Birds of Giverny
BIRDS OF GIVERNY. Copyright : Jean-Michel Peers - 
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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.
BIRDS OF RIVERS AND WETLANDS
Great Cormorant.
This Great Cormorant was photographed in December 2006 at the entry of Giverny, where one often sees it perched with some others at the top of one of the dead trees of the “Petit Ru”. They are rather numerous this winter 2007.
The youthful ones have a white/black spotted breast, like here. Their plumage becomes black at the adulthood.
With good binoculars, you will be able to see the astonishing colour of its eyes. The neck of this bird which plunges and fishes under water is relatively long. Here it is at rest.
More about this bird with a soundtrack to listen to its guttural croakings.
BIRDS OF RIVERS AND WETLANDS
Grey Heron.
The Grey Heron is not easy to approach, but it is visible from far away in open areas. In Giverny, one sees it sometimes in the meadows along the road leading to Limetz-Villez.
One also sees it on the Epte banks, the small arm of the Seine and the large meadow between Giverny and Vernon. To fish, the Grey Heron can hide for hours without moving, in shallow waters. As soon as it sees a fish, it slackens its neck and transpierces its prey. Shot from the bank of the small arm of the Seine in June 2006.
With its man size wingspan, this large bird has a majestic flight and rises slowly in the air. It flies while folding up the neck to offer less air resistance.
To see it in flight otherwise than for a short flight from one meadow to another at a few meters above the ground, one will note that it often follows the course of the river, preferably early or late in the day.
Shot on the Seine at Saint-Pierre-La-Garenne in May 2005.
More about this bird with a soundtrack to listen to its strange voice.
BIRDS of GARDENS and HILLS.
The Great Tit
It is a very common bird in Giverny, as in the “Haute-Normandie” region,
where one counts approximately 100 000 pairs of them.
Winter is the best season to observe it.
One often sees it at a few meters of the village dwellings, especially if it is nourished.
It is a voracious bird which swallows many insects and caterpillars in breeding period.
To survive in winter, it needs fat to compensate for the caloric loss due to the cold.
Very fond of sunflower seeds, the Great Tit appreciates readymade balls of grease sold in garden-centers, as well as margarine.
Sexes are very similar. One however recognizes the male with his pectoral band broader than that of the female.
On this page, you have both.
Photographs taken in Giverny during the winter 2006.
More about the species and a soundtrack.
BIRDS of GARDENS and HILLS.
The Blue Tit.
The Blue Tit is as common in Giverny as its Great Tit cousin.
It is a small acrobatic ball of nerves which clings to the branches
in all the positions to catch its food.
Its colours are splendid with the sun. In winter, it follows also a hypercaloric diet made of insects eggs, larvae, and of course, fat content which you put in your garden.
In spring, before going up towards the hills,
one might also see it on the apple trees in flowers of the “Clos Morin”.
(Museum of American Art of Giverny) where it seems to appreciate nectar.
More about the species and a soundtrack.
BIRDS of GARDENS, HILLS and WOODS.
The Wood Pigeon.
A corpulent bird, which reaches the half kilo easily. Mainly vegetarian and eating from leaves to the roots, it will have, if opportunity arise, also insects and molluscs on the menu.
Its food versatility explains why it is seen everywhere, even and more and more downtown. The slapping of its wings when taking-off is very recognizable.
Shot on the “Chemin des Marais” in june 2005.
Its nest is made with tangled branches and brushwood.
It can be lying on the ground as well as installed on branches in a tree.
Here, it is standing on a conifer of the "Pluie de Roses”.
DIURNAL RAPTORS.
The Hen Harrier.
In our region, it is a bird of the cereal plains, whose one couple was seen on Giverny tops in 2006.
Decline of this species is due to habitat loss and destruction of nesting areas, direct persecution and destruction of nests.
Therefore, it is the subject of protection campaigns of the broods carried out by regional ornithological associations, assisted by volunteers on the field.
This bird is eminently useful for agriculture, since it feeds primarily on rodents.
Photographs taken in the region during an intervention of the LPO Haute –Normandie (bird protection association) in July 2006.