Summer seems to be arriving with great strides, and the air is trembling with the heat even though the sunny June is still far from appearing. I am sitting in the shade of a gnarled olive tree, centuries of history branch out among its branches, giving me the most precious […]
Read MoreArticles by: Andrea Corso
Birding from the balcony: Our world out the window
Andrea Corso describes his personal lessons and learnings from the time of isolation at his home in Italy. Read his impressive reportage here. Bird watching in the time of Covid19 is the balcony of my house. It is a small square of sky, until a few days ago cerulean blue, […]
Read MoreSmall details – when good optics really matter
A hot summer is here again, in Southern Sicily and all around the Mediterranean Sea. It seems that even moving a leg or a hand would be hard and seat drips into my eyes and blur the view. But in Linosa, or any other European island, as well as along […]
Read MoreLittle story of a battle won – Bonelli’s Eagle is back in Sicily
There are some stories that have a happy end. Given the modern times we live in, it’s hard to believe and you may think that only the kids’ fairy tales could end so well. However, I have a real story that after many years of real fight could now be […]
Read MoreFinding two new bird species
Linosa is a little black volcanic island south of Sicily. It is one of the three islands of the Pelagie Archipelago, alongside with Lampedusa and Lampione (both lime stone islands from the African Plateau). It is black, it is fully covered by green, it is really isolated and scarcely populated […]
Read MoreNearly on the verge of extinction: European Lanner close to its end
The Slender-billed Curlew is nowadays considered extinct, with no birds officially observed in the last nearly 20 years or so worldwide (Corso, et al. 2014; Kirwan, et al.2015), while the Bald Ibis seems to be recovering with a rather small but increasing wild breeding population in Morocco (though the other […]
Read MoreDiscovering nature in Italy
Italy hosts among the richest biodiversity in Europe. The variety of geographic, geo-morphological and climatic conditions that characterizes its territory makes it an extraordinary concentration area of both species and habitats. In Italy, several “high-density” points of biodiversity of planetary importance (called “hot spots” in scientific terms) have been identified, […]
Read MoreDeep in Colombia’s rainforests
Do you really know what mud is? I did not know. I am a “desert man” – I have visited North Africa, the Maghreb, the Sahara and many other deserts as Sinai and the Negev many times. I truly love the desert. So I was actually not ready to be […]
Read MoreSpend a fantastic birding-week in Sicily!
A journey that indulges in nature, history, archeology and the art of cooking – led by Italian Leica birding ambassador Andrea Corso. Take part and discover Sicily, the islands of birds, orchids and archeology. We will observe some of the rarest birds in Italia (Marbled Duck, Lanner feldeggii, Sicilian Rock […]
Read MoreLinosa Island – a paradise for Mediterranean birders
Ten years ago, a small group of intrepid fanatic birders decided that big national parks, nature reserve and woodlands were not their favourite birding destination. Instead, they love small islands and peaceful places where they can observe migrant birds and dragonflies. So they decided to visit Linosa Island, one of […]
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