Sparse woods and conifers

The sparse groups of larches, with their big twisted isolated trees, offer numerous resources to a big variety of species, to birds above all. Walking under their crowns you could hear the unique call of the willow tit (Poecile montanus) or either of the coal tit (Periparus ater), lively bird with acrobatic skills, that often dangles upside-down from the branches it is exploring. You could also see the robust colourful silhouette of the red crossbill (Loxia curvirostra), specialised in the pine nuts extraction and, when there is a stone pine (Pinus cembra), you can encounter the spotted nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes). 

Rests of pinecones, broken on logs, or either trunk crevices are unmistakable traces of his presence. 

 

In Summer you can also encounter some roe deers (Capreolus capreolus) browsing the wide grassy layer that, due to lack of rich undergrowth, covers the whole ground. On Monte Bondone, in the areas close to the pastures, groups of European spruces (Picea abies) and larches (Larix decidua) are arranged in a neat way with trees equal in age. This goes against their very nature, being the result of man-made reforestations from the first part of the twentieth century.