Whereas spending practically two weeks in southern France for a trip with my college mates, 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 number of months earlier. As the one steppe in France, it provides 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 one in every of my favorite species in Europe – is the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, which happens nowhere else in France.
Apparently, this space is a part of an historical riverbed of the Durance, which modified its course to circulate into the Rhône. Earlier than nevertheless, the river deposited massive volumes of pebbles and different rocks that along with an impentrable layer of minerals inhibits plant roots from accessing the groundwater, abandoning an space with little or no vegetation. Not less than that’s how my not so geologically-inclined mind understood the knowledge boards positioned alongside the tracks by means of 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 Purple-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 unattainable. Birds had been additionally fairly shy, so I attempted in useless to get good pictures. The one respectable photograph I obtained was of a Tawny Pipit. Curiously, it sat on the identical signal as one other photograph 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 had been fairly widespread in areas with denser grass. I noticed a gaggle of six birds which appeared fairly stunning 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 12 months.
Iberian Gray Shrike is just not thought of a separate species by all authorities. No matter it being a species or subspecies, this chicken with its dusky salmon-coloured breast and slim white eyebrow was enjoyable to observe.
The one goal chicken I didn’t see was Calandra Lark. I had a number of possible views of this species in South-East Europe a number of years again so I’d’ve actually preferred to get an excellent sighting of this species, however this should watch for the subsequent journey.