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Trip Report – September-October 2026

White-cheeked Tern

Note:

This wasn’t really a birding trip. It was a whirlwind Europe and Egypt trip to visit family and friends we hadn’t seen for some time. The only place we actually went birding was Corsica.

Our trip took in Rotterdam, Switzerland, Egypt (where we did get White-Cheeked Tern from a boat that we hired in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt) and, Corsica and Italy.

Corsica

Corsican Nuthatch

We rented a car in Pisa and took the ferry from Livorno to Corsica to meet some birding friends from the UK. It would have been a fairly simple trip if the French farmers hadn’t decided to blockade the port on Corsica which caused our ferry to dock 5 hours late!!!

We had a few targets here – although it was now late September and some would be hard to find but we did quite well.

Italian Sparrow was in the garden of our VRBO in Ghisonaccia and there were also tons of Red Kites, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Eurasian Kestrel, Hooded Crow and even a Greater Spotted Woodpecker. None new for us but always nice to see.

Our main birding day was in Corte. The island is stunning so the drive was a pleasure. It was quite chilly at the top on the road that went to the Tuani Campsite, which is where we started our search. We came across a mixed flock which included one of our targets, Corsican Nuthatch and we enjoyed good views of 3 of them amongst the various tit species which included: Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit and Corsican Long-tailed Tit, this distinct subspecies is endemic to Corsica and neighbouring Sardinia.

Corsican Finch

Then a change of location to the area by the Belvedere de Pasciola pull out. We walked towards the Fortin and on the way enjoyed 2 more of our targets – Marmora’s Warbler and Corsican Finch. We were hoping for a Moltoni’s Wrabler but were quite late in the season for that.

We did check out some of the Etangs on the east coast near Ghisonaccia – they were quite birdy but no Moltoni’s.

Finally, we headed south down to Bonifacio to attempt Scolopoli’s Shearwater, which is seen regularly from the land. Unfortunately, the sea was very calm that day and there was no activity at all. Beautiful spot though. Luckily, we got the bird on the ferry trip back to Livorno!

Hotels

Ghisonaccia: VRBO

Guides & Resources:

Self-guided as we knew the birds we wanted.

Guides:

Self-guided as we knew the birds we wanted.

Field Guide:

Bird List: