Second national BirdID training: day 4 - the end

The last day of the training was planned for the conifer forest. We collected tents and gear and down we went to a lovely track in the middle of a coniferous forest. En route we had more Nutcrackers, Bullfinches, Crossbills, Wren, Blackcap, Great-spotted Woodpecker and a group of 20+ Pallid Swifts that have bread under the gutter of a chalet by the car park.

The track was fairly quiet. There were many flowers and some butterflies but birds weren't abundant. Still, we managed to get a Dipper, Grey Wagtail, a high flying Black Stork and lots of wild strawberries that distracted the participants from my talks.

Dactylorhiza cordigera, copyright Iordan Hristov

Dactylorhiza saccifera, copyright Iordan Hristov

Lilium martagon, copyright Iordan Hristov 

Well that was it. The second national training is over. Participants were glad to be in a different habitat and be out again. They definitely appreciate this training and look for the next trip in autumn.

We saw a total of 44 species listed below:
1.White Stork
2.Black Stork
3.Golden Eagle
4.Common Buzzard
5.Eurasian Sparrowhawk
6.Kestrel
7.Wood Pigeon
8.Pallid Swift
9.Hoopoe
10.Great spotted Woodpecker
11.Skylark
12.Crested Lark
13.Crag Martin
14.Barn Swallow
15.House Martin
16.Water Pipit
17.White Wagtail
18.Grey Wagtail
19.Wren
20.Dipper
21.Dunnock
22.Alpine Accentor
23.Robin
24.Black Redstart
25.Mistle Thrush
26.Blackbird
27.Ring Ouzel
28.Blackcap
29.Chiffchaff
30.Coal Tit
31.Crested Tit
32.Wood Nuthatch
33.Red-backed Shrike
34.Jay
35.Nutcracker
36.Alpine Chough
37.Raven
38.Common Starling
39.Common Chaffinch
40.Goldfinch
41.Siskin
42.Bullfinch
43.Crossbill
44.Corn Bunting
45.Lesser spotted Eagle
46.Whinchat
47.Greenfinch

Second national BirdID training: day 3

Day 3 from the training was under risk of heavy rain too. Today our group was larger since more people joined for the weekend. Today we wanted to go to a mountain shelter next to a lake called "Strashno ezero". Literary translated the name of the lake means "the scary lake". The reason for this name is the high risk of thunders that occur in that area. Apparently there is a lot of ore in the cliffs around that attract the thunders.

The first part of the route was even steeper than on the previous day. However, the part after that was nice to walk and quite a few birds turned up. There were more of my favourite Alpine Accentors. At a place we had quite a few juveniles.

Alpine Accentor juv, copyright Iordan Hristov

Further along we had Water Pipits and Siskins, which people appreciated.

Water Pipit, copyright Iordan Hristov

There were also a few orchids ...

Pseudorchis albida, copyright Iordan Hristov

Saxifraga rotundifolia, copyright Iordan Hristov

and again more superb landscapes.

Second national BirdID training: day 2

We woke up at 6 a.m. After the intense survey last week in Norway it was time to search for birds again. This time i wanted to show them to the participants in the BirdId training that I lead for the Bulgarian Society for the protection of birds and the Nord-Trondelag University college.

We wanted to make the route from Maliovitsa chalet to the peak with the same name. This was going to be the direction with no necessity to reach the peak. What I wanted most is to see and show some alpine birds.

Before breakfast we enjoyed the first sunlight and the Crossbills which were still around the chalet before people have started moving about.

Crossbill, copyright Iordan Hristov

The trail followed a picturesque valley surrounded by peaks. Lush meadows were home of the endemic Rila primrose Primula deorum. This pretty flower was everywhere.

Rila Primrose Primula deorum, copyright Iordan Hristov

Rila Primrose Primula deorum, copyright Iordan Hristov

Other than it we enjoyed at least five Balkan chamois that were calmly grazing on the top of the hills on the edge of the valley.

Balkan Chamois, copyright Iordan Hristov

The scenery was superb.

