What a fantastic day - a truly great birding experience in beautiful countryside and superb weather, Bulgaria lived up to its reputation today.
We started with a short walk to a local park near the hotel in Krumovgrad, it was quite misty and a little chilly, we were hoping to see Scops Owl. Our 30 minute stay produced Marsh Tit, Syrian Woodpecker and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but all we got of the owl was a couple of calls and no sighting.
After breakfast we drove to a valley some 15 minutes away and spent the most pleasurable 3 hours birding along a quiet lane overlooking typical farmland, hillsides and wooded hedges. The air was alive with a cacophony of bird songs, Common Cuckoos called from all directions, Golden Orioles too, Hoopoe, Nightingales, Buntings and Warblers added their voices to this avian symphony. The warblers were just great, a very showy Barred Warbler started the show, then we moved onto an Olivaceous Warbler followed by Sardinian and Orphean Warblers and finally a Common Whitethroat.
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| Barred Warbler |
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We also saw a rufous-morph Cuckoo a rare sighting and new for most of the group. On the hillside we saw two Hobbys flying around the ridge, also Turtle Doves sat on wires and lots of Lesser Grey Shrikes whizzes about trying to air off. Red-backed Shrikes and Woodchat Shrikes sat calm on the bushes and Corn, Cirl and Black-headed Buntings sang from various song posts, we even found a Common Nightingale singing from the power lines!
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| Rufous morph Common Cuckoo |
A little further along the track the hillside on our left became more rocky and steeper and the land to our right dropped away to a river and large areas of cultivated land beyond the river. On the hillside we tracked down a Chukar from its call and on the right we saw a European Roller, a Whinchat and our first Orphean Warbler.
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| along the lane at Krumovgrad |
After taking a short ride back on the bus we found ourselves stooping every few meters to look at European Rollers, they were everywhere, we often saw them perform their aerial display and rolling as they dropped. Both White Stork and Black Stork were found on the their nests and Ravens, Common Kestrels and Long-legged Buzzards soared above us.
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| European Roller |
We finished off our morning by the side of a gorge with tall pinnacles of rock either side of the road. There we found Black-eared Wheatear, White Wagtail and our target species the Rock Nuthatch which showed very well. Well what a blast and I haven't mentioned a lot of species of butterflies that we saw including Black Veined White, Spotted Fritillary, Green Hairsteak and Brown Argus.
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| Green Hairstreak |
We then drove to Marjarovo where we sat down to lunch at the Vulture feeding station, along the way we stopped to look at vultures in the sky, both Griffon and Egyptian Vultures were seen as well as more Black Storks. During one of our stops we found Ottoman Bunting singing and Blue Rock Thrush landed next to it whilst we were watching.
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| Rock Nuthatch |
After lunch a short walk in an oak woodland produced good views of Hawfinch, Red-backed Shrike and we heard Song Thrush and Bonelli's Warbler without seeing either.
Next we drove across the river to ancient crater, it was a few miles across and the valley was surrounded by the towering remnants of the volcano. We walked in the basin for an hour or so, which gave us the opportunity to watch the vultures at their nests and drifting along the cliff face.
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| Black Veined White |
In the oak woodland we saw our first Subalpine Warbler and got great views of many other birds. Along the rock face we found Rock Bunting which was our fifth different bunting of the day and we saw a Camberwell Beauty butterfly as well as Balkan Green Lizard and several other interesting insects.
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| Subalpine Warbler |
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| Broad Bodied Chaser |
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| views from within the crater |
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