Birding from El Marsam
"where the birds and birders gather"
Let your birding plans for central Italy take flight from El Marsam.
We wish to thank our friend and birder, Jim Coleman,
for sharing his birding journal and his research with us.
For the visiting birder to Umbria and Tuscany in central Italy, the farmhouse bed-and-breakfast at El Marsam, overlooking the historic town of Umbertide, is an unexpected surprise. The hilltop villa perched among local vineyards and olive groves, yet easily accessible from Rome, Venice, or Florence via modern motorways, is itself a birding destination. The residence of two American expatriates takes its name from the Arabic, where the artist works. Yet, it could easily be called where the birds and birders gather. My wife and I have been privileged to visit El Marsam in 2006 as spring migration was winding down and in the summer of 2008, when we could watch the nesting birds feed their young and chase away intruders. Upon our first arrival in May, 2006, we were thrilled before we even drove through the gate as European bee-eaters swarmed over the nearby vineyards and rested (only briefly) on power lines along the small, one-lane road to our destination. We eagerly looked for the beautiful, swirling acrobats as we drove up the country lane in late June, 2008, and were not disappointed. We quickly found many other birds around the farmhouse and in the woods behind (43° 19' 10.85"N, 12° 20' 37.12"E).
Our first morning during our spring (2006) stay in the Studio, a private guest room attached to the main farmhouse, began at 5 AM, when the nightingale began to sing in the arbor outside our front door. Sunrise at 6 AM brought a host of other songbirds to the morning choir: common blackbird and chaffinch were up and about. The bee-eaters resumed their daily patrols over the vineyards and European serins, collared doves, goldfinches, tree sparrows, and coal tits made themselves known. The seemingly ubiquitous hooded crows, common magpies, common swifts, and common starlings were always around, but did not distract from the overall assemblage. Single morning surprises were European hoopoes and green woodpeckers.
Summer mornings (in 2008) began without the early morning nightingale serenade, but the sunrise chorus did not disappoint us. European serins, collared doves, goldfinches, tree sparrows, blue tits, common swifts, European house-martins, and European bee-eaters called as they fed in the gardens, orchards, and vineyards around the restored farmhouse. In addition, European stonechats, Eurasian nuthatchs, firecrests, blackcaps, great spotted woodpeckers, and golden orioles were in the skies and trees above El Marsam. Of course, common magpies and hooded crows appeared several times throughout the morning. The single morning surprises in the form of European hoopoes and green woodpeckers in 2006 turned out to be regular and reliable visitors in the summer of 2008.
For birders, or more conventional tourists to Italy, El Marsam offers a much needed and relaxing break after mingling with the crowds and tour buses in the larger cities a half days drive away. Umbertide is close to the geographic center of Italy and is near a wide variety of birding habitats ranging from the nearby Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic seashore in the form of coniferous forests, mixed hardwood areas, rural fields, vineyards, and orchards, lakeshore, and urban parks.
Three areas lie within a 50 km circle of Umbertide and several other localities close to or within the 100-km circle. Detailed maps are essential for efficient navigating to most of these places. Michelin offers an excellent web site for planning any trip to Italy < http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/gbr/direct/map/Italy-map>, and satellite and aerial photographs of Google Earth supplement any good map <http://earth.google.com/>.
The three areas within the 50-k circle are:
Lago Trasimeno
Lago Trasimeno, the site of a famous lakeshore battle between the Carthaginians of Hannibal Barca and the Roman legions of Consul Caius Flaminius <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lake_Trasimene>, is a short one-hour drive from Umbertide. Several local roads combine to circumnavigate the lake, the largest in south central Italy and the fourth largest in the entire country. Begin your visit in the vicinity of the old battlefield (not preserved), where a small park, beach, marina, and wharf afford access to the lake (43° 11 27.10 N, 12° 04 47.47 E). This area can be reached by taking the S416 from Umbertide to Tuoro sul Trasimino and continuing on this road (or its extension) south of the autostrada to Perugia and past the railway to a car park. This area is good for gray heron, great crested grebe, little bittern, moorhen, and various passerines. Lingering ducks may also be found as well as inland gulls, such as the black-headed and yellow-legged gull.
Leave the car park and return to the highway. Proceed to the east (right), taking the coastal road to Torricella and Monte del Lago. Continue on the coastal road to San Feliciano and the car park for the lake boat (43° 06 52.43 N, 12° 10 13.30 E). Here you can walk along the reed beds and look for warblers such as the reed warbler, great reed warbler, sedge warbler, and moustached warbler. Common moorhen, Eurasian coot, purple heron, squacco heron, little egret, water rail, and little crake may also be present.
Return to the coastal road and continue clockwise around the lake to Castiglione del Lago located on a small peninsula, which juts out into the lake (43° 07 25.94 N, 12° 03 25.76 E). Roads within the village and tracks north of the village may provide views of the lake from a variety of perspectives. As with all birding activities, always respect private property and access restrictions and requirements.
Additional information is available from Where to watch birds in Italy by Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli (1994) (pages 122 - 123).
Lago di Montepulciano
A few km southwest of Castiglione del Lago is a much smaller lake, Lago di Montepulciano. This lake on the border between Tuscany and Umbria is a nature preserve with extensive marshes (43° 5' 52.92" N, 11° 55' 0.04" E). It can be reached by traveling west on the SR454. The left turn onto the unpaved access road is easy to miss, as the sign is small. If you reach the railroad overpass east of Salcheto, you have driven past the access road. Safely turn around at the best opportunity and return approximately 1.6 km east of the railroad overpass and turn right.
