Lazio - April 2026 - South of Rome - Coastal Lagoons

The Tyrrhenian Sea

We had arrived at about 1am, and found the hotel key left outside for us exactly as arranged. What I had not arranged was a double bed in the room the key unlocked... At 1am you just have to roll with these things and we were so tired I don't think either of us noticed the other. It may just have been the added incentive we needed to get up especially early however, and as such we were birding outside the hotel - the Miramare, Lido di Latina - well before 7am. We walked to the edge of the Lago di Fogliano where we kicked off with a Redshank and a Greenshank, and keen as mustard we continued to strain every sense to try and start building a little list. Lazio ticks came thick and fast, with Mute Swan, a Moorhen and several Cetti's Warbler in the same area, Hooded Crow, Barn Swallow, Italian Sparrow and Serin back at the hotel, and just before we went in for breakfast we noticed a large flock of birds flying south on the horizon. With the scope in the hotel room a quick grab shot was taken and we were suprised to see we had been looking at Yelkouan Shearwater, the only small species here in any number.

Restored with some coffee we drove the short distance to the north-east corner of the lagoon and started birding the track west. A handful of fishermen were here, and a photographer sat under a tree hoping a Sacred Ibis would come within range on a small flash set back from the lagoon. This was a great little walk, less than a mile there and back, and we added birds at every step. In the same pool as the Ibis were five Wood Sandpiper, and four Common Sandpiper were feeding along the edge of the main lake. Green Woodpecker called, so did Cuckoo and Hoopoe, and there were at least four Nightingale singing from cover. Past the small pools the view opened up to a nice meadow, and on the fences were Crested Lark and Whinchat, with Zitting Cisticola pipping from long grass, and a single Corn Bunting in a hedge. In contrast the water didn't actually have a lot on it - the only ducks on the lagoon were a small flock of Wigeon, a single Teal, a couple of Mallard, Great Crested Grebe, the same Swans we had seen from the other side, and then a couple of Cormorant. The scope also pulled in Little Egret, Cattle Egret and Spoonbill on the far side - very glad we brought this as the lagoon was much bigger than I had thought.

Meadows behind the lagoon

Further south at the Pantani di Cicerchia we found a defunct hide facing the bay, and although loads of waders had been recently reported at this hotspot we could only find the same species we had already seen. Whiskered Tern was new, as was Kingfisher, but best of all were a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the mature trees behind the hide. 

We carried on birding the east side of the lagoon where access allowed, and at around midday found ourselves at the very southern end of the third lake down (Lago di Caprolace) at the Pantani dell'Inferno. This was also allegedly excellent for waders and we were disappointed to find only a single Common Sandpiper, though we did manage Squacco Heron and Great White Egret along the western edge. Behind the causeway here is what looks like a nice marsh, but there does not seem like any easy way to actually view it. We were able to see a small slice from the tops of the dunes along the coast, in this way adding Pochard, Ferruginous Duck, Coot and Marsh Harrier, but all in all it was a bit frustrating. Sardinian Warblers called from the dunes, and there was a Chaffinch in the woodland by the road.

Needing a plan we stopped off by a small bridge over the Rio Martino on the edge of the Lago di Caprolace, scoping Shoveler, Black-headed Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, three Gull-billed Tern and, on the far side, a small flock of Greater Flamingo, all asleep. A bonus Wheatear, presumably a passage bird, was perched in a tree here, and Swallows fed low to the ground.

At around 2pm, exhausted from so much birding, we stopped for lunch in the village of Borgo Grappa. And I mean a proper lunch with a glass of white wine and some proper local food. House Martin were above the village, and some Parakeets turned out to be Monk Parakeets - I knew they didn't sound right! Clam pasta and some Calamari fritti were simply excellent sat outside in this busy local restaurant, Europeans just do this kind of thing so much better.

Never mind the birds, look at this!

From about mid-afternoon, once we had managed to pull ourselves away from the table, we birded and area of farmland where dairy Buffalo are reared - the Bufalara. Here the wallowing pools had pulled in Snipe, Ruff and more Wood Sandpiper, and large numbers of Cattle Egret were everywhere. Looking south, back towards the lake, we realised that we could see Collared Pratincole over the fields, or perhaps the lake itself, and there were also Tree Sparrow and Yellow Wagtail along the rough track here - perfectly driveable, in fact it shows as a road on the map!

These were all over the dunes and I thought they were probably quite special so I avoided treading on them. Turns out it's an invasive species from Africa called Carpobrotus edulis, the Sour Fig.

Mick scans the empty sea

We tried the Inferno again late in the afternoon, hoping that there might have been some change-over, and birds previously feeding elsewhere may have dropped in. This kind of paid off with four Black-winged Stilt and a flyover Caspian Tern, but it wasn't until gone 6pm that things really picked up with the Stilts rising to over 20, a Little Ringed Plover showing up, some brief Whimbrel and a slock of Mediterranean Gull headed out to the shore, presumably having been feeding inland. A pair of Audouin's Gull flew up the lagoon, as did a single Greylag Goose, potentially a bit of a rarity.  Between stints here we went back the coast, literally about a minute way, and picked up more Shearwaters, Yellow-legged Gull, and three Sandwich Tern.

Black-winged Stilts

Mallard

As the light began to fade we worked our way up the coastal side of the Lago di Caprolace, finding a single Red Knot on the tideline, the only bird present, and finally in the north-eastern corner we discovered where all the waders had been hiding from us, with more Stilts, Avocet, Grey Plover, Redshank, close to 60 Ruff, and the same small flock of Collared Pratincole we had seen earlier. The final new bird of the day was a drake Pintail at about 8pm about half way up the Lago di Fogliano, almost back where we had started. We had racked up 91 species in this small area around the two lakes. And the eBird Police have yet to contact us!

We felt we had exhausted this area, and consulting the map decided to spend day two on the other side of Rome where there some more decent looking eBird pins and some slightly different habitat, including some woodland as we had still not found a Robin! Although it was already late we booked a hotel in Ladispoli, just over an hour away. It was also called Hotel Miramare and also tried to give us a double bed despite having booked a twin room - they must be trying to tell us something! We avoided it this time however, and after a quick dinner in town hit the hay for some much needed rest. Same again tomorrow!