List of birds of Corsica


This list of birds of Corsica includes the 367 bird species that have been recorded on Corsica.
Corsica is a French island in the Mediterranean Sea west of the Italian Peninsula, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the Italian island of Sardinia. Mountains make up two-thirds of the island, forming a single chain. The island has an area of and measures in length and east to west.
The status of each species is based on the annotated list by Jean-Claude Thibault and Gilles Bonaccorsi published in 1999 with supplemental additions from Avibase. The family accounts at the beginning of each heading reflect this taxonomy, as do the species counts found in each family account. Accidental species are included in the total species count for Corsica. As with its parent List of birds of Metropolitan France, this list's taxonomic treatment and nomenclature are those of the IOC World Bird List, Version 14.2.


Ducks, geese, and waterfowl

Order: AnseriformesFamily: Anatidae
Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, flattened bills, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to an oily coating.

Pheasants, grouse, and allies

Order: GalliformesFamily: Phasianidae
These are terrestrial species of gamebirds, feeding and nesting on the ground. They are variable in size but generally plump, with broad and relatively short wings.

Nightjars and allies

Order: CaprimulgiformesFamily: Caprimulgidae
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal birds that usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs and very short bills. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is camouflaged to resemble bark or leaves.

Swifts

Order: CaprimulgiformesFamily: Apodidae
Swifts are small birds which spend the majority of their lives flying. These birds have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead only on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long swept-back wings which resemble a crescent or boomerang.
  • Alpine swift - Apus melba - breeding visitor and passage migrant
  • Common swift - Apus apus - breeding visitor and passage migrant
  • Pallid swift - Apus pallidus - breeding visitor and passage migrant
  • Little swift - Apus affinis - accidental visitor

Bustards

Order: OtidiformesFamily: Otididae
Bustards are large terrestrial birds mainly associated with dry open country and steppes in the Old World. They are omnivorous and nest on the ground. They walk steadily on strong legs and big toes, pecking for food as they go. They have long broad wings with "fingered" wingtips and striking patterns in flight. Many have interesting mating displays.

Cuckoos

Order: CuculiformesFamily: Cuculidae
The family Cuculidae includes cuckoos, roadrunners and anis. These birds are of variable size with slender bodies, long tails and strong legs. The Old World cuckoos are brood parasites.

Pigeons and doves

Order: ColumbiformesFamily: Columbidae
Pigeons and doves are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills with a fleshy cere.

Rails, moorhens, and coots

Order: GruiformesFamily: Rallidae
Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds which includes the rails, crakes, coots, and moorhens. Typically they inhabit dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps, or rivers. Many are shy and secretive birds, but some are bold and conspicuous. Most species have strong legs and long toes which are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and appear to be to be weak fliers, though many are capable of long-distance migration.
  • Water rail - Rallus aquaticus - resident breeder, passage migrant and winter visitor
  • Corn crake - Crex crex - accidental visitor
  • Spotted crake - Porzana porzana - passage migrant
  • Common moorhen - Gallinula chloropus - resident breeder, passage migrant and winter visitor
  • Eurasian coot - Fulica atra - winter visitor, resident breeder and passage migrant
  • Western swamphen - Porphyrio porphyrio - accidental visitor
  • Baillon's crake - Zapornia pusilla - accidental visitor
  • Little crake - Zapornia parva - passage migrant

Cranes

Order: GruiformesFamily: Gruidae
Cranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back. Most have elaborate and noisy courting displays or "dances".
  • Common crane - Grus grus - passage migrant and winter visitor

Grebes

Order: PodicipediformesFamily: Podicipedidae
Grebes are small to medium-large freshwater diving birds. They have lobed toes and are excellent swimmers and divers. However, they have their feet placed far back on the body, making them quite ungainly on land.
  • Little grebe - Tachybaptus ruficollis - resident breeder and winter visitor
  • Red-necked grebe - Podiceps grisegena - passage migrant and winter visitor
  • Great crested grebe - Podiceps cristatus - resident breeder, passage migrant and winter visitor
  • Slavonian grebe - Podiceps auritus - accidental visitor
  • Black-necked grebe - Podiceps nigricollis - passage migrant, winter visitor and occasional breeder

Flamingos

Order: PhoenicopteriformesFamily: Phoenicopteridae
Flamingos are gregarious warm temperate to tropical wetland birds, usually high, found in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Flamingos filter-feed on shrimps and algae. Their oddly shaped beaks are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they consume and, uniquely, are used upside-down.

Stone-curlews

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Burhinidae
The stone-curlews, also called thick-knees, are a group of waders found worldwide within the tropical zone, with some species also breeding in temperate Europe and Australia. They are medium to large waders with strong black or yellow-black bills, large yellow eyes, and cryptic plumage. Despite being classed as waders, most species have a preference for arid or semi-arid habitats.