Rila mountains, copyright Iordan Hristov

Soon we had one of our target birds: Alpine Accentor. It is in severe decline and I am really worried about the fortune of this bird. Together with all the other alpine species it is understudied and we don't know why is the species disappearing.

Alpine Accentor Prunella collaris, copyright Iordan Hristov

Alpine Accentor Prunella collaris, copyright Iordan Hristov

Alpine Accentor Prunella collaris, copyright Iordan Hristov

We managed to reach the hill top but a gust of winds and dark clouds took over. Heavy rain was coming and we decided to go back to the chalet. Some of the group members really regretted that they couldn't climb up to the peak but our choice was wiser. A tourist passing by told us a site for the superb Wallcreeper but we had to give it up.

As it usually happens, once we got to the chalet Sun came out. Never mind, an hour later the heavy rain was back we managed to stay dry. That's the weather like in the mountains.

The second national BirdID training in Bulgaria starts today: day 1

The second national BirdID training starts today. It is organised by the Bulgarian society for the protection of birds and the Nord-Trondelag University College HiNT. The training is a part of the project for common bird monitoring and aims at preparing new participants in the monitoring scheme.

The second national training will be implemented in Rila mountains and will focus on mountainous birds. Before heading up to the mountains a small group of us decided to do some photography down in the lowlands. Birds weren't very active so we focused on butterflies and orchids. We did see a few Whinchats, Hoopoe, a pair of Lesser spotted Eagle and some Common Buzzards but the weren't very tame so we couldn't take many pictures.

It was getting warm and soon we decided to head up to the mountains. Not before we had lunch in a small restaurant in a village called Govedartsi. It was fairly difficult to find a place in the middle of the week but we managed anyway.

On the way up to the mountains we walked along a nice little road in a pine forest where we saw some Crested Tit, Nutcrackers and Crossbills. Butterflies weren't very abundant but some presented good opportunities.

Crossbill, copyright Iordan Hristov

Balkan Copper Lycaena candens, copyright Iordan Hristov

It was time to head up to the mountains. We packed our stuff and got ready for an hour and a half trek up a mountain trail. The heavy backpacks didn't let us do a lot of birding. Nevertheless we got a very distant Golden Eagle, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, more Nutcrackers and Crossbills and Bullfinches.

distant Golden Eagle

Soon we arrived in the mountain chalet at 1960 m above the sea level right on the edge of the tree line. Here we were going to be based for the nest three nights. After a refreshing drink we grabbed the cameras and binoculars and dashed around. Right in front of the chalet we saw a Ring Ouzel, Dunnock, which here is primarily a mountainous bird, Crossbills, Nutcrackers and Black Redstarts.

Dunnock is primarily a mountainous bird breeding in the dwarf pine, copyright Iordan Hristov

The sunset light nicely lit the surrounding summits...

view from the Chalet

BirdID trip in Bulgaria 2014: day 10, May 3rd – last day

“This was a great trip, based on a great formula. I will do all I can to promote the activities and benefits of “HiNT” and the BSPB” concluded Bob Dennison at the end of the final day from the trip.

Alexander Marinov - another participant from the group wrote: "Great 10 days of birdwatching in a lovely company, breathtaking landscapes and an exciting diversity of birds. After 2000 km across Bulgaria I can only say, thank you, Dancho, for the fantastic times!"

Per Willy Bø concluded "The trip was a great success! Thank you very much".

With these positive comments we ended this 10 day trip across Bulgaria. The last day was spent mostly in travelling because of the long distance but we still managed to spot a bird or two. We saw quite a few Common Buzzards, Little Egret, Lesser spotted Eagle, Crested Lark, Grey Partridge one new addition to the list - Graylag Geese making a total of 228 bird species seen in 10 days. This is a few more than the group last year when we saw 225 species. Well perhaps the number is not that important. What matters is the positive attitude of everyone, the joy, the travel, the beauty of our country, the multinational group with people from Norway, Bulgaria and Great Britain. Participants did appreciate this multicultural element of the trip which brought more joy and pleasant atmosphere of the trip.

