Yellow Legged Herring Gulls abound, even at night, and they are as approachable and bold as the "Argenteus" gulls at British resorts.
Hooded Crows abound too. Flocks of Serins fly around the forum and other ruins, whilst Robins sing from the bushy areas.
Blackbirds chase each other round the inner city gardens, and in late in the afternoon huge flocks of Starlings swarm in to roost in the parks.
The only raptors seen in the city centre were 3 Kestrels. 2 Cormorants fished the River Tibor. White Wagtails run around the large paved areas.
At Fiumicino airport, Cattle Egrets patrolled the grassy areas, and even along the edge of the main runway. 2 Skylarks chased each other along the verges.
Just back from a few days in Rome where I mananged to squeeze a bit of birding in among all the compulsory sight-seeing and regular stops for pasta and chianti. No bird photos and not enough info for a full blown trip report, so thought I'd post it here.
Around our city centre hotel there were a few pairs of Black Redstarts (easier to see than in Northern Quarter) and among the hundreds of Swifts, I managed close enough views from our balcony to pick out quite a few Pallids just a few feet away at times! Also lots of House Martins on the old buildings and Kestrels over regularly. 'Italian' Sparrows, Y-L Gulls, Hooded Crows, and Starlings were common. We found a pair of Blue Rock Thrushes carrying food into a crevice in the ruins at the Forum which was a nice surprise. We had a couple of morning walks in the big park at the north of the city - Villa Borghese - which had Short-toed Treecreeper, Sardinian Warblers, Blackcaps, Serins, Tree and Italian Sparrows, Monk parakeets, White Wagtails and commoner woodland species, and masses of Terrapins on the lake. The River Tiber was generally birdless apart from Y-L Gulls and mallards, but we did see a couple of Coypu at close range. The best birding was a bit out of the city. We went on a hop on/off bus tour to the south along the Appian Way (where the catacombs are). A walk there was productive = we saw Turtle Doves (lots), Nightingales, Melodious Warbler, Hoopoe, Green Woodpecker, Stonechat, Whitehtroat, Sardinian and Reed Warblers, Crested Larks (i think - maybe Thekla?), many more parakeets, plus Buzzards, Hobby and 2 Black Kites over. We found a small colony of Bee-eaters which we watched coming and going until the midday heat got the better of us. There was probably much more to see if we'd had more time. A visit to the coastal ruins at Ostia (amazing) produced some of the same species (Bee-eaters, Crested Larks, Stonechat and Buzzards) but there was even less time for birding and by this stage my other half was losing patience with my stopping every few yards. I'm fairly sure I could hear a singing Wryneck in an orchard there but couldn't locate it but did find 2 Liitle Owls among the ruins. I brought a copy of the Where to Watch Birds - World Cities with me, which had a decent section on the Rome area and proved really useful (I wouldn't have known where to visit otherwise). We didn't have a car and all above was done by bus/ train and on foot. Much better birding than I expected, plenty of other fascinating stuff too, and the weather was great throughout.
