Wildlife to see in Italy in August
6 spectacles at their peak in Italy in August, and 8 more still going on. Wild animals only: no zoos, no wildlife parks, no hunting. Open Italy in August in the interactive calendar for listening times on the day you pick.
At their peak in August
Cicada summer chorusWall-of-sound cicada chorus in pinewoods and olive groves, with pulsing, overlapping rhythms of different species.
Wolf howlingChorus howls from family packs, including pups' high wavering howls, answering from across a valley.
Golden jackal choruses on the KarstRising yelping group howls — faster and higher than wolves — answered by neighbouring families across the limestone plateau; the densest population in Italy.
Eleonora's falcon coloniesHarsh 'kya-kya' calls from dozens of falcons over sea cliffs, chicks begging, the surf below; a visual spectacle with a lean soundtrack.
Fin whales & sperm whales, Pelagos SanctuaryWith a hydrophone: sperm whale clicks and codas, dolphin whistles. Fin whale calls are infrasonic (about 20 Hz) and need a suitable hydrophone.
Raptor migration: Strait of MessinaMostly visual — kettles of raptors — but also bee-eater flocks overhead, and swifts and hirundines passing.
Also going on in August
Sardinian red deer rutRoars across Mediterranean maquis (the scrub has a drier, shorter acoustic than forest), with scops owls and nightjars.
Scopoli's & Yelkouan shearwater coloniesScopoli's 'crying baby' wails from thousands of birds arriving over cliffs — one of the Mediterranean's strangest sounds.
Bee-eater & roller coloniesRolling 'prruip' calls of bee-eaters overhead all day, the crow-like chatter of rollers.
Flamingo colonies & courtshipGoose-like gabbling of big flocks, and the synchronised 'marching' displays with a constant honking.
Lesser kestrel colonies in the Sassi of MateraHundreds of chattering 'che-che-che' kestrels wheeling over the roofs of a UNESCO old town at dusk, with swifts, jackdaws and church bells.
Swift screaming parties over old townsScreaming packs racing between palazzi, the deeper trilling of alpine swifts from cliff-like towers, bells and evening passeggiata below.
Alpine summer: marmots & ibexPiercing marmot alarm whistles echoing across cirques, cowbells far below, alpine choughs, streams.
Griffon vultures of the Bosa coast, SardiniaMostly 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.