Oystercatchers

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Haematopodidae
The oystercatchers are large and noisy plover-like birds, with strong bills used for smashing or prising open molluscs.

Stilts and avocets

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Recurvirostridae
Recurvirostridae is a family of large wading birds, which includes the avocets and stilts. The avocets have long legs and long up-curved bills. The stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills.
  • Black-winged stilt - Himantopus himantopus - passage migrant and occasional breeder
  • Pied avocet - Recurvirostra avosetta - passage migrant and winter visitor

Plovers and lapwings

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Charadriidae
The family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterel, and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short thick necks, and long, usually pointed, wings. They are found in open country worldwide, mostly in habitats near water.

Sandpipers and allies

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae is a large diverse family of small to medium-sized waders including the sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, woodcock, snipe, dowitchers, and phalaropes. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Variation in length of legs and bills enables multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.

Pratincoles and coursers

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Glareolidae
Glareolidae is a family of wading birds comprising the pratincoles, which have short legs, long pointed wings, and long forked tails, and the coursers, which have long legs, short wings, and pointed bills which curve downwards.

Gulls and terns

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Laridae
Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds and includes gulls and terns. Gulls are typically grey and white, often with black markings on the head and wingtips. They have stout, longish, bills and webbed feet. Terns are a group of generally small to medium seabirds typically with grey and white plumage, often with black cap on the head, but more extensive black in some species. Most terns hunt fish by diving but some pick insects off the surface of fresh water. Gulls and terns are generally long-lived birds, with several species known to live in excess of 30 years.

Skuas

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Stercorariidae
The family Stercorariidae are, in general, medium to large sea birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They nest on the ground in temperate and arctic regions and are long-distance migrants.

Auks, guillemot, and puffins

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Alcidae
A family of seabirds which are superficially similar to penguins with their black-and-white colours, their upright posture and some of their habits but which are able to fly.

Divers or loons

Order: GaviiformesFamily: Gaviidae
Divers are a group of aquatic birds found in northern parts of North America and Eurasia. They are around the size of a cormorant, which they somewhat resemble in shape when swimming, but to which they are completely unrelated. In particular, their legs are set very far back which assists swimming underwater but makes walking on land extremely difficult.

Albatrosses

Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Diomedeidae
The albatrosses are among the largest flying birds, with long, narrow wings for gliding. The majority are found in the Southern Hemisphere with only vagrants occurring in the North Atlantic.

Northern storm petrels

Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Hydrobatidae
The family Hydrobatidae is the northern storm petrels, small pelagic petrels with a fluttering flight which often follow ships.

Shearwaters and petrels

Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Procellariidae
The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized "true petrels", characterised by united nostrils with medium septum and a long outer functional primary.

Storks

Order: CiconiiformesFamily: Ciconiidae
Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wetland birds with long, stout bills. Storks are mute, but bill-clattering is an important mode of communication at the nest. Their nests can be large and may be reused for many years. Many species are migratory.
  • Black stork - Ciconia nigra - passage migrant
  • White stork - Ciconia ciconia - passage migrant and winter visitor

Boobies and gannets

Order: SuliformesFamily: Sulidae
The sulids comprise the gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium to large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish.

Cormorants and shags

Order: SuliformesFamily: Phalacrocoracidae
Phalacrocoracidae is a family of medium-to-large fish-eating seabirds that includes cormorants and shags. Plumage colouration varies, with the majority having mainly dark plumage.

Ibises and spoonbills

Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Threskiornithidae
Threskiornithidae is a family of large terrestrial and wading birds which includes the ibises and spoonbills. They have long, broad wings with 11 primary and about 20 secondary feathers. They are strong fliers and, despite their size and weight, very capable soarers.

Herons, egrets, and bitterns

Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Ardeidae
The family Ardeidae contains bitterns, herons and egrets. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter necked and more wary. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises and spoonbills.

Pelicans

Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Pelecanidae
The Pelecanidae are a family of large water birds. They have a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey.

Osprey

Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Pandionidae
The family Pandionidae contains only one species, the osprey. The osprey is a medium-large raptor which is a specialist fish-eater with a worldwide distribution.
  • Osprey - Pandion haliaetus - resident breeder and winter visitor

Hawks, eagles, and kites

Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Accipitridae
Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey, which includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers and Old World vultures. They have powerful hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons and keen eyesight.

Barn owls

Order: StrigiformesFamily: Tytonidae
Barn-owls are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long strong legs with powerful talons.

Owls

Order: StrigiformesFamily: Strigidae
Typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disc.

