Whereas spending practically two weeks in southern France for a trip with my college buddies, 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 considered one of my favorite species in Europe – is the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, which happens nowhere else in France.
Curiously, this space is a part of an historic riverbed of the Durance, which modified its course to movement into the Rhône. Earlier than nonetheless, 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, forsaking an space with little or no vegetation. A minimum of that’s how my not so geologically-inclined mind understood the data boards positioned alongside the tracks by the steppe.
I didn’t count on to be so lucky as I ended up being, as I noticed practically 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 Crimson-legged Partridge, Brief-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 practically inconceivable. Birds have been additionally fairly shy, so I attempted in useless to get good pictures. The one first rate picture I bought was of a Tawny Pipit. Curiously, it sat on the identical signal as one other picture 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 have 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 yr.
Iberian Gray Shrike is just not thought-about a separate species by all authorities. No matter it being a species or subspecies, this chook with its dusky salmon-coloured breast and slim white eyebrow was enjoyable to observe.
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 sighting of this species, however this must anticipate the subsequent journey.
