BIRD THE WORLD
THE URBAN BIRDER VISITS
PARIS
David Lindo visits Paris, the city of love, romance, art, fine dining… and birding? WORDS: DAVID LINDO
D
David Lindo
Carrion Crow
68 February 2016
421 municipal parks and gardens, ON’T WORRY, EVEN I containing in excess of 250,000 trees originally had difficulty covering over 7,400 acres. The city is a equating birding with Explore some of Paris’ dense tangle of streets and, despite France’s capital city. For other green spots, like years, my fleeting visits Jardin des Plantes or Bois the relative abundance of green patches, not all are productive for resulted in largely Feral Pigeons and de Boulogne, as it is an birds. Over the years, many have been House Sparrows. Paris, perhaps more under-watched city that is subject to the attentions of overthan many European cities, requires a ripe for fascinating zealous landscape architects, hell bent little more concentration and liberal discoveries. on style over content, resulting in use of The Force. There is more to sterile manicured green deserts. But it Paris than seeing overflying is still possible to find some potentially Woodpigeons and Black-headed Gulls productive areas for urban birding. when strolling the length of the Champs-Élysées. The recently established birding scene in Paris It really is a case of hitting some of the greener is still quite small and there is certainly a need for spots in order to uncover the Parisian avian more eyes to the skies, in order to get to grips with delights. the basic Paris avifauna. For example, it has only Paris is a surprisingly green city. It boasts some
DAVID SAYS
Buschkind / Alamy Stock Photo
Hemis / Alamy Stock Photo
Paul Harris / Alamy Stock Photo
recently been realised that some species, like Carrion Crow and Sparrowhawk, were relative newcomers to the urban sprawl. So, next time you are in this swish city for a romantic interlude, or boring business meeting, bring your bins and check out les oiseaux!
City tour
When in town, inner city green spaces like Parc Montsouris or the grounds of the Cité Universitaire are worth investigating. On a previous winter visit, I recorded ridiculously close Crested Tit, Nuthatch, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Short-toed Treecreeper at the former site. A visit to Jardin de Luxemburg during the same period produced more of the same species, but I was also lucky enough to watch a pair of Hawfinches, a city rarity, fly over, through rain soaked optics. Nearby, on the River Seine, in the shadow of Notre Dame, I found a Grey Wagtail, several Yellow-legged Gulls and, most surprisingly, a Kingfisher. All in the pouring rain! Of the inner city sites, the one that really stands out for me is the Père Lachaise Cemetery, in the eastern end of the city. It is a very popular tourist attraction, rammed with hordes of visitors, all keen to pay their respects at the final resting places for such cultural luminaries as Chopin, Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. It encompasses more than 100 acres, so if you slip away from the crowds to look at the trees, you will soon be watching birds. In some areas, the tree cover is quite thick and, indeed, the raised hill at the southern end of the cemetery can be quite attractive to passing passerine migrants. In the autumn, look out for migrant Firecrest there and elsewhere in the cemetery, along with some of the commoner warblers and Pied Flycatchers. Common woodland birds, such as Great Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch should be in evidence, as well as Short-toed Treecreeper. On the north-east outskirts of the city lies my personal favourite Parisian hotspot, Parc du Beamonts. Described as tiny green island thrust
up above the urban surroundings, it is a small hill with a deciduous woodland at its base and a overgrown area of scrubby woodland and a small pond on its summit. Despite the unpromising surroundings it has an annual list of more than 120 species with the migration periods being the best times to pay a visit. Recent special birds have included Purple Heron, Dotterel, Short-toed Eagle and Penduline Tit. Being elevated means it is a magnet for migrants and, therefore, a major draw for birders. It is also a great place for a spot of skywatching and the chance of glancing at passing raptors like Buzzard and Hobby. My round up of Paris urban birding would not be complete without a nod to Bois de Vincennes on the south-eastern edge of the city. It is the largest park in Paris with nearly 2,500 acres of woodland, parkland and lakes traversed by many joggers, cyclists and dog walkers. It is a good place to look for both Black and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. Keep an eye out for the rapidly declining Tree Sparrow and Cirl Bunting, a couple of the area’s scarcer birds.
Next time you are in this swish city for a romantic interlude, or boring business meeting, bring your bins and check out les oiseaux!
DAVID SAYS
If you see a Treecreeper in Paris you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be a Short-toed Treecreeper. Regardless, try to recognise its identifying features, as this might come in handy when faced with a possible one in the UK.
MO RE I N F O
Many thanks to my friend Maxime Zucca for his guidance. Also, references were taken from Adam Sedgley – flockingsomewhere.com and David Thorns – skutchia.com
5km
RIVER SEINE PARIS Père Lachaise Cimitèrie Notre Dame Jardin de Luxemburg
Parc Montsouris & Cité Universitaire
Parc du Beamonts
Bois de Vincennes
birdwatching.co.uk 69
w i n ke l / A l a m y S t o c k
Firecrest
SHORT-TOED TREECREEPER Short-toed Treecreepers are one of a quartet of extremely similar looking species of Holarctic treecreepers. As a whole, the treecreeper tribe is a small one, consisting of just seven species. Currently, the family sits taxonomically between nuthatches and tits, however they are now being linked with wrens and gnatcatchers in some scientific quarters. The Short-toed Treecreeper could be viewed as the twin of our more familiar Treecreeper. They are a headache for many a birder, as both are practically inseparable at a casual glance, when seen where their ranges crossover. Broadly speaking, the Short-toed Treecreeper is found in the woodlands through much of the warmer parts of Europe and into North Africa. When found alongside our Treecreeper, they tend to prefer deciduous trees at lower altitudes. Both have very similar plumages, but the Short-toed Treecreeper can be best separated by its louder voice, with the song being most distinctive. They are largely sedentary, but are prone to wandering and have been discovered in the UK on several occasions, although usually as a result of being pulled out of mist nets. Did you know that Short-toed Treecreepers are the only treecreeper species in the Channel Islands?
Blick
Penduline Tit
KEY SPEC IES