Coastal bird photography and migration in Bulgaria

In the past weekend I had to go to the coast and give a talk on the State of common birds in Bulgaria. I attended a conservation camp where a group of over 80 people gathered to hear and learn more about the conservation activities of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds. Since the presentation took me only about an hour I had enough time to do some birding and photography in the peak time of bird migration.

Early morning and late afternoon was the time for photography and the rest was for observing migration of soaring birds at the watchpoint. Regardless of the late arrival in the camp I managed to hear my alarm going on at 4.00 a.m. Grabbed my camera and gear and off I went to some saltpans nearby. It was steaming with birds but of course they were distance away. We did managed to get a few tamе ones nearby. Here is the first image from that morning:

Little Ringed Plover (juv.) and Lapwing in Bulgaria

Lots of Kentish Plovers, Sandwitch Terns, Meditterranean Gulls, Wood Sandpipers, Green Sandpipers, Pygmy Cormorants and many others. We left this place at about 9.00 when the light wasn't good for photography any more. After a brief breakfast we sat at the watchpoint. Lovely place right in the middle of a bottleneck corridor where soaring birds gather in good numbers. Short-toed Eagle, Lesser spotted Eagle, Osprey, Booted Eagle, 100+ Honey Buzzards, 40+ Black Kites, Montagu's Harriers, Levant Sparrowhawk and ... some 13 000 White Storks in a single flock. What a sight. and it is still the beginning of migration. I think I will be going there again the coming weekend. This time my work will be to travel around and teach Bulgarian students on Bird ID. Looking forward to it.

Stay tuned for more images and birding stories.

"Working" weekend

Weekend was a bit strange. I meant to work but I didn't. I wanted to just go somewhere and have a relaxed weekend in front of the computer. Well see the photos and guess if I did it :)

There was no internet, or at least no proper one. I meant to select to hotel on the basis of the internet connection and I thought I had but... no. The internet connection was total crap. I did do some work on one of the days but the next one was devoted to walking and photography which I miss a lot lately. Well managed to do a few shots that keep me busy post-processing for a little while. 

On Friday afternoon we traveled to a village called Ravnogor. Lovely little place in the middle of Western Rhodope mountains. Open space surrounded by conifer trees. This is what the area is like. So after the first day we did take an afternoon walk which was fairly quiet but produced a nice untypical White Stork standing on top of a conifer tree:

White Stork photography

There we lots of Red-backed Shrikes, a single Crested Tit, a couple of Marsh Tits, Ravens and Great spotted Woodpeckers. 

Before lunch on the next day we walked in the area to a place called "Chervenata skala" (the Red Rock). Fantastic view to a valley overlooking one of the reservoirs in the area called Vacha reservoir. What a view. Totally recommended. Whinchats and juvenile Kestrels were all over the place.

Whinchat photography

Common Kestrel photography

After a nice musaka for lunch we took off to a place where a Demoiselle Crane was seen couple of days ago. This sounds like a bit of a twitch but it was not. Well, we weren't shaking ;) I just wanted to show the bird to my girlfriend who sounded quite excited by the look of it :). The place is in the planes of Plovdiv. Wanted to feel at home, the crane was seen in the local rice fields. Soon we were in the area. We checked a few pools but the bird was not there. It was steeming with birds. Gulls, Waders, Wagtails, Herons but no crane. 

I spend some time photographing the Black-winged Stilts but for now this is the only shot that makes sense.

Black-winged Stilt photography in Bulgaria

Black-winged Stilt photography in Bulgaria

Black-winged Stilt photography in Bulgaria

Dragonflies were more abundant than flies. They were all over the place. What a stunning scene.

Sympetrum fonscolombii female

Sympetrum fonscolombii male

Sympetrum fonscolombii male

Orthetrum albistylum male

The sun was pretty harsh and we had to go. I think we shall come back here in certain time.

Birding and ... Jazz

Another lovely weekend took me back to the Rhodopes. This time we did both Eastern and Western Rhodopes. We started off early on Friday morning to go back to Madzarovo - the town of Vultures. Not because of the people who live there but because of the birds ;) It was fairly quiet bird wise and we managed to fulfill our tasks so we quickly hit the road to the Western Rhodopes where a Jazz fest was about to start. We saw more birds along the way than in the town itself. Generally nothing exciting. The road was pretty slow and winding with lovely views and regular ice cream stops. A nice Souslik sat by the road to give us full and clear view for a couple of minutes. Further along two Little Grebes sat preening in a small pond just by the road.

Common Buzzard photography in Bulgaria

Little Grebe photography in Bulgaria

the stage

There we are finally in Smolyan - a town in Western Rhodopes surrounded by mountain tops. After a nice evening meal and a chat with some friends we headed up to the place of the Jazz Fest - right above the town at the foot of Perelik peak. Open air concert was about to start. A combination of Jazz, ethno music, electronic and what not. It was superb. Will upload a few videos later on. Here is the first one.

Perelik

The stage of the fest is on a large meadow surrounded by pine forest. This time of year is not the best for birding but we still managed to a get a few birds. Local juvenile Ravens were patrolling the area often joined by a Kestrel or two. The other birds we ticked off are Crossbill, Water Pipit, Black Redstart, Ring Ouzel, Coal Tit, Whinchat, etc. Fairly quiet and time to go again.

