Region covered by this Crossbill Guide
This Crossbill Guide covers the entire region of Tuscany (Toscana), including the Tuscan Archipelago. It features not only the famous landscapes around Florence, Siena, Pisa and San Gimignano, but also Tuscany’s finest wildlife areas, such as the lagoons of Orbetello, Monte Argentario, the Maremma Regional Park, the Apuan Alps and the Tuscan Apennines. Together, these landscapes range from Mediterranean coasts and wetlands to rugged limestone mountains and high forests, making Tuscany one of Italy’s most diverse regions for wildlife and nature travel.
The Crossbill Guide Tuscany is a thorough and practical guide for birdwatchers, naturalists and nature lovers. It offers background information, routes and site descriptions, plus tips on finding and watching all kinds of wildlife. Each route contains detailed descriptions of where to find birds, wildlife and wildflowers. The guide combines walking routes with car itineraries featuring stops and short walks. Although some walks are challenging, all are designed to explore the landscape and discover its wildlife rather than simply covering distance.
Some key sites described in this book
- Elba
- Tuscan Archipelago
- Maremma Regional Park
- Orbetello
- Monte Argentario
- Los Alcornocales
- Apuan Alps
- Appenine Mountains
- Val D’Orcia
- Lago de Montepulciano
Why visit Tuscany for its birds and wildlife
Tuscany is famous throughout the world for its rolling hills, vineyards, medieval towns and Renaissance cities. Much less well known is that it is also one of Italy’s richest regions for wildlife, birdwatching and botanical interest. The remarkable variety of landscapes — Mediterranean coast, wetlands, islands, mountains, forests and traditional farmland — creates an exceptional diversity of habitats within a relatively small area.
Birdwatchers can enjoy everything from Mediterranean specialities and wetland birds in the Maremma and Orbetello lagoons to mountain species in the Apennines and Apuan Alps. Tuscany is equally rewarding for botanists, butterfly enthusiasts and herpetologists, with an extraordinary diversity of orchids, butterflies and reptiles, including several species found nowhere else in the world.
The region also lends itself perfectly to combining nature with culture. Few places in Europe allow visitors to spend the morning exploring a medieval hill town, the afternoon watching flamingos or Bee-eaters, and the evening enjoying the landscapes that made Tuscany world-famous.
Look for more information and images on our Wildlife Site Page on Tuscany.
Some key species you may find with this book
- Crested Porcupine
- Bee-eater
- Pygmy Cormorant
- Great Spotted Cuckoo
- Greater Flamingo
- Bald Ibis
- Corsican Finch
- Marmora’s Warbler
- Northern Spectacled Salamander
- Berteloni’s Orchid
- Sparse-flowered Orchid
- Scarce Tongue Orchid
- Italian Festoon
- Elban Heath
- Bladetail
About the author
Graham Chisholm (USA) has been dedicated to the conservation movement for more than 30 years in California and Nevada (USA). Through his work in leadership positions at The Nature Conservancy and Audubon he has help put over 150,000 hectares into permanent conservation. Ever since having lived in Italy at a young age, he has maintained a close connection to Italy and the Mediterranean.
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