BirdID trip in Bulgaria 2014: day 8, May 1st

This was The day. Absolutely fantastic! I don’t know where to start. We saw all the flycatchers you can see in Bulgaria, Arctic Skuas, Yelkouan Shearwaters, Thrush Nightingale, Citrine Wagtail, Ferruginous Duck, Pygmy Cormorant and what not. The number will come later on.

We met in front of the hotel at 7.00 am. Some of the people from the group were up before 6 and had already logged a few newies. We walked around to enjoy the beautiful morning. It was full with sounds. We saw the first for the trip Willow Warbler which was rather exciting for the group since we enjoyed every new species that would take us to the target of 225 species seen during the trip last year.

Barn Swallow, copyright Iordan Hristov

A Collared Dove has made a nice nest on an antenna. A view you would expect but don’t often see. In a minute we heard a strange croaking reminding me of a Thrush Nightingale. It wasn’t difficult to make sure I was right. It was rather exciting for most of the people who hadn’t seen it before. Two minutes later a strange looking flycatcher turned up. Initially we thought it was a Pied Flycatcher but photos proved it was a Semi-collared with evident white sides of the tail which miss on the Pied. Now we were ready for breakfast.

After a superb breakfast we headed to the north searching for a Paddyfield Warbler. We stayed at the site for some time but had no luck. Nevertheless it was still great to see the Glossy Ibis, Purple Herons, Pygmy Cormorant, Collared Pratincole, Savi’s Warbler, Whiskered Terns, etc. We added Bearded Tit and Reed Bunting to the list and off we went.

Birdwatching in Bulgaria copyright Iordan Hristov

After a pleasant coffee we headed to another place further south. We got a few items from the groceries for lunch and had a rather pleasant lunch on a terrace looking at the sea. Arctic Skua and Yelkouan Shearwater were the highlights that broke up our lunch.

Birdwatching in Bulgaria copyright Iordan Hristov

We headed towards a wetland nearby but before reaching it the scrub along the track stopped us for some time. This time they were Red-breasted Flycatcher and Collared Flycatcher. Further along a Pied Flycatcher turned up. After an hour walk for the 100 m we reached the wetland. An excitement overtook when a brilliant looking Citrine Wagtail turned up. It came rather close for the photographers in the group. Grey Plover was also there.

Woodchat Shrike and birders from our group, copyright Iordan Hristov

We already started counting the number of species and realized we were approaching 224 which was only one less than last year’s number. A Lesser Black Backed Gull was the lucky bird to make us even – 225 species seen for 8 days of birdwatching in Bulgaria. We have another day to go and hopefully we will have some surprises.

On the way back home we stopped for the last time for the day. Black-necked Grebes, Yelkouan Shearwaters and Arctic Skuas were the highlights. A couple of Harbour Porpoise also turned up which brought some excitement and put a lovely end of the long day.

We had only two sites but we counted a total of 128 species for the day and 226 for the trip. Not too bad, is it.