Lago di Montepulciano is an important spring stopover for migrants from Africa into Europe, as well as a wintering area for water fowl. This area is an oasis, which is part of a regional nature sanctuary network which provides protected areas for birds to nest, rest during migration, or winter over before flying to northern Europe.
The lake attracts gray herons, little egrets, squacco herons and the great white egret. The purple heron, bittern, and little bittern can sometimes be found in the reed thickets along the lake margin. The reed beds also host warblers such as the reed warbler, Savi's warbler and the larger great reed warbler, with its frog-like croaks and squeaks. Along the lakeshore, you may find the bearded tit, the penduline tit, Cetti's warbler, the fan-tailed warbler and especially the sedge warbler. Out in the lake, you should see great crested grebes, who are members of a flock of the largest nesting couples of these grebes in all of Tuscany. Winter brings a large number of ducks and other water fowl from northern Europe. Winter also bring birds of prey including the marsh hawk, and several different owls, including the common owl, marsh owl, and fish owl.
The reserve is located a few km east of Montepulciano in the southern part of Val di Chiana. It is managed by Lega Italiana Protezioni Uccelli (LIPU) and is open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 9-13 and 15-19. For additional information telephone 0578/767518 and 0347/7296194, or check out these sites on the internet:
(http://www.parks.it/riserva.lago.montepulciano/Eindex.html;
http://sira.arpat.toscana.it/sira/MedWet/MDW_IT51309201.htm,
http://www.amicianimali.it/itinerari/montepulciano.html.
http://www.amicianimali.it/itinerari/images/montepulciano.jpg).
Along the old road between Castel Rigone and Umbertide where it traverses the forest.
An alternative return route, Via dei Pini to Umbertide from the Lago Trasimeno lakeshore leads across the highlands above the lake towards Trecine and Castel Rigone, a medieval hamlet. Here the visitor can stop and admire the view, enjoy the local restaurants and seek forest birds in the coniferous forests between Castel Rigone and Umbertide..
Alviano Preserve
Perhaps one of the best birding localities in all of Central Italy is just a few kilometers off the highway route from Rome to El Marsam. Approximately 86 km north of the ring road around Rome is the Alviano Reservoir WWF Preserve.
Alviano Reserve can be reached via the A1 Florence to Rome motorway at the Attigliano exit. Proceed north towards Castiglione in Teverina and Orvieto (west of the motorway) or Alviano Scalo (east of the motorway). Guidebooks suggest following the signs to the reserve; however, the signs are small and may not be obvious (or even present). The dam and the south end of the lake are approximately 10 km north of Attigliano (42° 35 17.87 N, 12° 15 14.69 E) and are accessible from local roads either side of the A1 motorway via the Attigliano exit. The north end of the lake is accessible, however, only from east of the motorway and is approximately 4 km north of the south end of the lake (42° 37 13.02 N, 12° 15 04.62 E).
The Alviano Reservoir WWF Reserve, an Important Birding Area (IBA) in Umbria Province, is a shallow reservoir and wetlands in the drainage of the Tiber River, immediately upstream from a dam and electricity generation plant operated by ENEL (National Electric Power Company) north of the village of Attigliano on the Florence Rome motorway (A1). A variety of habitats is protected within the reserve: riparian woodland, reedbeds, marsh, and lake. The area is productive throughout the year, with optimum viewing between November and March as the lake hosts high concentrations of ducks and other waterfowl, including ferruginous and red-crested pochards; gray herons, little and great white egrets, and bitterns; black-necked, great crested, and little grebes. Raptors, taking advantage of this opportunity, commonly include marsh, hen, and Montagus harriers, with honey buzzards, black kites, ospreys, hobbies, and peregrine falcons seen regularly. Spring migration brings concentrations of passerines and other migrating birds in the safety and food re-supply areas of the reserve.
Additional information is available at <http://www.birdingitaly.net/umbriaeng.htm>, and from A Birdwatchers Guide to Italy by Luciano Ruggieri and Igor Festari (2005) (pages 191 192), and Where to watch birds in Italy by Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli (1994) (pages 120 122).
Other birding locales between 50 and 100 km from El Marsam include:
Mount Conero (http://www.parks.it/parco.conero/Epar.html) (43° 33 04.92 N, 13° 36 20.76 E).
Recentino and San Liberato Lakes (42° 31 08.82 N, 12° 32 41.36 E).
Florence (Firenza) urban parks (A) Parco della Cascine (43° 46 44.68 N, 11° 14 52.41 E), (B) Giardino di Boboli (43° 45 44.07 N, 11° 14 52.41 E): , and (C) Parco di Villa Demidoff
Lago Vico & Beech Woods (42°20'2.23"N, 12°11'34.43"E)
Amiata Mount (42° 53 29.67 N, 11° 37 26.68 E)
Monte Labbro/Bosco Rocconi (42° 49 46.59 N, 11° 31 34.45 E).
From our visits with Mike and Ginda, they know that some birders like to be up and at it early in the morning and spend the entire day in the field. If you must leave El Marsam before their wonderful breakfasts, you can arrange an early morning meal or take away some fruit, bread, or cheese as well as a box lunch for mid-day. On the other hand, there are many little cafes and bistros no matter where you go in the area, so take leave of the birds for a few minutes and sample the wonderful food and wine of Umbria and vicinity.
We are happy to share detailed information on all of these areas of interest with our guests, with directions from El Marsam, and links to pertinent websites and a list of great reading material for your planned birding excursions. This, as well as the above information has been carefully written and generously shared by avid birder, Jim Coleman.
Copyrighted material - all rights reserved - Jim Coleman/El Marsam B&B