Rollers and Golden Oriole photography in Bulgaria

Rollers and Golden Oriole photography in Bulgaria

A tour offered by NatureTravel.eu

Price: 690 EUR/pp + 100 SRS
Max number of participants:  6 + 1 guide
Full board trip for 7 days.
Includes: accommodation, transport, guiding, meals, use of hides.
Period:
May 25th-May 31st - 6 places available
June 2th-June 08th - 6 places available

For our stay we shall be based in an area called "Suha reka" in North East Bulgaria. offers fantastic opportunities to photograph over 20 fantastic bird species depending upon the season. For our stay we shal use four hides in the area: drinking stations, tower hide and a mobile hide. Two of them are in the backyard of the cottage, one mobile for bee-eaters and souslik and one sedentary for Rollers.
Each of the hide we are going to use is usually suitable for two. The other people from the group will be set at different locations and then swap.

Day 1
Transfer from Bourgas/Varna/Bucurest airport to the photography location where we shall stay for 6 nights. Photography if time allows. Welcoming dinner with traditional cuisine in a local guesthouse.

Day 2 and 3
Golden Oriole photography. In the yard of the cottage where we shall be accommodated we have built a 9m high tower in front of a tree where over 15 species of birds perch. The tree is in the middle of the territory of two pairs of Golden Orioles. We shall spend the first few hours of the day sitting in the tower hide waiting for the best shot. Often both males and females perch on the tree. Males from different pairs also perch for disputes.
See more images from our tower hide here.
Other species that perch on the tree in photography distance include Middle spotted Woodpecker, Syrian Woodpecker, Great spotted Woodpecker, Black-headed Bunting, Ortolan Bunting, Corn Bunting, Red-Backed Shrike, Spanish Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, House Sparrow, Barn Swallow, Linnet, Cuckoo, Turtle Dove, Collared Dove, Common Starling, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Common Nightingale, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Jay, Common Whitethroat, etc. Rarely, a Sparrowhawk, a Hawfinch or Bee-eater may also land on the tree.
Noon is usually the time when the light is not quite suitable for photography so we usually catch up with some rest in the shade to compensate for the early start. Anyone willing to stay in the hide is welcome.
Rollers and bee-eaters photography in the afternoon. The late afternoon light ought to be used as well. Only about 2 km from our cottage there are several colonies with Bee-eaters and Rollers. Often Bee-eaters nest in holes on the ground and perch on the natural plants around. For the Rollers we have set up a perch a couple of metres away from the hide.

Day 4
Bee-eaters and Rollers photography in the morning. The area of our cottage has over five colonies of European Bee-eaters. At most of them there is a pair or two of Rollers.
Souslik photography, macro and landscape photography in the afternoon. The area has several colonies of Souslik that quite curious sneak from their nesting burrows. There is often Isabelline Wheatear and Northern Wheatear nesting around the Souslik.

Day 5
Today we can spend the whole day in the field aiming to photograph Black Stork, Hoopoe, Sombre Tit and Grey headed Woodpecker photography in the morning and optimize the afternoon light for Shrikes, macro photography and landscapes. The landscape of the area presents infinite opportunities for nesting of cavity nesting birds. Cliffs and old trees with burrows are often occupied by Sombre Tit, Hoopoe and Grey-headed Woodpecker. Every village in the area has several pairs of nesting Syrian Woodpeckers. Small ponds in amongst the cliffs are often visited by Black Stork for foraging.
Spring is the best time for meadow flowers and butterflies which are of great abundance and present fantastic opportunity at afternoon light. The warm light of the setting Sun gives a soft vision of picturesque cliffs.

Day 6
Shrikes, Buntings and Larks photography. The remoteness of the area of our accommodation is a precondition for a great variety of birds that are common here. Red-backed Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Crested Lark, Calandra Lark, Greater Short Toed Lark are a few to name.
Long-legged Buzzard and Lesser-spotted Eagle photography in the afternoon. After siesta we shall drive about 10 km to the north of our place aiming to photograph Long-legged Buzzards in flights. The villages around also present opportunity to photograph Little Owl.

Day 7
Departure: Transfer from our place of accommodation to the airport of your departure.
author: Danbirder © 2012