We are already looking forward for our next year trip! If you want to sign up for it please check the conditions on the BirdID website here.

Photos from the trip are coming up soon.

The final list of species seen during the trip is below:

Common name 1.             Graylag Goose 2.             Mute Swan 3.             Ruddy Shelduck 4.             Common Shelduck 5.             Gadwall 6.             Eurasian Wigeon 7.             Mallard 8.             Northern Shoveler 9.             Northern Pintail 10.         Garganey 11.         Red-crested Pochard 12.         Common Pochard 13.         Ferruginous Duck 14.         Tufted Duck 15.         Chukar 16.         Grey Partridge 17.         Common Quail 18.         Ring-necked Pheasant 19.         Black-throated Diver 20.         Little Grebe 21.         Great Crested Grebe 22.         Black-necked Grebe 23.         Yelkouan Shearwater 24.         Black Stork 25.         White Stork 26.         Great Cormorant 27.         Pygmy Cormorant 28.         Great White Pelican 29.         Dalmatian Pelican 30.         Little Bittern 31.         Grey Heron 32.         Purple Heron 33.         Great Egret 34.         Little Egret 35.         Squacco Heron 36.         Black-crowned Night-Heron 37.         Glossy Ibis 38.         Eurasian Spoonbill 39.         Egyptian Vulture 40.         European Honey-buzzard 41.         Eurasian Griffon 42.         Short-toed Eagle 43.         Lesser Spotted Eagle 44.         Booted Eagle 45.         Imperial Eagle 46.         Golden Eagle 47.         Eurasian Marsh-Harrier 48.         Montagu's Harrier 49.         Eurasian Sparrowhawk 50.         Black Kite 51.         White-tailed Eagle 52.         Common Buzzard 53.         Long-legged Buzzard 54.         Water Rail 55.         Eurasian Moorhen 56.         Eurasian Coot 57.         Stone Curlew 58.         Black-winged Stilt 59.         Pied Avocet 60.         Eurasian Oystercatcher 61.         Grey Plover 62.         Northern Lapwing 63.         Kentish Plover 64.         Common Ringed Plover 65.         Little Ringed Plover 66.         Common Sandpiper 67.         Green Sandpiper 68.         Spotted Redshank 69.         Common Greenshank 70.         Marsh Sandpiper 71.         Wood Sandpiper 72.         Common Redshank 73.         Whimbrel 74.         Eurasian Curlew 75.         Black-tailed Godwit 76.         Ruddy Turnstone 77.         Ruff 78.         Broad-billed Sandpiper 79.         Curlew Sandpiper 80.         Temminck's Stint 81.         Dunlin 82.         Little Stint 83.         Common Snipe 84.         Collared Pratincole 85.         Parasitic Skua 86.         Slender-billed Gull 87.         Black-headed Gull 88.         Little Gull 89.         Mediterranean Gull 90.         Mew Gull 91.         Yellow-legged Gull 92.         Caspian Gull 93.         Lesser Black-backed Gull 94.         Little Tern 95.         Gull-billed Tern 96.         Black Tern 97.         White-winged Black Tern 98.         Whiskered Tern 99.         Common Tern 100.     Sandwich Tern 101.     Rock Pigeon 102.     Stock Dove 103.     Common Wood-Pigeon 104.     European Turtle-Dove 105.     Eurasian Collared-Dove 106.     Common Cuckoo 107.     European Scops-Owl 108.     Eurasian Eagle-Owl 109.     Little Owl 110.     Tawny Owl 111.     Eurasian Nightjar 112.     Alpine Swift 113.     Common Swift 114.     Common Kingfisher 115.     European Bee-eater 116.     European Roller 117.     