KRAPETS HOTEL TRACK - DURANKULAK NATURE RESERVE - CAPE KALIAGRA
Only two places visited today yet we saw a tremendous variety of species including some very special birds for our trip list.
It was a clear blue sky for most of the day and very warm at times but we did have a nice cooling sea breeze. We took a short walk before breakfast along the track that leads to the cliffs near the hotel. It was very light at 6:30am but not too many ecies were singing. A family party of Black Redstarts were first on the list then we found Common Whitethroat, Common Cuckoo, Bee-eater and Red-backed Shrike. In the scrub a little further on we saw Barred Warbler, Greenfinch, Linnets, Goldfinch, Corn Bunting and Black-headed Bunting. We also saw a Chiffchaff showing plumage of a '
tristis' type sub-species and one lucky person saw a flock of 5 Rose-coloured Starlings, he had pictures to prove it too!
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| the Black Sea from the cliffs near the hotel, it was like a mill pond this morning |
The tall trees near the cliffs held lots of Bee-eaters a few Golden Orioles and a Roller dropped in, Turtle Doves called and more Red-backed Shrikes appeared before we went off to breakfast.
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| Squacco Heron sitting on a rock on the beach |
Our arrival at Durankulak was full of anticipation which was duly rewarded as soon as we got out of the bus when we found a very obliging Paddyfield Warbler. This terrific find was quickly followed by sightings of Bearded Tit and Savi's Warbler, there were also many Great Reed Warblers singing and the occasional Reed Warbler joined in.
A walk along the path adjacent to the reed bed produced Reed Bunting, Yellow Wagtail, Little Stint, Ruff, Ringed and Little Ringed Plover and lots of Great Cormorants. the pools in reed beds held Garganey, Ferruginous Duck and up to 14 Marsh Harriers were in the area. We had fly over Purple Herons every few minutes and the occasional Squacco Herons and Common Cuckoos. Near the restaurant buildings at the entrance car park we found Pied Wheatear another speciality of the area as well as White Wagtail and lots of Spanish Sparrows.
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| Bearded Tits |
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| Paddyfield Warbler |
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| Savi's Warbler |
The afternoon was spent at two places near Kaliagra Cape, the first two hours were spent walking to the cape point watching many species in the scrub or on the ruins, cliffs and rocky cliffs. We saw Northern and Pied Wheatears, lots of Bee-eaters, some Shags (of the
desmarestii race) a Peregrine flew around the cliffs and an Arctic Skua was seen from the Cape Point.
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| Black-headed Buntings |
Out in the scrub there were Golden Orioles, Barred Warblers, Black-headed Buntings and Spotted Flycatchers. A Red-footed Falcon was nice to see as it flew over us which was followed by a fly-over Black Kite.
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| Common Cuckoo |
Lastly we spent an hour on the heath just a few kilometres west of Kaliagra, the whole area was alive with Larks. We added, Skylark, Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Calandra Lark and Tawny Pipit to our day list, but the star sighting was of Stone Curlew, we saw three of them. Other species seen were Isabelline Wheatear, Hobby and for the lucky few a flock of about 30 Rose-coloured Starlings. We noted where the starlings landed but our search for them went unremarked.
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| Tawny Pipit |
We drove back to the hotel making a few impromptu stops to look for the starlings without success so we called it a day and went back to the hotel for dinner.
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