BAM Birds

The dove or pigeon, which is even too easy to come across in the city, is a hybrid derived from the rock dove and other similar species. This is why its plumage can vary to a great extent from one individual to the next.

• Length: 30-35 cm.
• Wingspan: 62-68 cm.
• Plumage: generally grey with head and neck darker and some green/pink reflections on the neck, grey beak, reddish legs.
• Weight: approx. 360 g.

It is granivorous but since by now it is used to living in the city, it also each crumbs and food waste of various kinds. It has exceptionally good eyesight that allows it to identify even the smallest seeds.

It builds nests in recesses and cavities in walls, lays 2 eggs white in colour at a time in several successive clutches. The female broods during the day, the male during the night, for 21 days. For the first 5 days, the newborn are fed with a sort of milk coming from the parents’ crops and later with a mixture of milk and seeds. After a month the young leave the nest and after just six months are able to reproduce.

It is a native and sedentary species. If has found its ideal habitat in cities like Milan, to the point of having to frequently request containment and dissuasion measures.

Also known as the Eurasian collared dove, it belongs to the Columbidae family, like the domestic pigeon.

• Length: 29-33 cm.
• Wingspan:48-53 cm.
• Plumage: grey (dove grey!) and darker above; the wings are mocha brown and milk in colour, the shape is slim and elegant. It is easily recognisable due to its characteristic black collar edged with white.
• The males are slightly larger than the females.

It primarily eats seeds, but also fruit, herbs, insects and small invertebrates.

It reproduces both in rural environments and in those that are heavily anthropized. It builds its nest with dry twigs on both trees and on simple structures (pillars, roofing, etc.). It lays 1 to 2 eggs (even several times a year) that it broods for 14-16 days. In the early days of life, the young are fed by both parents with so-called pigeon’s milk, a very nutritious substance similar to milk from mammals, produced by a mucous membrane found in the crop.

Originally from South Asia, today it has become very widespread in Europe and Italy, where it is particularly nest-building and sedentary, to the point of having almost ousted the native European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur).

Medium to small daytime bird of prey. It has a slender body, small head, hook bill, long and thin legs like its toes, which are equipped with strong nails. It is one of the most agile of the birds of prey and easily and rapidly flies despite its short wings. Its movements are more awkward only on the ground.

• Length: over 30 cm, of which more than 10 cm are part of its long square tail (characterised by 4-5 dark bars)
• Wingspan: over 60 cm
• Plumage: in adults, it is dark ash grey in its upper parts, white with wavy lines and red/rust-coloured streaks in its lower parts. The bill is blue, and the feet and eyes are yellow.

It feeds on both birds and small mammals. Once it has captured its prey, it takes it to a peaceful place and eats it after having removed its fur or feathers as much as possible. The parts of the prey it is unable to digest are eliminated in the form of pellets.

It builds nests in recesses and cavities in walls, lays 2 eggs white in colour at a time in several successive clutches. The female broods during the day, the male during the night, for 21 days. For the first 5 days, the newborn are fed with a sort of milk coming from the parents’ crops and later with a mixture of milk and seeds. After a month the young leave the nest and after just six months are able to reproduce.

It builds the nest always well concealed on forest trees with twigs that little by little become finer moving inwards. It lays 3 to five eggs. Only the female broods (33-35 days), while both parents feed the newborns (chicks).

In Italy, the species is sedentary and common together with kestrels and buzzards; in the fall, a sizeable number of migratory individuals arrive from North Europe.

It is a passerine bird and the most common of the tits. It is somewhat fearless and for this reason also nests in heavily anthropized sites.

• Length: 13.5-15 cm
• Wingspan: 22-25 cm
• Plumage: greenish upper part, tail and grey-bluish wings. Head and the throat shiny black, white cheeks; yellow underparts crossed longitudinally by a black line from throat to abdomen that in males is slight more evident.
• Weight: approx. 20 g.

It is a voracious insectivore (larvae, bees, spiders) but does not turn down seeds, fruit and berries. It breaks the food into bits while keepiing it still with its legs. It gladly accepts food available in feeders.

It builds its nest with moss, hair and feathers in protected cavities (trees, walls, light posts, artificial nests) in which it lays 8-15 eggs between April and May, in two successive clutches. White with small dark brown spots, the eggs are brooded by the female for about 15 days. Both parents look after the chicks for 20-30 days from hatching.

