Our last full was certainly full! We started at 6:30am with a walk along the track next to the hotel. Iordan was out a little before most of us and he got some superb views of a Marsh Warbler as it sang in the scrub next to the hotel. Of course when the rest of us got out there the bird had flown!
The rest of the walk was punctuated with stops to look at some good sightings: Golden Oriole, Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Barred Warbler, Red-backed Shrike, Black-headed Bunting and the best was saved until last, a lovely male Pied Wheatear appeared and sang to us as we approached the hotel for breakfast. Breakfast was late so we had to sit and wait on the terrace where we could sea-watch, this turned up two new species for us, a Shag and a Black-throated Diver. A large Falcon was also spotted, it was far out and flying close to the water's surface, it had a very brown back and wings, we thought it could be a Saker, but couldn't be sure from that distance.
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| Green Toads seen sneaking out of the swimming pool this morning |
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| The very colourful Balkan Green Lizard |
At the main reed beds we spent a lot of our time searching for Paddyfield Warbler, the local celebrity. The wind wasn't helping much either, but after a few fleeting glimpses we eventually had some great views of perched birds. In the meantime we saw many of the loud Great Reed Warbler and a Common Cuckoo perched out in the open at the back of the reed bed. The open pools held a few Ferruginous Ducks, Common Coot and Mallard. Another prized sighting was the Pygmy Cormorant, two flew over us showing very well in the morning sunshine. Other good sightings included 7 Squacco Herons, Purple Heron, Little Egret and a Marsh Harrier.
On the road to Shabla Lake we stopped to admire a Roller which was perched on the wires just off the road, splendid! At Shabla our main efforts were directed in and around the large pools found there. From the elevated hide We saw a good number of species with Black-winged Stilts, Avocets, Ferruginous Duck, Garaney, Common Shelduck, Common Tern, Mute Swan and Little Egret being the most common. Howvere we did also see: Grey Plover, Wood Sandpiper, Little Stint, Little Gull, Reed Bunting and a singing Savi's Warbler eventually gave us some good views.
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| Great 'mouthed' Warbler |
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| some of the group at the entrance to the Cape Castle |
From the Cape we drove a short distance to the Kaliakra Valley where our last birding of the day consisted of a nice walk to the cove and up into the valley. A reeded pool held many Great Reed Warblers, they were singing, what a din! A pair of Pied Wheatears gave great views and further up the valley we saw Golden Oriole, Common Cuckoo, Little Grebe, Calandra Lark High above us and not much else.
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| An Ilex Hairstraek |
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| a series of poor pictures of the Rosy starlings taken through the glass window of the bus |
We climbed into the bus for the last time and headed off to the hotel, but before we got there we had one unscheduled stop to watch a flock of Rosy Starlings!! At last we had found a flock feeding, they were eating Cherries and perching nicely on the trees and on the ground just a few meters from the bus, excellent. We watched them for a while and ended up getting back late for dinner but hey, ho, everyone enjoyed watching the beautiful Starlings.
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