Photography and bird survey trip

Photography or should I say non photography trip started rather early this time. I wanted to go to a site about 1,5 hours drive from home and then another 1,5 hours climbing up the mountains. Since I wanted to be in the hide before first light which means 6.30 a.m., I needed to wake up at 3 a.m. This is perhaps the earliest start I have ever had for birds. I have been up at 4 a.m. but at 3, never.

It wasn't that hard in the beginning. Had a nice coffee and it kept me awake while driving along the mountainous roads. During the hike I didn't really needed coffee. There was some really thick mist with about 50 m visibility which made driving a bit of an excitement. I nearly missed the layby.

I arrived at the beginning of the mountain track shortly after 5 a.m. It was - 5 degrees C. I dressed up well, got all my gear and off I went. Along the mountain track two Tawny Owls scared the hell out of me in the pitch dark. Two more were calling further along. Their breeding time approaches so they are keen to announce their territories :).

I arrived at the hide just as planned. 6.30 a.m.The first day light was already coming through so it was time to go in. It is on the top of a hillside above the treeline in one of Bulgaria's national parks. The hide is meant to be used for photographing birds like Golden Eagle, Goshawks, Ravens and Red Fox. That's what attracted me. Rather cosy place with wood coating inside and rocks from outside making it look as a typical habitat feature. There is even a small foae and a chemical toilet for the long photography days. Well there has been a few photography sessions here.

The first birds that started singing were Wood Larks. Their lovely fluty song is sooo pleasant and tuning.

The first Raven called at 6.51. Still not enough light for a good shot but the bird didn't land anyway.

Sun started to light up my perches shortly after 7. Now birds can land. I am ready and light is good.

Landscapes in Bulgaria © Iordan Hristov

At 9.27 nothing has landed so far. A Roe Deer call came from the valley bellow which made me think about it coming up here. But why would it? The bait was not for it :)

At about 8.30 an interesting call came from outside. It reminded me of my initial intention to come and explore this area. It was not that much to photograph something but to see a Rock Partridge. The bird call was a Partridge indeed but it was Grey, not the one I was after.

Landscapes in Bulgaria © Iordan Hristov

9.35 A strong wind came out and it became rather cold regardless of the sunny weather. This makes the waiting a bit more challenging but see what happens. I plan to stay until lunchtime and then go to do a few other things I wanted to do in the area.

10.30 bits of excitement: one Raven flied quite low over the bait. No. It didn't land. It needs some more time.
11.00 nothing in front. A distant Wood Lark sings actively. Catching up with emails...
12.00 still nothing. Well I think it is time to go.

Packed my stuff and off I went. It was beautiful sunshine out there which warmed me up a little bit. There was no sign of any bird in the area which explains their behaviour. I started descended from the hillside towards the village nearby where I wanted to check some areas for White backed Woodpecker and book a hotel.

Landscapes in Bulgaria © Iordan Hristov

Along the track several birds made my day. Couple of Goldcrests were singing here and there. A very pleasant surprise was a Sombre Tit which was actively announcing its territory. But the highlight was a male Goshawk dashed between some trees chasing the birds around.

In the rest of the day I didn't have much luck either. Didn't find any woodpecker but a Great spot. At another location I found three more Sombre Tit Parus lugubris which were chasing each other. The hormones are playing their role :)

After enjoying a lovely view to some cliffs I headed towards home. Not much luck today but this is why surveys are important. Not just to find the birds, but to see where birds are missing. So I would say it was a very useful day.

Birdwatching around Sofia

The rainy weather this Sunday put me off from my intentional plan to go out photographing a Red Fox. However, I had already prepared for a trip so didn't really feel like staying at home. That's why I decided to do a road trip around some wetlands around Sofia. Whatever the weather was I safe in the car so it wouldn't be a problem even if it rains. Off I went.

My first stop was at Aldomirovsko marsh where a singing Corn Bunting and a "stone" welcomed me on the road to the marsh. After enjoying the first singing Corn Bunting suggesting the coming spring, I continues along the road. The "stone" turned out to be this Grey Partridge which was sitting still on the road hoping I won't see it.

What a sight it is. I don't think I have seen a Partridge sitting still for this long time. I was only a couple of meters away from it. In a while it sneaked into the grass where another Partridge was pretending it wasn't there as they do always do.

Grey Partirdge © Iordan Hristov

Further along the road a female Hen Harrier was flying low above the fields. Small groups of passerines were loudly announcing the coming spring. Dozens of Yellowhammers, Tree Sparrows, and Corn Bunting were just everywhere. A rather pleasant surprise were at least half of dozen Stonechats that were singing their song. Well this should be suggesting that spring is near. A pair of Ravens were also croaking loudly and flying up and down in full harmony. What a sight this is. I remember the words of a tourist I guided some time ago saying that "Ravens always show how much they like flying". After these bits of excitement, we carried on to the second place.