It is widespread in Europe and North Africa. In Italy, it is nest-building and sedentary. It prefers low altitudes and woods of conifers and fruit orchards, but perfectly adapts to urban environments. It is not rare in Milan to spot it amongst the trees of avenues and parks, and in feeders on balconies or in gardens in the winter.

It is the first to sing, already in December/January.

It is a gregarious animal, and it lives in flocks formed by hundred of individuals that gather on dormitory trees. It can live for more than 20 years.

• Length: 37- 43 cm (tail included, 18-23 cm).
• Wingspan: 42– 48 cm
• Plumage: bright green, long pointed tail with shades of blue; the male has a sort of black “bib” from bill to neck, which is absent in the female. The upper part of the bill is red.
• Weight: approx. 130 g.

It feeds on seeds, berries, flowers and fruit. Owing to its voracity and since it lives in numerous groups, it can create significant damage to fruit orchards and cultivated fields.

In Italy, it nests from May to August, usually in cavities in trunks without building an actual nest. It lays 2 to 6 eggs that it broods for 24 days; the chicks fly away 6-7 weeks later.

It is a sedentary alloctonous species originated in Asia and Africa that, thanks to a marked ability to adapt, has become very widespread in Italy, probably because of escapes and voluntary liberations of pets. It is above all found in city parks (Milan, Genoa, Pavia, etc.). On the European level, it is considered a highly invasive species (AIS – Alien Invasive Species), and this is why it is constantly monitored (i.e. possible impacts on agriculture, occupation of nests of native species, etc.). It has to be kept under control in Milan as well, where it is spreading quickly, due to its interactions with the city environment.

It is one of the birds most commonly seen in the city, where it has found its ideal habitat in parks and gardens. It can easily be come across in pairs, but never in flocks. In nature it lives 5 years on average, but bird ringing data reveal individuals that have lived for over 21 years.

• Length: 24-25 cm.
• Wingspan: 34-39 cm.
• Plumage: males and females have different plumage. The male is totally black with yellow eye-ring. Its bill is orange-yellow. Its legs are brown. The female has an uneven dark brown/grey colouring, its throat is lighter and streaked, and its bill is yellow-light brown. Common blackbirds have a long tail and at times, just as they alight, they move it up and down jerkily.
• Weight: Approx. 80-140 g.

It feeds on berries, insects and worms.

The female builds the nest in shrubs or on tree branches. She lays 4-6 blue-grey eggs speckled with grey dots in two successive clutches that she broods for 14-15 days.

It is one of the most common passerine birds in Europe. It is migratory in cold zones, in Italy, in the city (including Milan) and is a resident and nest-building species.

We often here it sing or launch its alarm signals in the city parks, also at dusk. Its song is heard mostly from February to May.

It is a small and very agile passerine bird endowed with extraordinary intelligence that it uses to overcome any difficulties when looking for food or for banishing predators from its nest.

• Length: 10.5-12 cm.
• Wingspan: 18-20 cm.
• Plumage: Males and females are similar. The crown, wings and tail are cobalt blue like the top of the head, the rest of which is white with a black mask at the height of its eyes. Its upper part is greenish and its under part is sulphur yellow. The pointed black beak is very strong so that it can break up seed shells. Its short legs are grey-blue.
• Weight: approx. 12 g.

It is an insectivore and prefers aphids, larvae, spiders and small invertebrates it finds on trees, but during the winter it gladly feeds on seeds, berries and fruit and whatever it can find in the feeders man prepares for them. It can eat about half of its weight in food every day.

It nests in cavities, trees, walls or artificial nests.. It makes its nest with moss, wool, hair and feathers and, when possible, it reuses it every year. It lays 7-10 eggs with white shell speckled with dark spots between April and May, which it broods for about 15 days. Both parents take care of the chicks for 15-20 days.

It is very widespread throughout Europe. In Italy it is resident and nest-building. It prefers woods, but easily adapts to the city where it can be seen in parks and green areas, as occurs in Milan.

It has a rather well-structured song that can be heard all year long, and in particular from February to June.

It is a passerine bird fairly common in the city up until a few years ago, where it finds its ideal habitat.

