2019 Italy Vacation Blog: Day 16 - Morning at Borghese Park

March 26, 2019

This was our last full day in Rome and we had an appointment to tour the Borghese Gallery at 3:00 PM. After breakfast at the B&B we headed out for a brief walking tour of the area.

I like the contrast between ancient and modern in the photo:

This statue was worth a photo, it is called Fontanella delle Api ("fountain of the bees").

I would imagine it would cost a good sum to stay at this Westin Hotel.

It was now noon and we made our way over to Borghese Park, even though our tour did not start until 3:00 PM. The walls shown below were built between 271 and 275 AD and enclosed the seven hills of Rome.

Inside the park we had a short visit with Lord Byron, or at least his statue.

We'd been walking all morning and Edith needed a shoe break.

Once again the birds were active in the park. It was the best bird-friendly location we saw in Italy. The Italian Sparrow seems more attractive than the common House Sparrow we see in North America.

It didn't take long for the Rose-ringed Parakeets to show up. It appears that they have had success in breeding this spring as i assume there's one or more chicks in the tree cavity.

I'm not sure what role the third parakeet plays here, perhaps a previous year's bird that is still with its parents...

What can you say about this shot?

Still two hours away from our tour, we admired some of the public art in the park.

The Romulus and Remus theme is seen once again here. Not sure how the Lions fit in.

Edith took this shot of some colourful trees in the park.

A long distance shot of Hooded Crows at a fountain. Unlike our noisy crows, I never really heard them call. They just seemed to go about their business quietly.

Then along came one of the best bird sightings of the trip - a Common Chaffinch. This was a "world lifer" for me. I'd had a couple of others, but this bird was so colourful it topped the list.