We arrived at Dragoman marsh where it started raining. Corn Bunting were absolutely everywhere singing their song out. A female Marsh Harrier maneuvered above the reeds chasing the small birds. Another pair of Ravens was displaying further along the road. Another big party of several dozens of Yellowhammers, Corn Buntings and Chaffinches turned up in the rain. The rain became heavier and we decided to go home.

Well this was a rather pleasant Sunday walk or should I say drive.

Here is a list of some of the birds we saw in no order:

1. Raven Corvus corax
2. Grey Partridge Perdix perdix
3. Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra
4. Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella
5. Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus
6. Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus
7. Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs
8. Tree Sparrow Passer montanus
10. Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis
11. Magpie Pica pica
12. Common Buzzard Buteo buteo
13. Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus
14. European Stonechat Saxicola rubicola

Landscape photography

Just returned from a fantastic trip from areas with stunning scenes.

Here are some of them:

Kutelka by Iordan Hristov

Karandila by Iordan Hristov

Karandila by Iordan Hristov

Landscape photography by Iordan Hristov

Rock Partridge trip

This time I really wanted to visit the Rock Partridge area that I intended to visit last week. On my way to a family holiday I pulled out to the area.

There was still a little bit of snow but patches only. The Rock Partridge area is along an old track leading to a rocky area. Grassland meadows surround the cliffs making the area rather suitable for Rock Partride. The bird turns up pretty much anywhere along the track and around the cliffs.

Along the track we had an adult Golden Eagle, a dozen Yellowhammers, some Mistle Thrushes and Great Tits. We reached the area in 1.5 hours walking along the track. A pair of Raves welcomed us. Soon I started scanning the cliffs. Scanned for some half an hour and moved to another place for another 15 minutes. We'll, no luck this time. It's still quite early for display but I was hoping tha some birds will turn up along the road. Will come back again in a week or so. I definitely need to spend some more time around here. In addition to the Rock Partridge, there is also White-backed Woodpecker and Eagle Owl which I want to see.

Central Balkan mountain by Iordan Hristov

Good start of the coming days. Lovely scenes. Will also need to check the place for sunset landscape photos.

Coming soon :)

Dalmatian and White Pelican photography

This weekend wasn't just as expected. For one of the days I wanted to do some work at home and for the other day I wanted to visit a site for a Rock Partridge and White-backed Woodpecker not far from Sofia. These are two species that a friend from the Netherlands wants to see and I wanted to make sure we increase our chances of seeing the birds. I did the whole preparation for the trip and then a colleague called with a rather tempting suggestion. Pelican photography! Huge temptation. I decided the trip will have some really practical positive sides because I do not go often there and wanted to learn some new sites and accumulate more information about the area. Anyway I wanted to go to this site with my friend too. I decided to take the opportunity and go for this photography trip.

The day started at 4 a.m. About 5 hours later we were at the site. The weather was pretty miserable with some mist but at least it wasn't cold. Rather quiet as a start. Then some Mute Swans swam past followed by quite a few Gadwall, then Pygmy Cormorants, Great Cormorant, Wigeon, Little Grebe, Great Heron and Great White Egret. A gorgeous male Red-crested Pochard has passed by my colleagues but too far for a good photo. Most of the birds were pretty distant for a picture. We stayed birdwatching for a bit and off we went to a spot where we knew was good for Dalmatian Pelicans.

Mute Swan and Gadwall © Iordan Hristov

A large silhouette projected its shade on the track. We quickly jumped off the car from either side. It was a Great-spotted Eagle! Rather obligingly it circled overhead a couple of times to show its glory. It filled up our frames nicely.

Great spotted Eagle © Iordan Hristov 2014

Great spotted Eagle © Iordan Hristov 2014

Great spotted Eagle © Iordan Hristov 2014

Further on  a dozen Bewick Swans was calmly feeding in the shallow water of the lake. Then we spotted a White-tailed Eagle and a flock of several hundred Great White fronted Geese. On the other side of the road above the fields a young Peregrine was streaming towards a group of Mallards. It tried a surprise but it was too obvious. Did not seem quite skillful. Mallards survived this time. A couple of Kestrels and loads of Collared Doves made our way to the Pelican site rather pleasant and we managed to relax after the bits of exciting birding.

Then...there they are. Dalmatian Pelicans in fully adult and breeding plumage. What a bird. Couple of them were waiting by the local fishermen to give them some fish. I don't know about the fishermen buy we shall certainly give them.