• Length: 14-16 cm.
• Wingspan: 24-26 cm.
• Plumage: it is different in males and females: the male’s upper part and wings are brown, streaked with black, crown and head are brown-hazelnut, black throat and grey under part; the female instead has less flashy colours, with a pale brown upper part streaked with black, beige crown, and underpart and throat grey. Its conical and robust bill is dark grey.
• Weight: approx. 30 g.

It is an omnivore and feeds on seeds, fruit, insects and man’s left-over food.

The reproduction season begins in March and there may be several successive clutches. They build their nests with dried blades of grass in various types of recesses (under roof tiles, in holes in walls, posts, etc. and, more rarely, in tree cavities). It lays 3-6 eggs that it broods for 11-14 days. The chicks remain in the nest for about two weeks from hatching, but they are cared for by their parents or other members of the same colony also afterwards, until they reach autonomy and abandon the original group to create a new group.

In Italy is it nest-building and for the most part sedentary. It can be found in various environments, from urban areas and village up to the open countryside. It was very common until a few years ago. In recent decades, it has sustained a significant decline for reasons still today not entirely ascertained (reduction of sites suitable for nest-building due to building restorations, a decrease in prey species to feed the chicks, less availability of food caused by changes in farming practices).

Together with the pallid swift and alpine swift, the common swift belongs to the Apodiformes order, i.e. without feet, due to its legs being so short that in the past it was thought they had none. In spite of its similar appearance, it is instead not a “relative” of the swallows. It lives in colonies that are sometimes very numerous.

• Length: 17-18.5 cm
• Wingspan: 40-44 cm
• Plumage: evenly dark, black/browh except for its whitish throat. It has extremely long sickle-shaped wings. Its extremely short legs are unsuitable for settling on the ground but perfect for clinging to vertical surfaces. They are untiring flyers and pass most of their lives in flight where they feed. They mate and even sleep in flight and are incredibly fast, reaching 112 kg/h flapping their wings and 220 km/h when diving. They stop only to lay and brood their eggs. The bill is very short and dark while the mouth opening is remarkable, which it holds wide open to capture as many insects as possible while flying.
• Weight: approx. 50 g.

It is an insectivore, feeding exclusively on insects it is able to capture in flight (aeroplankton).

It commonly builds its nest in towns, inside cavities between roof tiles, pantiles, eaves, putlog holes, but it also appreciates artificial birdhouses. By and large, the pairs remain together for life and return to the same nest every year (also for more than 15 years). They lay 2-3 white eggs incubated for about 20 days by both parents that also attend to feeding the chicks, untiringly flying to bring them a sort of “croquette” of insects that they carry in their crops (see photo at bottom left). The chicks take off in flight about 40 days later and once they leave the nest they never return to it.

It is a long-range migrant. In Italy is is present and nest-building between April and the end of July, to then winter in sub-Saharan Africa or southern Asia. It is still a common species but heavily decreasing in some European countries, so it is important to protect its nesting sites that because of modernisations and/or modifications to historic and non-historic buildings they have considerably reduced in number.

It is practically impossible to not be gladdened by their “calls” from April to July, especially in the early morning or late afternoon when they streak over our heads or skim over our buildings in search of food or a cavity suitable for nesting.

The pallid swift belongs to the Apodiformes order like the common swift, from which it is not at all easy to distinguish since their colour, size and habits are very similar. Like the common swift, it lives in colonies, is an untiring and very fast flyer, spends most of its life in flight, and is able to capture up to 20,000 insects a day.

• Length: 16-18 cm.
• Wingspan: 39-44 cm
• Plumage: it is slightly paler than that of the common swift, tends towards dark café au lait brown and has uneven colouring. The wing tip is more rounded and the tail is less forked and wider. Its throat is noticeably white.
• Weight: approx. 40 g.

It is an insectivore, feeding exclusively on insects it is able to capture in flight (aeroplankton).

It commonly builds its nest in towns, inside cavities (walls, pantiles, roof tiles) with saliva, a plant-based and unfortunately plastic material. In Milan almost all pallid swift colonies registered find an ideal site to build their nests in commonly used rolling shutter boxes. It lays 2-3 eggs brooded for about 20- 24 days by both parents that also attend to feeding the chicks, untiringly flying to bring them a sort of “croquette” of insects that they carry in their crops. The chicks’ take off in flight about 43-48 days later and once they leave the nest they never return to it. Unlike the common swift, it generally completes two successive clutches as it stays in the city until October/November.

