On October 2nd this year, Cindy and I began our visit to Italy, my first time there. We planned a few days on our own in Florence before joining “Walk About Italy” for walking tours first in Cinque Terre and then in Tuscany, both with full time guides. Cinque Terre was just Cindy and me, and in Tuscany we were joined by friends Anne and Steve White. I could write a lengthy blog about the sights, sounds, people and experiences in this wonderful country. If I did, much of it would be about incredible wine and food of which we had had much. But this site is for my blogs about birds, and while this was to be a non-birding trip, there are birds in Italy. I looked for them when I could and since I had birded only on a single day in Europe way back in July 2002 while visiting Hungary, odds were good I could add some species to my World Life List and/or my World Photo List.

As indicated in the title of this post, there is a “project” to follow. In my posts over the years, I have talked about how one aspect of birding that I greatly enjoy is creating and executing projects – chasing birds, birding in new areas, adding to lists etc.. In the past the projects have typically been about Big Years in my home state of Washington, hitting a meaningful “round number” for the ABA region (like 700), or in my biggest project, seeing 50 species in each of the 50 states on single days (50 of them). Lately, and especially since meeting Cindy, the projects have been more about adding birds to my World lists – either total species or total photos. For now I am just going to leave it that the referenced project is about reaching a number and that while Italy was an important precursor, I had not conceived of the project until long after my return. Since it is about numbers, though, here are some benchmarks. When I arrived in Italy my World Species List was 3228; I had seen 889 species in 2023 and I had photos of fewer than 1940 species. Now for Italy.

On October 2nd, that first day in Florence, being the complete tourist marveling at the Duomo, sculptures by Michelangelo, the Ponte Vecchio, I did not even carry my binoculars, but it was impossible not to notice some birds including the numerous Rock Pigeons and European Starlings that seem to be in every city in the world. But there were some that were new as well – European Jackdaw, Hooded Crow and Yellow Legged Gull – the latter on the Arno River right at the Ponte Vecchio. No photos but happy for anything new. The next day we visited the Boboli Gardens – a beautiful large formal garden across the Arno from most of the central Florence attractions. This time I had camera and binoculars in hand – needed to add the European Blackbird, Common Wood Pigeon, and European Serin to my species and photo lists. Later I finally saw an Italian Sparrow – so similar to House Sparrow – and then on an early morning visit along the Arno which was dedicated to finding birds, I got acceptable photos of the Yellow Legged Gull, Hooded Crow, and that Italian Sparrow and heard but never got good looks of Cetti’s Warbler and European Robin. That was it for Florence – 6 new species and 4 new photos. Not awesome, but for a non-birding trip in a very busy city full of museums, restaurants, pastries, cappuccinos, and churches, just fine. The only camera we took on the trip was my “back up” Canon SX70 – not great photo ops and not great photos – but they count for “my list”.

After Florence it was off to Cinque Terre and then Tuscany. Again, I could go on and on about these places and the great times we had, but just including birding memories here. Bottom line is that I added 9 World Lifers and 6 new life photos. The lifers were Sardinian Warbler (heard only), Goldcrest (seen briefly), Song Thrush (single glimpse), Cirl Bunting (heard only), Firecrest (seen briefly), Eurasian Magpie, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, and Short Toed Treecreeper with new life photos of the last four and life photos of the previously heard only European Robin and of a Eurasian Nuthatch. The reason the Nuthatch was not new for my life list was that I had seen one 40 (yes FORTY) years ago in Wajima, Japan before I was taking photos at all.

Altogether I had 40 species in Italy – 16 new lifers and 24 that I had seen elsewhere before, there were the 13 new life photos and something I was not tracking at the time 29 new species for 2023. And actually as a footnote – there were three species seen in Italy that were on my life, photo and year lists that now were meaningful in a different way: European Starling, House Sparrow and Eurasian Collared Dove. I have seen all of these species in many places BUT as they are now treated by Ebird, they are seen as “introduced” species. The ones seen in Italy were in their native habitats – so officially part of my life lists going forward. On the way home, we had a layover at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. As we taxied for what surely was miles to get to our Gate at this giant airport, we passed by several ponds. On one I saw a Great Crested Grebe – no photo and seen before, but new for 2023.

To update the numbers set forth in the second paragraph above and thus change the benchmarks for the “project” to follow: World Life List – 3244; World Year list – 918; and World Photo List – 1958.

Shortly after returning from Italy, I saw reports of a rarity in Washington – a King Eider at Tokeland, a species I had seen twice before in Washington and also in Nome, Alaska. Definitely worth a trip. On October 23rd, it was easily found and I also added a Surfbird for the year – a species I usually seen at the jetty at Edmonds, my hometown, but missed this year. So there I was ending October at 920 species for the year, although I had not noticed that number at the time. But when I did… To Be Continued