I had some doubts whether to wake up early this morning and go out for some bird photography. After a hard week I decided to spend a few more hours in the bed and then go out :) Priority was clear. Well, I walk up at about 9 am and off I went to my local patch about 20 km W of Sofia. A lovely oak woodland with open patches of grassland and scrub. It is still early for the meadow birds so I decided to focus on the woodland.
Initially it was pretty quiet. Nothing was calling. In a couple of minutes I have apparently approached the territory of this lovely Wood Nuthatch. The birds from the pair were nicely displaying. Really nice birds when you see them this close.
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| Nuthatch photography by Iordan Hristov |
My initial idea was to find some more Sombre Tit so I continued walking around to explore the area and hopefully see some more birds. There are some old orchards nearby that I have been willing to explore for a long time. Just as I expected a pair of Sombre Tit responded soon after I arrived on the spot. It was full with birds. Not just the local Starlings and Hawfinches were there but also a group of 6 Robins. This high number raises the question of their migration. I did a quick Google Scholar and it produced a few quite interesting papers discussing the
birds survival (Adriaensen, F & Dhondt A.)
and their
means of orientation (Sandberg et al.) and drivers for migration with a focus on
rain and wind (Schaub, M.et al) :
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| Robin photography |
Other migrants were also present. On a small patch with scrub there were a few Black Redstarts, my first for the year Willow Warbler and a lovely Firecrest. Rather untypical which is the first for my local patch which is now over 80 species with some of the highlights being Golden Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Honey Buzzards, Scops Owl, Syrian Woodpecker, Ortolan Bunting, Wryneck, Thrush Nightingale and many others.
Just as I was thinking about this untypical Firecrest, I remembered a pretty old observation of a Ring Ouzel which I observed in the woods in the area many years ago. In that very moment the call of a Ring Ouzel totally thrilled me. :) Well what can I say. Lovely bird. My first for the year and another observation for my local patch.
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| Blue Tit photography by Iordan Hristov |
I carried on walking in the area but it was already 3 p.m. and just like in summer birds just disapeared. Well it was time for lunch or whatever you call it in the middle of the afternoon :)