It is a long-range migrant. In Italy it is present and nest-building between April and November, so if you see or hear swifts after summer ends, they are almost certainly pallid swifts since the common swifts have already left for Africa before the end of July. Like the common swift, it is still a widespread species but in any case requires protection.

The great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major (Linnaeus, 1758)) is a medium-size woodpecker with black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower part of the abdomen. The males and juveniles also have red patches on the neck and head. It is widespread in most of Eurasia and in some areas of North Africa. Even though there is a resident species in most of its distributional area, the specimens of the northern regions may migrate after poor yields of pine cones. Some individuals have an innate tendency to wander, and this has led the species to recolonise Ireland spontaneously or to makes its appearance as an occasional visitor in North America. Great spotted woodpeckers use their beaks as a chisel to hollow out trees in search for food or to build cavities where they build their nests, and to drum to stay in contact and to announce their possession of a territory. They present particular anatomic adaptations to cope with physical stresses caused by the hammering action.

• Length: 20-24 cm.
• Wingspan: 34-39 cm.
• Plumage: it is mostly black and white with a red patch on the lower part of the abdomen. Males have a red zone also on the crown.
• Weight: Approx. 70-98 g.

The great spotted woodpecker is common in all types of forest areas and has a widely varying diet since it is able to extract seeds from pine cones, insect larvae from inside trees or eggs and nestlings of other birds from their nests. It nests in cavities hollowed out in trees, whether living or dead, with the bottom covered with chips. Every clutch usually includes four to six shiny white eggs. Both parents devote themselves to the brooding, feeding the chicks and cleaning the nest. When the juveniles take off in flight, they still continue to be fed by their parent for about ten days, and each parent takes on the responsibility for feeding part of the clutch.

The great spotted woodpecker is closely related to other members of its genus. There is a large number of sub-species, some of which are so distinct as to be able to be considered potential new species. It occupies a huge distributional area, has a very numerous population and is not threatened on a vast scale, and so it is classified as a “species of least concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Medium-size bird of prey known for the very high speed it reaches when diving, which can be more than 300 km/h.

• Length: M 38-45 cm; F 46-51 cm
• Wingspan: M 89-100 cm. F104-113 cm.
• Plumage: upper part and wings generally bluish black/ardesian grey. Stumpy and square tail. The head is distinguished by a “black cowl” (to which it owes its name due to the likeness with the cowl worn by the pilgrims) that contrasts with the white crown and throat.
• Weight: M 440-480 g. F 750-1250 g.

It feeds on birds even the size of a pigeon, which it hunts in flight with spectacular dives.

It builds its nests on rocky walls, as well as on buildings, towers and bell towers. It lays 2-4 eggs (which hatch 32-37 days later) that are brooded by both parents.

It is a sedentary species and present worldwide (except for the poles). In Italy is is evenly distributed and regularly builds nests even in a few large cities. At BAM it can be observed flying between the surrounding skyscrapers.

It is a common water species that lives in lakes, marshes, rivers, canals and ponds where there is water vegetation on the banks or shrubs and brambles where it can hide and build a nest.

• Length: 30-38 cm.
• Wingspan: 50-55 cm.
• Plumage: black feathers on crown, body and head, brownish on the upper part with an irregular white stripe on the sides at the edges of the closed wings and an evident upside-down V marking under the tail. The red-orange front shield and bill with yellow tip are noticeable.  Its legs with long toes are yellow-light green.
• Weight: Approx. 250-400 g.

It feeds on water insects, small fish, crustaceans, mollusks, plant material, water grasses and grass. It feeds in the water, but it frequently leaves at the edges of the damp area to graze in the surrounding vegetation.

In Italy it builds its nest from May to July with 2-3 clutches in dense water vegetation, on banks, on small islands, with a nest made of grasses. It lays up to 8-10 eggs that it broods for 20 days. After hatching, the chicks following the parents in search of food.

It is a territorial species that actively defends its nesting space from other birds by chattering and fighting. Definitely vociferous, it emits its trumpeting and grunting and is one of the most frequent songs to be heard in the marshland. It rhythmically moves its head and tail when swimming in the water. Out of the water, it has an elegant walk with its tail that goes up and down at a regular pace. It is both sedentary and migrant in Italy, and has populations in a good state of conservation. In Milan it is commonly seen at all bodies of water having vegetation, and is a neo-colonising species very adaptable to new damp environments.