What are the secrets hidden by this wall of cane? It's only if you listen carefully that you can heard a rustle, a low-tone breaking, which are the results of confident and furtive movements. You can catch a voice, a ringing call, a muttering, or a rough laugh. These are the inhabitants of the cane thicket, the birds which have found excellent conditions to live in this peculiar environment, and to breed their young. They move between the canes with particular care, hiding from their natural enemies and man. Some of these birds are very cautious and come out in the open only at sunrise and sunset, when their chances to be seen are limited.

These types of birds don't use their wings too often. Some don't really need them: they have long strong claws, which allow them to climb, run, and go through cane walls, so that they can easy hide. Only if you are patient and have binoculars you can see and recognize them from a distance.

The cane thickets of the Sardinian wetlands usually host the water hen with its green claws, brown back and red beak with a yellow top. It isn't uncommon to see it near the borders of the woods looking for food. The water-rails are less common and more elusive and difficult to see because of their twilight habits. These little rails seldom venture outside the safe protection of the cane thicket. The colour of their plumage enables them to easily camouflage themselves. However, some species have a bright coral red beak, which reveals their presence when they go out into the open.

Therefore, it is difficult to understand which evolutionary principles has followed a particular species. Not only in comparison with the other rails, but also in comparison with the other birds that live in the cane thicket. Often, even before showing itself, the purple gallinule announce itself with a nasal sound, similar to a flourish, which is repeated many times with increasing intensity. Then you see it coming out through the canes gently leaning its huge feet. One cannot be fascinated by such a bird which is as big as a hen but looks like it is the result of the bizarre fantasy of an artist. The plumage is blue with white subcaudal feathers, and the claws and the beak, which has a gaudy plaque, are bright red. This particular matching and the bright colours of its plumage make it really stand out from the surrounding uniform environment. However, the greatest surprise is perhaps the way it eats. After having taken off a sprout from a cane in its beak, it grabs it with the very long digits of a claw and starts to mangle it using the claw as if it was a hand. This bird is the king of the cane thicket and perhaps that's why it doesn't need camouflage. The agility, the size and the strong beak makes it less desirable as prey in comparison with the other water-birds which share the cane thicket of our ponds. This is the reason why even a well known predator like the marsh harrier will not pay attention to it during its low-height flights over the cane, but prefers to fly around looking for a young water-hen or a weak coot.

A dab-chick, an attractive bird with soft and extremely waterproof plumage, can peep through the base of the cane thicket. This bird, which is almost without a tail and with short wings, is an excellent underwater fisher. Its Italian name reminds us of its frequent immersions, during which it catches small fish or grubs. During the nest-building, it builds a floating nest attached to the canes and defends it against intruders with determination beyond belief, even against much bigger and stronger birds.

If you happen to notice a peculiar "cane" oscillating with the wind with flexuose movements, with two eyes and a sharp beak facing the sky, you have met a bittern, a small heron which has taken its colour as well as its gait from the cane. Its ability to camouflage itself is very impressive and this bird really thinks it is invisible, so much so that it can sometimes be approached at close distance continuing to oscillate its long neck sidewise.

The kingfisher, a colourful arrow with wings, doesn't have the problem of camouflage because its winning resource is the ability to dive. When a prey is in sight, it dives quickly into the water, breaking it with only a sprinkle, and after a split second it on the top of a cane with a small silver fish in its beak. However, this bird doesn't actually live in the cane thicket, and the canes are nothing but a comfortable place where it can rest and lie in ambush.

When the cane becomes greener because of the new sprouts, the majority of the migratory birds that were in the pond have already left, heading North. Not all the birds of the cane thicket have left their homes though. The clutches have been placed inside solid nests near the water or between the canes. Whilst the Mallard is brooding, it knows that its young, like the ones of the Water-Hen, the Purple Gallinule, the Dab-chick, or of the Bittern, will be able to count on the thick shelter of the canes, which will protect them from the predators during the most delicate phases of their life.

The cane thicket is made of plants belonging to the types Phragmites e Typha, which are reproduced through rizomes especially near the border of the wetlands, in fresh and shallow water. It grows with particular speed in eutrophic conditions, where there is plenty of nourishment (phosphorus and nitrogen), which are introduced in the water by urban sewage systems. Under some circumstances, the cane thicket can grow so much that it can cause the covering of the ponds. The cane thicket is always a valuable natural environment, an irreplaceable habitat for many species of sparrows and water-birds. Inside the cane thicket around the Sadininan wetlands, there nidificated in the past, some rare and protected birds: the glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), the bittern (Botaurus stellaris), the grey heron (Ardeola ralloides), the tufted duck (Aythya nyroca), the marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus), and the purple gallinule (Porphyrio porphyrio). In 1985, the first nidification of a particular type of heron, the Bubulcus Ibis, took place in a Sardinian cane thicket.