On the way to Sofia we pulled to a small village called Kosovo. Mentioned by a few people for its picturesque views and old traditional houses. Indeed the village is situated in a small valley on all the hillsides around. A little chat with people in the local store proves that tourism seem to spoil this place. Perhaps because it is fairly easy to access the village. Some of the houses are so high on the steep hill side that there is no road and only trails lead to the houses. Quite a few abandoned places but the village still looks lively. Probably because of the villas of people from the town nearby.

village Kosovo

Birdwatching in Bulgaria trip reports May 2013

This spring was a rather busy season. I had a couple of birdwatching groups with guests from Norway, Britain, Poland and Germany. After some time here are the trip reports for two of the groups that I co-lead together with a colleague and a friend of mine.

Birdwatching in Bulgaria Trip report 1 (download the report here) - May 13-21st 2013 images from the trip

Birdwatching in Bulgaria Trip report 2 (download the report here) - May 22-30th 2013 images from the trip: post 1, post 2, post 3

If interested in birdwatching or bird photography opportunities in Bulgaria I am happy to help. Feel free to drop me a line at biomonitoring [.] ltd [@] gmail [.] com

Conservation and recovery of threatened birds in the European Union

A report on the "Conservation and recovery of threatened birds in the European Union" was prepared for the European Commission by BirdLife International.

Here is the content of the report:

Introduction to the Birds Directive
Developing EU Species Action Plans for threatened birds
Taking special conservation measures for threatened birds
How are species selected for an EU species Action Plan
New Action Plans for threatened birds in the EU
Evaluating the implementation of Species Action Plans
Birds of Dry Grasslands
Marine and Island Birds
Vultures, Eagles and Soaring Migrants
General overview of threats to the habitats of threatened birds
Natura 2000 and threatened birds
LIFE for threatened birds
EU-sector policies’ impact and contribution to threatened birds conservation
Sustainable use of birds in the EU
Hunting
Management plans for huntable species in unfavourable conservation status
Annex: Current list of European bird species with recovery plans and their endorsement by EU and international agreements

Download the full report from the EC webpage here.

Eastern Rhodope mountains - Madzarovo

This weekend we wanted to visit some friends and do some birding in the Eastern Rhodope mountains in a small town called Madzarovo. We started from Sofia late on Friday afternoon but arrived just on time in a small village just outside Plovdiv. We were supposed to meet dear friends and their children. This tripi wasn't meant to be a birdwatching trip but a leisurely travel. Perhaps that is why i realised I had forgotten my bins. Can't believe it.

The dinner at our friends' place was lovely in a small house in the countryside. On the next morning we started our way to the Eastern Rhodope mountains. Beautiful weather in a gorgeous location. Volcanic rocks in a crater of a ceased volcano. 

Birding was generally rather quiet because of the late season but there was still a good diversity of birds. I just realised we managed to log nearly 50 bird species without even having a binocular. A Little Owl welcomed us at the beginning of the town. Without making much efforts we ticked the first Griffon Vultures resident here. We got a drink each and went to a place to enjoy looking at a young Griffon Vulture which was making its first efforts to take off from the nest for a first time. A Black Stork flight over the forest and Middle spotted Woodpecker call echoed in it while we were putting up our tents. Hawfinches, Golden Orioles and Red-backed Shrikes were all over the place. A Black-eared Wheatear and a Rock Nuthatch were dashing around the cliffts. A Booted Eagle circled low over some meadows and Golden Orioles were actively calling here and there. Young Hoopoes were also actively flying like trying to make their wings work. A nice evening light conditions with a cool beer made the experience even greater. 

The evening walk in the city park was not less exciting. Scops and Little Owl were actively calling. Young Little Owls were making some funny calls similar to the call of the Barn Owl. It was quite an experience.

Yes, it was quiet. Imagine what the spring is like.

beer time made us switch from watching Griffons to watching the Moon and the first bats

Bird checklist:

1. Grey Heron

2. White Stork

3. Black Stork

4. Griffon Vulture

5. Egyptian Vulture

6. Short toed Eagle

7. Booted Eagle - pale

8. Common Buzzard

9. Sparrowhawk

10. Common Kestrel

11. Wood Pigeon

12. Collared Dove

13. Turtle Dove

14. Little Owl

15. Scops Owl

16. Common Swift

17. Alpine Swift

18. Hoopoe

19. Bee-eater

20. European Roller

21. Green Woodpecker

22. Middle spotted Woodpecker

23. Barn Swallow

24. Red-rumped Swallow

25. House Martin

26. Crag Martin

27. White Wagtail

28. Yellow Wagtail

29. Robin

30. Black-eared Wheatear

31. Blackbird

32. Long-tailed Tit

33. Rock Nuthatch

34. Short-toed Treecreeper

35. Red-backed Shrike

36. Jay

37. Hooded Crow

38. Raven

39. Golden Oriole

40. House Sparrow

41. Spanish Sparrow

42. Goldfinch

43. Greenfinch

44. Chiffchaf

45. Hawfinch

46. Cirl Bunting

Bird photography trip results

Here are some of my first images from the last photography trip I had in North East Bulgaria. There are loads of images so I will be slowly going through. Please be patient.

Enjoy :)

Lesser Whitethroat photography

Long-legged Buzzard photography in Bulgaria

Roller photography in Bulgaria

Roller photography in Bulgaria

Lesser grey Shrike photography in Bulgaria

Long legged Buzzard photography

Lesser grey Shrike photography in Bulgaria

Starling hide photography

Red-backed Shrike photography in Bulgaria

Crested Lark photography in Bulgaria

Great spotted Woodpecker photography in Bulgaria

Blackbird photography in Bulgaria

Balkan Green Lizzard photography