Birding in Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy
Last June I had the chance to guide our Salva Fauna wildlife photo tour in Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy. The park is named after Gran Paradiso mountain, located in the park, and is contiguous with the Vanoise National Park in France. This tour focused on finding, watching and photographing wildlife for 3 full days. Of course we spent a lot of time with the Alpine Ibex, the Chamois, the Marmots, etc. but we also looked for birds and we ended up having fantastic sightings and photo opportunities. Salva Fauna tours are not designed for twitching. We insist more on taking time to admire each bird we find. Nevertheless, we do enjoy seeing many birds and we always hope to show a lot to our guests.
Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)
Gran Paradiso National Park is home to more than 100 bird species, including the Golden Eagle and the Bearded Vulture, which are probably the two most charismatic bird species of the Alps. We saw both species several times, including an incredible time where a Bearded Vulture flew across the valley and got chased by a Golden Eagle. They fought in the air for a minute. It was incredible!
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
We have also seen many other emblematic from the Alps, such as the Yellow-billed Chough or the Red-billed Chough. Birding in the Alps will never give you a checklist of hundreds of species, but most of the birds you can find are incredible. Below is the full list of bird species we have encountered during the 3 days we spent in Gran Paradiso National Park:
Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)
Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
Coal Tit (Periparus ater)
Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Common Raven (Corvus corax)
Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Eurasian Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis)
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus)
Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)
Red-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
Rufous-tailed Rock-thrush (Monticola saxatilis)
Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta)
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)
Yellow-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus)
Love Nature.
Jonathan