Hoopoes

Order: BucerotiformesFamily: Upupidae
Hoopoes have black and white wings and orangey-pink body plumage, with a large erectile crest on their head.
  • Eurasian hoopoe - Upupa epops - breeding visitor, passage migrant and winter visitor

Rollers

Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Coraciidae
Rollers resemble crows in size and build, but are more closely related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. They share the colourful appearance of those groups with blues and browns predominating. The two inner front toes are connected, but the outer toe is not. There are 13 species worldwide; one species occurs in Corsica.
  • European roller - Coracias garrulus - passage migrant and possibly occasional breeder

Kingfishers

Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Alcedinidae
Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long, pointed bills, short legs and stubby tails.
  • Common kingfisher - Alcedo atthis - passage migrant, winter visitor and resident breeder

Bee-eaters

Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Meropidae
The bee-eaters are a group of birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa but others occur in southern Europe, Madagascar, Australia and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies and usually elongated central tail feathers. All are colourful and have long downturned bills and pointed wings, which give them a swallow-like appearance when seen from afar.

Woodpeckers

Order: PiciformesFamily: Picidae
Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds with chisel-like beaks, short legs, stiff tails, and long tongues used for capturing insects. Some species have feet with two toes pointing forward and two backward, while several species have only three toes. Many woodpeckers have the habit of tapping noisily on tree trunks with their beaks.

Falcons and caracaras

Order: FalconiformesFamily: Falconidae
Falconidae is a family of diurnal birds of prey. They differ from hawks, eagles and kites in that they kill with their beaks instead of their talons.

Old World orioles

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Oriolidae
The Old World orioles are colourful passerine birds. They are not related to the New World orioles.

Shrikes

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Laniidae
Shrikes are passerine birds known for their habit of catching other birds and small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns. A typical shrike's beak is hooked, like a bird of prey.

Crows, jays, and magpies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Corvidae
The family Corvidae includes crows, ravens, jays, choughs, magpies, and nutcrackers. Corvids are larger than the average size for species in the order Passeriformes and some show high levels of intelligence and exceptional spatial memory.
  • Eurasian jay - Garrulus glandarius - resident breeder
  • Eurasian magpie - Pica pica - occasional breeder and passage migrant
  • Eurasian nutcracker - Nucifraga caryocatactes - accidental visitor
  • Red-billed chough - Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax - accidental visitor
  • Alpine chough - Pyrrhocorax graculus - resident breeder
  • Western jackdaw - Corvus monedula - passage migrant and occasional breeder
  • Rook - Corvus frugilegus - accidental visitor but formerly winter visitor
  • Carrion crow - Corvus corone - accidental visitor
  • Hooded crow - Corvus cornix - resident breeder and perhaps passage migrant
  • Common raven - Corvus corax - resident breeder and perhaps passage migrant

Waxwings

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Bombycillidae
The waxwings are a group of birds with soft silky plumage and unique red tips to some of the wing feathers. These tips look like sealing wax and give the group its name. These are arboreal birds of northern forests. They live on insects in summer and berries in winter.

Tits

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Paridae
The tits are mainly small stocky woodland species with short but strong bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects.
  • Coal tit - Periparus ater - resident breeder and perhaps passage migrant
  • Crested tit - Lophophanes cristatus -
  • Marsh tit - Poecile palustris -
  • Eurasian blue tit - Cyanistes caeruleus - resident breeder
  • Great tit - Parus major - resident breeder and perhaps passage migrant

Penduline tits

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Remizidae
The penduline tits are a group of small insectivorous birds related to the true tits, but with complex pendulous nests.

Bearded reedling

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Panuridae
This species, the only one in its family, is found in reed beds throughout temperate Europe and Asia.

Larks

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Alaudidae
Larks are small terrestrial birds with often extravagant songs and display flights. Most larks are dull in appearance. Their food is insects and seeds.

Swallows

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Hirundinidae
The family Hirundinidae is adapted to aerial feeding on flying insects. They have a slender streamlined body, long pointed wings, and a short bill with a wide gape. The feet are adapted to perching rather than walking, and the front toes are partially joined at the base.

Bush warblers and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Cettiidae
The members of this family are found across warmer areas of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Polynesia. They are insectivores.
  • Cetti's warbler - Cettia cetti - resident breeder, passage migrant and winter visitor

Long-tailed tits

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Aegithalidae
Long-tailed tits are a group of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. They make woven bag nests in trees. Most eat a mixed diet which includes insects, spiders and small seeds.

Leaf warblers

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Phylloscopidae
Leaf warblers are a family of small insectivorous birds found mostly in Eurasia and ranging into Wallacea and Africa. The species are of various sizes, often green-plumaged above and yellow or white below, or more subdued with greyish-green to greyish-brown colours.

Reed warblers and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Acrocephalidae
The members of this family are medium size to large warblers. Most are rather plain olivaceous brown above and yellow to pale buff below. They are usually found in open woodland, reedbeds, or tall grass. The family occurs mostly in southern to western Eurasia and surroundings, but it also ranges far into the Pacific, and several species in Africa.