Eurasian Hoopoe 118.     Eurasian Wryneck 119.     Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 120.     Middle Spotted Woodpecker 121.     Great Spotted Woodpecker 122.     Syrian Woodpecker 123.     Black Woodpecker 124.     Green Woodpecker 125.     Grey-headed Woodpecker 126.     Eurasian Kestrel 127.     Red-footed Falcon 128.     Eurasian Hobby 129.     Peregrine Falcon 130.     Red-backed Shrike 131.     Lesser Gray Shrike 132.     Woodchat Shrike 133.     Eurasian Golden Oriole 134.     Eurasian Jay 135.     Eurasian Magpie 136.     Eurasian Jackdaw 137.     Rook 138.     Hooded Crow 139.     Common Raven 140.     Bearded Reedling 141.     Calandra lark 142.     Greater Short-toed Lark 143.     Crested Lark 144.     Skylark 145.     Wood Lark 146.     Sand Martin 147.     Eurasian Crag Martin 148.     Barn Swallow 149.     Red-rumped Swallow 150.     Common House Martin 151.     Sombre Tit 152.     Marsh Tit 153.     Willow Tit 154.     Coal Tit 155.     Great Tit 156.     Blue Tit 157.     Eurasian Penduline-Tit 158.     Long-tailed Tit 159.     Eurasian Nuthatch 160.     Rock Nuthatch 161.     Wallcreeper 162.     Short-toed Treecreeper 163.     Eurasian Wren 164.     White-throated Dipper 165.     Goldcrest 166.     Firecrest 167.     Cetti's Warbler 168.     Willow Warbler 169.     Common Chiffchaff 170.     Eastern Bonelli's Warbler 171.     Wood Warbler 172.     Sedge Warbler 173.     Marsh Warbler 174.     Eurasian Reed-Warbler 175.     Great Reed-Warbler 176.     Eurasian RiverWarbler 177.     Savi'sWarbler 178.     Blackcap 179.     GardenWarbler 180.     Barred Warbler 181.     Lesser Whitethroat 182.     Eastern Orphean Warbler 183.     SubalpineWarbler 184.     Common Whitethroat 185.     Spotted Flycatcher 186.     European Robin 187.     Thrush Nightingale 188.     Common Nightingale 189.     European Pied Flycatcher 190.     Collared Flycatcher 191.     Semi-collared Flycatcher 192.     Red-breasted Flycatcher 193.     Common Redstart 194.     Black Redstart 195.     Blue Rock-Thrush 196.     Whinchat 197.     European Stonechat 198.     Northern Wheatear 199.     Pied Wheatear 200.     Black-eared Wheatear 201.     Isabelline Wheatear 202.     Ring Ouzel 203.     Eurasian Blackbird 204.     Song Thrush 205.     European Starling 206.     Dunnock 207.     Western Yellow Wagtail 208.     CitrineWagtail 209.     Grey Wagtail 210.     WhiteWagtail 211.     Tawny Pipit 212.     Tree Pipit 213.     Yellowhammer 214.     Cirl Bunting 215.     Rock Bunting 216.     Ortolan Bunting 217.     Reed Bunting 218.     Corn Bunting 219.     Common Chaffinch 220.     Eurasian Bullfinch 221.     European Greenfinch 222.     European Goldfinch 223.     Eurasian Linnet 224.     European Serin 225.     Hawfinch 226.     House Sparrow 227.     Spanish Sparrow 228.     Eurasian Tree Sparrow	Scientific name Anser anser Cygnus olor Tadorna ferruginea Tadorna tadorna Anas strepera Anas penelope Anas platyrhynchos Anas clypeata Anas acuta Anas querquedula Netta rufina Aythya ferina Aythya nyroca Aythya fuligula Alectoris chukar Perdix perdix Coturnix coturnix Phasianus colchicus Gavia arctica Tachybaptus ruficollis Podiceps cristatus Podiceps nigricollis Puffinus yelkouan Ciconia nigra Ciconia ciconia Phalacrocorax carbo Phalacrocorax pygmaeus Pelecanus onocrotalus Pelecanus crispus Ixobrychus minutus Ardea cinerea Ardea purpurea Ardea alba Egretta garzetta Ardeola ralloides Nycticorax nycticorax Plegadis