Report from 14 to 16 July 2023

The two hundred or so Mallards currently sojourning at La Cassinazza all appear to be females or immatures, but appearances can be deceptive. In fact, the adult males have just completed their moult into their brown and mimetic female-like eclipse plumage, which they will keep until winter.

A fresh juvenile Buzzard flushed at my arrival and tentatively flew to the nearest tree. It was an unfortunate choice, as a pair of Hobbies is nesting there, and they reacted furiously.

In terms of migration, these were the slowest days of the year, with essentially zero migrants.

Several pairs of Sacred Ibis have settled into the heronry. They are feared as egg and nestling thieves, but so far they have not caused damages: they just fight among themselves over the best sticks with which to build their nests.

All around them is chaos: many chicks are hopping around in the branches and Cattle Egrets, Little Egrets, and Pygmy Cormorants all are tending to nestlings, their nests nearly on top of each other. And the stench of guano carries to the embankment from which I watch them

I always thought that Sacred Ibis were black and white birds. I had never noticed their golden feathers; perhaps this colour becomes more intense during courtship. Even so, they are remarkably ugly animals. Not quite as ugly as a I thought, but still very unattractive.