Last sightings from Shabla-Durankulak wetlands
Today March 18, 2006 was a lucky day. A -2° -4° C wet and windy week was followed by the first very quiet and sunny journey. A good variety of birds were seen during the day including the exceedingly rare for Bulgaria Demoiselle Crane. Sightings from northern Bulgarian Black Sea coast wetlands complex Shabla-Durankulak included: 7 Black-necked grebes, 5 Crested Grebes, 3 Dalmatian Pelicans, 55 Cormorants, 4 Pygmy Cormorants, 9 Grey herons, 1 Bittern, 1 Black Stork, 32 Mallards, 4 Gadwalls, 15 Pintails, 22 Golden Plovers, 35 Shelducks, 12 Ferruginous Ducks, female Kestrel, 8 March harriers, 3 Hen harriers, 70 Grey Wagtails, 23 Oystercatchers, 43 Wigeons, 18 Teals, 35 Garganey, 32 Mute and 5 Whooper Swans, 2 Sparrowhawks, 1 Goshawk, 7 Buzzards, 2 Long-Legged Buzzards, 1 Peregrine, 2 Water Rails (heard), 180 Coots, 3 Snipes, 5 Common sandpipers, 22 Ruffs, 28 Yellow-Legged Gulls, first 6 Bee-eaters, many Calandra and Sky Larks, many passerines such like Reed Bunting, Blackbird, Corn Buntings, Chaffinch, Hawfinch and thousand of Starlings. Magpies, Jackdaws and Hooded Crows also have been on the agenda.
Shabla Touzla lagoon (see home page photo) : Branta-Tours permanent wooden hide produced views of 5 Ruddy Shelducks, 28 Ferruginous Ducks and 3 Little Crakes, just a few metres from the hide (see pictures taken by Pavel Simeonov in the morning), 12 Shovelers, 1 Jack Snipe, 5-6 Stonechats on adjacent scrubby areas, 8 Pochards, 8 Red-breasted and 2 White-fronted Geese, 15 Lapwing and several singing Reed Buntings. Just before leaving 12 Demoiselle Cranes were seen in flight overhead. They landed somewhere further inland. By the late 1930s this crane species had become extinct in Bulgaria and Romania due to the spreading cultivation of the steppes for agriculture. Not easy to distinct in flight by the Crane but we were lucky to here it’s higher-pitched voice. Another particular species encountered today was the Moustached Warbler. At least 7males were singing from reed-beds nearby. They showed no anxiety at our wading through their early spring "territories". The species now apparently winters in the Burgas area (pers. comment of John Roberts). All sightings of the species from Shabla-Durankulak region are reported only during the breeding season.
Shabla Tuzla additional sightings:
Today, March 21, we added several bird species to our early spring list: a pair of Little Grebe, 1 Great White Egret, 1 White Stork, 1 Curlew, several Redshanks, Black-headed Gulls and Marsh harriers, 4 Tufted Ducks, 6 Pochards, 2 Greylag Geese, 1 Moorhen. The tall hedges and windbreaks in the vicinity of the lake and its surroundings produced 1 Green and 2 Syrian Woodpeckers, 2 - 3 Chiffchaffs, 1 Wren, Several Song Thrushes and two young Rooks.
Branta-Tours permanent wooden hide produced better views on Little Crake and other additional species
Last sightings from Srebarna Lake
Sunday, January 07, 2007 Today we spotted over 40 Dalmatian Pelicans some distance away out in the middle of the lake. With temperatures of 10 degrees in the shade the ice is melting again confusing the wildlife even more!
The forecast is for another very mild week with lots of sunshine, it will be interesting to monitor what the birds will decide to do.....
Observation of an adult Gannet (Morus bassanus) and Pomarine Skua (Stercorarius pomarinus)
along the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria.
Today, 18th June 2007 at 14:15 hours, just before the lovely exploration of Banta Birding Lodge near Durankulak, I was visiting the beach of Shabla with my wife and as we stood up I saw an adult Gannet flying from North to South along the edge of the sea. It is a species I see on 350 days out of every 365 at home, where I am an avid watcher and counter of seabirds. This year alone I have seen probably 30000 individual Gannets !
It approached head on and flew directly over my head. It flew to within 20 metres of us and at a height of only 10 metres. It was a very large bird with a long narrow body and long pointed wings. The plumage was completely white except for black wing tips formed by black primaries and primary coverts. The head and neck were washed with creamy yellow and the bill was silver grey, long and pointed. There was a narrow black mark around the base of the bill. The tail was long and wedge-shaped.
Flight was level and strong with steady shallow wingbeats interspersed with short glides. We watched it for about 40 seconds as it disappeared to the south.
It occurred after a night of stormy northerly winds and heavy rain.
I knew that Gannets occasionally occurred in the eastern Mediterranean but was unsure of the species' status on the Black Sea - that was why I mentioned it to Branta-Tours specialists.
Incidentally, after I spoke to Pavel Simeonov I went to Durankulak Beach where I saw a pale phase Pomarine Skua (Stercorarius pomarinus) flying north.
Stanley M. Christophers,
Rachels way, St Columb Major, Cornwall, UK,
birdman.stan@virgin.net
Last sightings from Durankulak
Today, November 30, 2007 A +2° +4° C Sightings from northern Bulgarian Black Sea coast, wetlands complex Durankulak Lake and surrounding areas included: 1 Great Grey Shrike, 5 Calandra and 3 Sky Larks, 35 Reed Buntings, 7 Corn Buntings, 56 Yellowhammer + 1 Pine Bunting, 3 Syrian Woodpeckers, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Great Tits, 26 Siskins, 18 Tree Sparrows, 56 Rooks, 12 Black-necked grebes, 3 Crested Grebes, 23 Cormorants, 3500 White-fronted Geese, 3 Red-breasted Geese, 1 White Stork, 14 Mallards, 23 Teals, 3 Mute and 9 Whooper Swans, 45 Yellow-Legged Gulls, 5 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Little Gulls, 230 Coots, 1 Red-footed Falcon (male), 1 Peregrine, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Goshawk, 1 Merlin (male), 1 Kestrel, 1 White-tailed Eagle (imm), 5 March harriers, 9 Hen harriers, 5 Buzzards, 1 Long-Legged Buzzard, several Rough-legged Buzzards and a juvenile Steppe Buzzard that is quite late for this migrating species coming from Russia. ... Just enjoy the photographs bellow:
Christmas sightings from Durankulak
On 11:00hrs 23rd December I went for a walk around our "Birding Lodge" located close to Lake Durankulak, not far from the Romanian border. Moreover, I took my new equipment (Canon EOS 30D, Zoom Canon 100-400 AF) to test it. Sunny and calm but cold (- 2°). Suddenly I see a Great Grey Shrike diving out of a tree and rising at once with a prey in the mouth, then to hide in a thorny shrub. I approached slowly but the bird left leaving its trophy (small rodent) pinned on a branch 1m above the ground. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and I positioned with my Mitsubishi 4WD at a distance of approximately 10 meters, sun behind me. I had to wait 45 minutes, then the bird arrived, to satisfy its hunger (see bellow).
The juvenile bird shown on the following pictures belongs to the eastern sub-species Lanius excubitor homeyeri – the so-called Taiga Great Grey Shrike.
Differentiation adult homeyeri: Upperparts paler grey than in nominate; forehead whitish, white supercilium generally conspicuous; uppertail-coverts and often also rump whitish not grey; tail pattern different with more white, even at base of central rectrices (c. 2cm). Wings also with more white and almost always with double wing-bar, forming one large white patch across primaries and secondaries. Rare individuals from contact zones with excubitor show only one white primary patch.