falcinellus Platalea leucorodia Neophron percnopterus Pernis apivorus Gyps fulvus Circaetus gallicus Aquila pomarina Hieraaetus pennatus Aquila heliaca Aquila chrysaetos Circus aeruginosus Circus pygargus Accipiter nisus Milvus migrans Haliaeetus albicilla Buteo buteo Buteo rufinus Rallus aquaticus Gallinula chloropus Fulica atra Burhinus oedicnemus Himantopus himantopus Recurvirostra avosetta Haematopus ostralegus Pluvialis squatarola Vanellus vanellus Charadrius alexandrinus Charadrius hiaticula Charadrius dubius Actitis hypoleucos Tringa ochropus Tringa erythropus Tringa nebularia Tringa stagnatilis Tringa glareola Tringa totanus Numenius phaeopus Numenius arquata Limosa limosa Arenaria interpres Calidris pugnax Calidris falcinellus Calidris ferruginea Calidris temminckii Calidris alpina Calidris minuta Gallinago gallinago Glareola pratincola Stercorarius parasiticus Chroicocephalus genei Chroicocephalus ridibundus Hydrocoloeus minutus Ichthyaetus melanocephalus Larus canus Larus michahellis Larus cachinnans Larus fuscus Sternula albifrons Gelochelidon nilotica Chlidonias niger Chlidonias leucopterus Chlidonias hybrida Sterna hirundo Thalasseus sandvicensis Columba livia Columba oenas Columba palumbus Streptopelia turtur Streptopelia decaocto Cuculus canorus Otus scops Bubo bubo Athene noctua Strix aluco Caprimulgus europaeus Apus melba Apus apus Alcedo atthis Merops apiaster Coracias garrulus Upupa epops Jynx torquilla Dendrocopos minor Dendrocopos medius Dendrocopos major Dendrocopos syriacus Dryocopus martius Picus viridis Picus canus Falco tinnunculus Falco vespertinus Falco subbuteo Falco peregrinus Lanius collurio Lanius minor Lanius senator Oriolus oriolus Garrulus glandarius Pica pica Corvus monedula Corvus frugilegus Corvus cornix Corvus corax Panurus biarmicus Melanocorypha calandra Calandrella brachydactyla Galerida cristata Alauda arvensis Lullula arborea Riparia riparia Ptyonoprogne rupestris Hirundo rustica Cecropis daurica Delichon Urbicum Poecile lugubris Poecile palustris Poecile montanus Periparus ater Parus major Cyanistes caeruleus Remiz pendulinus Aegithalos caudatus Sitta europaea Sitta neumayer Tichodroma muraria Certhia brachydactyla Troglodytes troglodytes Cinclus cinclus Regulus regulus Regulus ignicapilla Cettia cetti Phylloscopus trochilus Phylloscopus collybita Phylloscopus orientalis Phylloscopus sibilatrix Acrocephalus schoenobaenus Acrocephalus palustris Acrocephalus scirpaceus Acrocephalus arundinaceus Locustella fluviatilis Locustella luscinioides Sylvia atricapilla Sylvia borin Sylvia nisoria Sylvia curruca Sylvia crassirostris Sylvia cantillans Sylvia communis Muscicapa striata Erithacus rubecula Luscinia luscinia Luscinia megarhynchos Ficedula hypoleuca Ficedula albicollis Ficedula semitorquata Ficedula parva Phoenicurus phoenicurus Phoenicurus ochruros Monticola solitarius Saxicola rubetra Saxicola rubicola Oenanthe oenanthe Oenanthe pleschanka Oenanthe hispanica Oenanthe isabellina Turdus torquatus Turdus merula Turdus philomelos Sturnus vulgaris Prunella modularis Motacilla flava Motacilla citreola Motacilla cinerea Motacilla alba Anthus campestris Anthus trivialis Emberiza citrinella Emberiza cirlus Emberiza cia Emberiza hortulana Emberiza schoeniclus Emberiza calandra Fringilla coelebs Pyrrhula pyrrhula Chloris chloris Carduelis carduelis Carduelis cannabina Serinus serinus Coccothraustes coccothraustes Passer domesticus Passer hispaniolensis Passer montanus