- Common Chiffchaff, probably. Only caught a glimpse of it;
- Eurasian Collared Doves. When I was 12 a kid told me that these where female pigeons and I believed him :/ . Love their coos;
- Eurasian Coots. Saw a nest at the Lido di Ostia LIPU Oasis :) . The volunteer told us that they killed a seagull who was too close to it;
- Grey Herons. Big boys!;
- Black-headed Gulls. They come in winter so they don't have a black head when here. Not assholes;
- Yellow-legged Gulls. Not only near the sea! These lovely bastards make nests on rooftops and eat trash, rats, and pigeons. Loud assholes, I like to call them sky bullies. Screw the roman eagle, THIS is the iconic bird of Rome;
- Common House-Martins. probably. Saw a lot of them flying around the Tiber!;
- Hooded Crows. Cool crows :) Mean to pigeons :( ;
- Hoopoes!!! I love their colours and their crest! They're not that common so seeing one is always a nice surprise;
- Jackdaws!!! they don't live near me :( ;
- Eurasian Magpies!!!
Sadly I've seen them only outside urban areas when travelling by car.I finally got to see one! A collared dove was bullying it lol. They're also called Pica pica, an adorable name; - Mallards. Quack! Don't feed them bread!;
- European Robins. I haven't seen that many, hope they're not disappearing;
- Rose-ringed Parakeets and Monk Parakeets. Yes Rome has fucking parakeets now! They're so loud!
words of a LIPU volunteer:
there was a guy who was very good at breeding animals, so good that zoos asked for his services. One day he went a bit cuckoo (probaly from old age) and started keeping animals illegaly (volunteer didn't specify). A few days before the police was supposed to seize his animals, he freed his birds and, since he was a fantastic breeder, he had tons of them. Now Rome has parakeets. - Ring-necked Pheasants (2). My best friend and I were walking around in the further area of the the Archaeological Park of Ostia Antica and these two guys popped out of nowere and we were like ???these live here??? They do;
- Pigeons! I've seen so many dead ones it's not even funny :( ;
- Black(?) Redstart. Only saw a female one, which was brown;
- Italian Sparrows. You can see quite a few of them around outdoor restaurant tables. Legends say that if you make them drink Uliveto water they'll learn how to talk;
- Common Starlings. Sometimes you can see huge flocks flying around like a big black cloud;
- Barn Swallows! Lovely birds, they come in spring and make cool nests :) ;
- Swans. Once I saw one swim near the seashore. It's odd to see a swan in the sea;
- Common Swifts! I love listening to them!;
- A Tit. Either a Great Tit or a Eurasian Blue Tit (or a coal one?). I stared at it for minutes but I don't know which one it was.
- White Wagtails!!! The name is very appropriate, they wag their tails a lot! In italian they're called "ballerine bianche" (white ballet dancers) which I think is also very appropriate;
- Moltoni's Warbler. Unfortunately a dead one so I'm pretty sure it's not a eastern subalpine one, it had too little red. I buried it, and then decided to clean its skull (will share a pic);
- Eurasian Wrens (only heard). In italian they're called "Scricciolo", which is also a cute way to call someone who's small;
I also found (and lost) what I'm pretty sure is an Eurasian Jay's feather, but haven't seen the full bird.
And there's a couple of birds which I can't identfy. One is black with a long neck, around the size of a gull. One looks like a tiny white heron