Home sights in Giverny and its surrounding  > Birds of Giverny

BIRDS OF GIVERNY. Copyright : Jean-Michel Peers - Email

Giverny’s landscapes present a mosaic of various natural environments, generating a rich fauna and flora. This diversity is a benefit for birds. There are about sixty species, sedentary and migratory, checked off the territory. The majority of it is visible on almost all the township, according to the period of the year and their habitat.

BIRDS of RIVERS and WETLANDS, like the Grey Heron, the Common Moorhen, the Mallard, the Black-headed Gull, the Herring Gull, the Mute Swan, the Great Cormorant, the Kingfisher, etc. can be observed between the Seine and the Epte, up to the communal marsh, close to the brooks, in the plain of the “Ajoux” and on the “Grande Ile”.

BIRDS of GARDENS and HILLS, move on all the territory, according to their food supply.
The siskin is abundant on the alders close to the Epte river banks as of March, while the goldfinch likes waste lands with thistles. It is a bird which can be seen also in September in flocks around flowered fallow, where it seeks cosmos flower seeds. The linnet loves dandelions in spring, as of its return from Africa.
Blackbirds and Starlings, like bays of ivy and fruits. The Fieldfare and the Redwing arrive from the far North in winter and settle in the apple trees of "Giverny’s Orchard" where there still remain some apples. The Robin will track you when you are gardening, a fat ground worm being always good to grab. One sees also several species of Warblers and Buntings, Eurasian Golden Orioles, Dunnocks, and many others !
In winter, some birds approach very close to the dwellings, like Blue Tits, Great Tits and sometimes Greenfinches. Amongst other birds, one also finds Turtle-Doves, Wood Pigeons, Crows, Magpies, Jays, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Green Woodpecker, Barn Swallows and House Martins.

Lastly, Giverny shelters also some diurnal raptors. These are found mainly close to the woods and in plains. Some nights, one hears the Tawny Owl and the Little Owl. Their observation is often a piece of luck.

Photographs of the following pages illustrate these various species, with a short comment about it and the places where you might have some chance to see it in Giverny and in the area.