Wildlife spectacles in Italy

29 spectacles through the year, ordered by when they peak. Open Italy in the interactive calendar for the map and listening times.

• Golden jackal choruses on the KarstItaly · Nocturnal · peak 15 Jan–31 Mar and 15 Jul–31 AugRising yelping group howls — faster and higher than wolves — answered by neighbouring families across the limestone plateau; the densest population in Italy.
• Flamingo colonies & courtshipItaly · Wintering waterfowl · peak 1 Feb–30 AprGoose-like gabbling of big flocks, and the synchronised 'marching' displays with a constant honking.
• Griffon vultures of the Bosa coast, SardiniaItaly · Raptors · peak 1 Feb–30 JunMostly visual: Italy's largest griffon colony riding the updraughts of volcanic sea cliffs. Sound is the Mediterranean swell under the cliffs, the wing-rush of birds passing close, hissing at the ledges, blue rock thrush and, in summer, Eleonora's falcons chattering along the coast.
• Spring passage on small islandsItaly · Migration · peak 15 Apr–15 MayIsland scrub full of freshly arrived, singing migrants after 'falls', with night flight calls overhead.
• Mediterranean nights: nightingale & scops owlItaly · Nocturnal · peak 20 Apr–31 MayNightingales everywhere, the metronomic 'tiu' of scops owls (often several in duet), stone-curlew wails, tree frogs.
• Alpine black grouse leksItaly · Lek · peak 25 Apr–31 MayBubbling leks on snowy slopes at the treeline, with ring ouzels, alpine accentors, and snowmelt streams.
• Raptor migration: Strait of MessinaItaly · Migration · peak 25 Apr–15 May and 20 Aug–15 SepMostly visual — kettles of raptors — but also bee-eater flocks overhead, and swifts and hirundines passing.
• Reedbed dawn chorus: great reed warbler, bittern, purple heronItaly · Dawn chorus & song · peak 25 Apr–5 JunGrating great reed warbler song from every reed stem, bittern booms, little bittern barks, whiskered terns overhead and marsh frogs beneath.
• Tree frog & water frog chorusItaly · Amphibian chorus · peak 25 Apr–5 JunDeafening tree frog 'kra-kra-kra' choruses, with the laughing croaks of water frogs from rice paddies and ditches.
• Heron colonies ('garzaie')Italy · Breeding colony · peak 1 May–20 JunCroaking, gargling colony noise, night heron 'quok' calls at dusk, begging chicks.
• Lesser kestrel colonies in the Sassi of MateraItaly · Raptors · peak 1 May–30 JunHundreds of chattering 'che-che-che' kestrels wheeling over the roofs of a UNESCO old town at dusk, with swifts, jackdaws and church bells.
• Scopoli's & Yelkouan shearwater coloniesItaly · Nocturnal · peak 1 May–31 JulScopoli's 'crying baby' wails from thousands of birds arriving over cliffs — one of the Mediterranean's strangest sounds.
• Apennine beech-forest dawn chorusItaly · Dawn chorus & song · peak 15 May–15 JunOld-growth beech forest chorus with woodpecker drumming, flycatcher songs, and resonant forest acoustics.
• Firefly nightsItaly · Insects · peak 25 May–25 JunA visual spectacle: synchronised flashing over meadows. For sound, the early-summer night ambience — crickets, nightingales, and scops owls.
• Bee-eater & roller coloniesItaly · Dawn chorus & song · peak 1 Jun–20 JulRolling 'prruip' calls of bee-eaters overhead all day, the crow-like chatter of rollers.
• Swift screaming parties over old townsItaly · Dawn chorus & song · peak 1 Jun–20 JulScreaming packs racing between palazzi, the deeper trilling of alpine swifts from cliff-like towers, bells and evening passeggiata below.
• Alpine summer: marmots & ibexItaly · Mountain mammals · peak 10 Jun–31 JulPiercing marmot alarm whistles echoing across cirques, cowbells far below, alpine choughs, streams.
• Cicada summer chorusItaly · Insects · peak 1 Jul–25 AugWall-of-sound cicada chorus in pinewoods and olive groves, with pulsing, overlapping rhythms of different species.
• Fin whales & sperm whales, Pelagos SanctuaryItaly · Marine mammals · peak 1 Jul–31 AugWith a hydrophone: sperm whale clicks and codas, dolphin whistles. Fin whale calls are infrasonic (about 20 Hz) and need a suitable hydrophone.
• Wolf howlingItaly · Nocturnal · peak 1 Aug–30 Sep and 15 Jan–15 FebChorus howls from family packs, including pups' high wavering howls, answering from across a valley.
• Eleonora's falcon coloniesItaly · Raptors · peak 20 Aug–10 OctHarsh 'kya-kya' calls from dozens of falcons over sea cliffs, chicks begging, the surf below; a visual spectacle with a lean soundtrack.
• Sardinian red deer rutItaly · Rut · peak 1 Sep–30 SepRoars across Mediterranean maquis (the scrub has a drier, shorter acoustic than forest), with scops owls and nightjars.
• Red deer rut ('bramito')Italy · Rut · peak 18 Sep–10 OctRoaring stags echoing across beech-forest valleys, often dozens at once, with wolves occasionally howling in reply.
• Lowland deer ruts: Mesola red deer & fallow at San RossoreItaly · Rut · peak 25 Sep–15 OctStags roaring in a flat coastal holm-oak forest — a different acoustic from the mountains — and fallow bucks groaning in the pinewoods of San Rossore.
• Autumn migration over Alpine passesItaly · Migration · peak 1 Oct–31 OctStreams of flight calls funnelling through mountain passes at first light; thrush 'tseeps' in the dark.
• Chamois & ibex rutItaly · Rut · peak 15 Nov–20 DecSnorts and whistles, horn clashes echoing off cliffs, and the stillness of snowy valleys.
• Eagle owl winter callingItaly · Nocturnal · peak 1 Dec–15 FebDeep 'oo-hu' territorial hoots from cliffs, sometimes in male–female duet, echoing off rock.
• Starling murmurations in RomeItaly · Murmuration & roost · peak 1 Dec–31 JanMillions of starlings wheeling over the Tiber and EUR, then a massive chattering roar in the city trees against traffic and bells.
• Winter wetlands: geese, ducks & cranesItaly · Wintering waterfowl · peak 1 Dec–28 FebGoose flights at dawn, whistling wigeon rafts, cranes bugling as they pass north in late winter.