General Info

 

I had a holiday with some friends for a few days in Nice and Monaco, and managed to squeeze in a little birding, but the main focus was to relax and see a few sights. We flew to Nice with Easyjet from Luton and stayed in Nice.

 

Friday 2nd December

 

From the airport we took the bus to Nice, a storm was brewing and the birds knew it, crag martins were everywhere along the promenade. A brief walk around the town centre and the parks produced a blue headed wagtail, white wagtails and blackbird. The storm came in and a retreat to the bar was in order. The walk back to the hotel produced a massive starling roost in the park.

 

Saturday 3rd December

 

The day was spent walking the tourist site of Nice, along the promenade lots of gulls had been blown in by the storm, mainly black headed gulls but a couple of med gulls were picked out. Further down the prom several yellow legged gulls were present, along with a ring billed gull that was spooked by some roller skaters before I could get my camera out. Feral pigeons were the most abundant birds as in most cities. Up on the citadel a goldcrest was present along with the usual jackdaws.

 

 

 

 

 

Yellow legged gull

 

Sunday 4th December

 

A day trip to Monaco (20 mins on the train) , and all the glitz, was in order. The tourist sites were all visited and birds were very thin on the ground, a coat tit was in the Japanese garden, and one of the parks produced a black redstart and a flock of goldfinches.

 

 

Indian Silverbills

Monday 5th December

 

After negotiating the nightmare of French buses, we eventually found our way to the Botanical garden (make sure you get the right one), its on bus route 73 in the area Corniche Fleurie, it has a car park and the garden IS open on Mondays contrary to the websites and local information. A chiff chaff and several chaffinches were present and a wren and robin teased us until our quarry was located. A single Indian silverbill was located in a bush. A small flock joined it and eventually 20 plus were seen. The rest of the day was spent on Cap Ferret nothing of note just the usual common species.

 

Species List

 

Birds 26

 

Kestrel

Crag Martin

Yellow Legged Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Black Headed Gull

Ring Billed Gull

Robin

Wren

Great Tit

Coal tit

Goldcrest

Blue Headed Wagtail

White Wagtail

Starling

Black Redstart

Green Finch

Goldfinch

Chaffinch

Indian Silverbill

House Sparrow

Collared Dove

Feral Pigeon

Jackdaw

Blackbird

Carrion crow

Chiff chaff