Grassbirds and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Locustellidae
Locustellidae are a family of small insectivorous songbirds found mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and the Australian region. They are smallish birds with tails that are usually long and pointed, and tend to be drab brownish or buffy all over.

Cisticolas and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Cisticolidae
The Cisticolidae are a family of warblers found in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They are generally very small birds of drab brown or grey appearance, found in open country such as grassland or scrub.

Sylviid warblers, parrotbills, and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Sylviidae
The family Sylviidae is a group of small insectivorous birds. They mainly occur in Europe, Asia and, to a lesser extent, Africa; the highest diversity is in the Mediterranean region. Most are generally grey-brown, but often with black or grey head patterns, and a white throat; some have a reddish breast and/or rufous wings. Many have distinctive songs.

Kinglets

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Regulidae
The crests and kinglets are a small family of birds which resemble some warblers. They are very small insectivorous birds in the single genus Regulus. The adults have coloured crowns, giving rise to their name.

Wrens

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Troglodytidae
The wrens are mainly small and inconspicuous except for their loud songs. They have short wings and thin down-turned bills, and often hold their tails upright. All are insectivorous. The family is almost entirely found in the New World, with just one species widespread in the Old World, including Corsica.
  • Eurasian wren - Troglodytes troglodytes - resident breeder and possibly a passage migrant

Nuthatches

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Sittidae
Nuthatches are small woodland birds. They have the unusual ability to climb down trees head first, unlike other birds which can only go upwards. Nuthatches have big heads, short tails and powerful bills and feet. The Corsican nuthatch is France's sole endemic species.

Wallcreeper

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Tichodromidae
The wallcreeper is a small bird of mountain crags related to the nuthatch family, which has stunning crimson, grey, and black plumage. It is the only species in its family.
  • Wallcreeper - Tichodroma muraria - winter visitor and resident breeder

Treecreepers

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Certhiidae
Treecreepers are small woodland birds, brown above and white below. They have thin pointed down-curved bills, which they use to extricate insects from bark. They have stiff tail feathers, like woodpeckers, which they use to support themselves on vertical trees.

Starlings

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Sturnidae
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds. Their flight is strong and direct and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country. They eat insects and fruit. Their plumage is variable; many are dark with a strong to very strong metallic sheen, others are brightly patterned in pink, yellow, or other colours.

Thrushes and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Turdidae
The thrushes are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly in the Old World. They are plump, soft-plumaged, small-to-medium-sized insectivores or sometimes omnivores, often feeding on the ground. Many have attractive songs.
  • White's thrush - Zoothera aurea - accidental visitor
  • Song thrush - Turdus philomelos - passage migrant and winter visitor
  • Mistle thrush - Turdus viscivorus - passage migrant and winter visitor
  • Redwing - Turdus iliacus - passage migrant and winter visitor
  • Common blackbird - Turdus merula - resident breeder, passage migrant and winter visitor
  • Fieldfare - Turdus pilaris - passage migrant and winter visitor
  • Ring ouzel - Turdus torquatus - passage migrant and possibly a winter visitor
  • Dusky thrush - Turdus eunomus - accidental visitor
  • Naumann's thrush - Turdus naumanni - accidental visitor

Old World flycatchers

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Muscicapidae
Old World flycatchers are a large group of birds which are mainly small arboreal insectivores. The appearance of these birds is highly varied, but they mostly have weak songs and harsh calls.

Dippers

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Cinclidae
Dippers are a group of perching birds whose habitat includes aquatic environments in the Americas, Europe and Asia. They are named for their bobbing or dipping movements.

Old World sparrows

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Passeridae
Sparrows are small passerine birds. In general, sparrows tend to be small, plump, brown or grey birds with short tails and short powerful beaks. Sparrows are seed eaters, but they also consume small insects.

Accentors and dunnocks

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Prunellidae
The accentors and dunnocks are the only bird family which is endemic to the Palearctic. They are small, fairly drab species superficially similar to sparrows, but with a slender bill.
  • Alpine accentor - Prunella collaris - resident breeder and possibly a winter visitor
  • Dunnock - Prunella modularis - winter visitor and passage migrant

Wagtails and pipits

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Motacillidae
Motacillidae is a family of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. They include the wagtails, longclaws and pipits. They are slender, ground feeding insectivores of open country.

Finches and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Fringillidae
Finches are seed-eating passerine birds, that are small to moderately large and have a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have twelve tail feathers and nine primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.

Longspurs and snow buntings

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Calcariidae
The Calcariidae are a group of passerine birds which had been traditionally grouped with the buntings, but differ in a number of respects and are usually found in open grassy areas.

Old World buntings

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Emberizidae
The emberizids are a large family of passerine birds. They are seed-eating birds with distinctively shaped bills. Many emberizid species have distinctive head patterns.