Birdwatching in Bulgaria: tailored trip 8-15 March, day 3

What a day!!! Early start. Long walks, Long driving, Late arrival and ... Early dinner :) The result: 79 bird species, lots of snow, rain and wind. Well this was just today withing about 300 km. You would probably say this is not possible. Well it is.

The alarm rang at about 5.40 a.m. Quickly packed and got on the car for an early start. Our main target for the morning was the White-backed Woodpecker.We stopped for a while to grab a coffee and off we went up to the mountains. At 6,40 people were already jogging along the roads. We arrived at our final destination at about 7.00. It was soo lively. Birds were actively singing. There were Wood Nuthatches, Robins, Wrens and Song Thrushes everywhere. A Middle spotted Woodpecker welcomed us at the car park. We entered a superb forest with huge quantity of deadwood. That's the main reason for the diversity of woodpecker we managed to get.

Dead wood as a habitat for White backed Woodpecker

We walked for a while and had the first Great spotted Woodpecker. Of course every woodpecker was checked. Further on a Grey-headed called. In full alertness we kept walking listening to every single bird call. Short-toed Treecreeper, Black Woodpecker but not our target bird. We spend some time in an area where I have photographed the bird before (see the story here). Soon it started snowing. We kept going towards a beautiful waterfall about 15 m high. Two Dippers were a pleasant surprise by the waterfall.

Waterfall by Iordan Hristov

In a while it wasn't possible to see anything. The snow increased and we decided to go to our next destination. On our way down from the mountains we heard a great activity of some birds and decided to stop hoping for more opportunities for our White-backed Woodpecker. We checked every single drumming bird. The forest was superb. At one single spot we had a Great-spotted, Middle and Lesser spotted and a Grey-headed Woodpecker. While waiting for the birds in the forest a curious Red Fox peaked into our bins to check us.

It was time to go.

In an hour we were at our next destination where we were after Dalmatian Pelicans and hoping for a Saker Falcon. The first were not difficult. A group of about 30 birds fed in the shallow waters of a lake and we quickly ticked them off. It was much more surprising to see the nice diversity of birds and the early arriving summer migrants. We had fantastic views of male Garganeys, Ferruginous Duck, and the first for the year White Stork. A big flock of 100+ House martins flied over while we had our picnic lunch on the bank of the lake. It was even more surprising to see my first Sardinian Warbler. Lovely male was only a couple of meters away from us. The first Spanish Sparrows were also around.

Spanish Sparrow by Iordan Hristov

The local highlights were the Greater spotted Eagles which overwinter here. We counted about 6 birds. Pretty much at the end of our visit to the lake bits of excitement suggested a Saker Falcon. It turned out to be a young Peregrine which sat quite close for us to enjoy. We checked every single Buzzard hoping for a Saker, but... no. We even had to witness two Buzzards mating :)

Greater-spotted Eagle by Iordan Hristov

Well this site is really superb. In addition to the birds of prey we had almost all ducks including a nice Red-crested Pochard. A very pleasant surprise was a small group of Bewick's Swans joined by some Whoopers and Flamingos. What can I say. Superb diversity of birds.

We still had a long way to go so we must travel. We had another 200 km to go and it was already 14.00. The weather forecast wasn't promising so we better leave some more time. Just as suggested. On the first mountain pass there was fairly little snow but enough to slow us down and drive with about 30 km / h. On the next pass was even worse. This time we had to be really careful. I was driving even slower to make sure we arrive. Along the way, four Roe Deer were calmly feeding by the road. They were really beautiful.

Roe Deer by Iordan Hristov

Our intention to search for Pygmy Owl failed and we went straight to our hotel where a warm dinner and a beer were waiting for us.

Well, long day, but superb birding. Next days the weather should get better so hopefully we shall fill up the missing birds.

Stay tuned...

New specially tailored birding trip started yesterday: 8-15. March, day 1 and 2

New birdwatching trip started yesterday when a friend arrived from the Netherlands. His specific interest in 8 particular bird species brought him in Bulgaria. He is after Black Vulture, Saker Falcon, Capercaillie, Rock Partridge, Dalmatian Pelican, Pygmy Owl, White-backed Woodpecker and Three-toed Woodpecker. Not the easiest species to get. Especially at this time of year for species like the Capercaillie. I shall try to do my best. I already checked a few of the sites so from here on it would be pure luck.

My guest arrived in the early afternoon and we darted immediately to the first place where I observed the Rock partridge two days ago (described in my previous post). Unfortunately the bad weather didn't made our attempt successful. The rain, snow and wind would put every bird away. Well things like this happen. I had another place in mind and if doesn't work out we can certainly come back here again.

That's exactly what we did. We traveled to that second place but the snow was just too much. Definitely too deep for a Partridge so we had to come back to the first place. We woke up early in the morning to be able to be the spot in a reasonable time but ... no. Too much snow. Nevertheless, the morning was beautiful. Lovely sunshine made the birds active. Song Thrush and Wood Lark songs were echoing in the small mountainous valleys. Bramblings and Hawfinches were some of our morning highlights. We stopped at a spot for White-backed Woodpecker but no luck.

After this early morning outing we traveled back to the Rock Partridge place from the previous day. The beginning of the track was marked by the call of Sombre tit. One of my favourite birds welcomes us so this might be a good sign. We approached the area slowly with no talking whatsoever. And we did it right. The warming sunshine has made a bird to come out and stay quiet in the roots of a tree right in front of us. This time we did it. We saw it. Yes it took off once it saw us but in flight we could see the typical features of the Rock Partridge. It wasn't the best view but it was definitely a Rock Partridge. We stayed in the area for a little while but the bird didn't call or appear.

Well this could be the first tick for the trip. "-1" my guest said. Still a long way to go though. With this in mind we headed to the nearest town for lunch. Out next target bird is White-backed Woodpecker. There are several sites along the road we hope to see it. The weather is pretty miserable again. Snow and wind don't really help. If I was a woodpecker I definitely wouldn't come out of my tree.

Nevertheless, we stopped at several spots. After that we walked along a short path in a beautiful beech forest which is the preferred habitat type by the White-backed Woodpecker. This time there was some response to our waiting. A lovely Middle-spotted Woodpecker came over. So apparently he doesn't mind the weather. It was already 5 p.m. so we had to go. We had another 100 km to go so we headed south.

Our next targets for tomorrow would be again the White-backed Woodpecker, Dalmatian Pelican and the illusive Saker Falcon. See if we are lucky.

The start for tomorrow is at 6 a.m.

Stay tuned...