The quotas of migrants
The 2024 pre-nuptial migration of avifauna is in full swing. We hunters like to call it "ripasso", a traditional slang term which, however, it must be clarified, refers only to the part of the migration visible to us humans. It is in fact known as many species, the Turdids for example, migrate particularly at night, or others transit at such heights that they cannot be seen with the naked eye, as many Anatids do. Therefore, the quotas of migrants that we observe in the early morning, during the daylight hours and before dusk, within our sight, are those that we define as "review" (and passage into autumn), not exhaustive of the entire migratory phenomenon.
Flashy species
In this period, some species, both due to their large size and their "noisiness" and precisely because they fly over us during daylight hours, are particularly conspicuous, see for example the Crane (Grus grus), which has returned for some years now in force to sail our skies in the autumn and spring months. On social media, videos and photographs of the Crane review are widespread. If we look closely, it would be a form of citizen science, that is, that most recent form of wildlife observation that makes use of the collaboration of ordinary people, that is, people who, equipped with a minimum of basic knowledge - in this case, the ability to discern between one species of bird and another - and being in the area, they collect videos and images, which they then disseminate and which can contribute to the investigations and research on wildlife carried out by professionals.
Epic journeys
This is a potentially relevant source of observations which, in some way, makes up for the number and location of researchers, which are inevitably much smaller. Cranes are undoubtedly beautiful, of high symbolic and evocative value: however, if you think about it, they are certainly not the only ones to make epic journeys. All small migratory passerines, for example, perform equally important tasks, except that they are much smaller, fly at low or very low altitude and, perhaps, do so at night. The robin or the wren and many others reveal to us that they are passing by because they appear to us today in the bushes where they were not there yesterday. A nice surprise and a feeling of amazement every time we think about how a few grams of feathers can travel certain distances and overcome certain obstacles.
An abundant passage
There is also no doubt that admiring the grandiose flocks of wood pigeons in the sky rather than the Vs drawn by the cranes certainly gives more intense and significant emotions. In short, the birds come back and are coming back in relative abundance. Let's wait for the first reports of garganeys at sea - which in spring 2023 were very frequent and relevant especially on the Tyrrhenian side of the Peninsula, with a wealth of amateur videos in circulation - and in the meantime let's enjoy the wonderful show, with our noses, cell phones and video cameras at 'up (source: ANUU).