We quickly got a basket of fish and started feeding the Pelicans. The birds were not afraid afraid. The bravest were coming up to about 1 m from our cameras. We had to use wide-angle lenses. The light was just right. Lovely soft light was nicely lighting the birds to give this highly desired shine in the eye.

Dalmatian Pelican photography © Iordan Hristov

Dalmatian Pelican photography © Iordan Hristov

Dalmatian Pelican photography © Iordan Hristov

Dalmatian Pelican photography © Iordan Hristov

Dalmatian Pelican photography © Iordan Hristov

Dalmatian Pelican photography © Iordan Hristov

Dalmatian Pelican photography © Iordan Hristov

With the Dalmatians there was one different bird. A White Pelican. Actually it was pink :) strange name for this bird. The White (Pink) Pelican looked so unreal. It was soook pink. I have never seen such a bird this close. The Dalmatians didn't like him very much and he often stayed hungry somewhere behind the crested Dalmatians.

White Pelican photography © Iordan Hristov

White Pelican photography © Iordan Hristov

White and Dalmatian Pelican photography © Iordan Hristov

We gave all our fish and the light wasn't good for photography any more so we decided to go.

Well this was a lovely weekend. Although I couldn't make most of the Saturday and had to start early on Sunday I hope the images will make it worth it.

Here is a checklist of all the birds we saw for the day in a systematic order without really putting much effort. have in mind this was meant to be a photography trip:

1. Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis
2. Great crested Grebe
3. White Pelican
4. Dalmatian Pelican
5. Cormorant
6. Pygmy Cormorant
7. Great White Egret
8. Grey Heron
9. Black Stork
10. Flamingo
11. Mute Swan
12. Whooper Swan
13. Bewick's Swan
14. White-fronted Goose
15. Greylag Goose
16. Shelduck
17. Mallard
18. Gadwall
19. Wigeon
20. Teal
21. Pochard
22. Red-crested Pochard
23. White-tailed Eagle
24. Great-spotted Eagle
25. Hen Harrier
26. Common Buzzard
27. Sparrowhawk
28. Common Kestrel
29. Peregrine
30. Coot
31. Lapwing
32. Green Sandpiper
33. Common Snipe
34. Black-headed Gull
35. Yellow-legged Gull
36. Feral Pigeon
37. Collared Dove
38. Little Owl
39. Kingfisher
40. Green Woodpecker
41. Grey-headed Woodpecker
42. Skylark
43. Crested Lark
44. White Wagtail
45. Grey Wagtail
46. Robin
47. Blackbird
48. Cetti's Warbler
49. Great Tit
50. Blue Tit
51. Nuthatch
52. Magpie
53. Jay
54. Hooded Crow
55. Common Starling
56. House Sparrow
57. Tree Sparrow
58. Chaffinch
59. Goldfinch
60. Corn Bunting

White Pelican image printed in BBC Knowledge magazine

The last edition of the Bulgarian BBC Knowledge magazine for February comes out with one of my images of White Pelicans. The lovely reflection from water creates unusual marks on the underwing and the body. The image illustrates a material on the results from the International Mid-winter Waterfowl Census in Bulgaria conducted in January 2014.

White Pelican Image by Iordan Hristov on the right hand side page

Trekking in Pirin mountains in Bulgaria

In the past weekend I realised a dream that I have been thinking about for a long time. After years of thinking and dreaming of trekking in Pirin mountains I finally managed to do it. Although it was only for a couple of hours we did two routes towards 1) Bynderitsa chalet and 2) Bezbog chalet - Bezbog peak.

The trek to Bynderitsa chalet was really relaxing. We walked along the road which was now covered with snow and was closed so there were no people. Only the high and old pine trees were witnessing our talks making the moment rather special. The snow was at least a metre deep covering some of the signs nearly to their top.

Pirin mountains by Iordan Hristov

The trip to Bezbog chalet was absolutely gorgeous. The sun and the snow were making the atmosphere sooo enjoyable and relaxing. We took a chair lift up то Bezbog chalet and walked towards the summit. A 360 degrees view from the top revealed the tops of three mountains around: Rila, Pirin and Rhodopes. It is always a special feeling being on the top of a mountain.

Pirin mountains by Iordan Hristov

 The snow was again more than a metre deep. The lake in front of the chalet was frozen but steps in the snow showed some damp bits suggesting the water from the lake might be coming through. We quickly left the lake after walking on top.

Pirin mountains by Iordan Hristov

After a nice tee and coffee in the chalet we took the chair lift and descended. Dead wood standing trees were suggesting the age of the forest and diversity of wildlife it keeps. When realising this, a Nutcracker called from the top of a tree and a group of Crossbills flied over.

Dead wood by Iordan Hristov

Superb trip.