An excellent 15 hour day in the field, starting off at Cape Kaliakra, then some time at the plot, a lunchtime trip to town to buy some tools (including a strimmer) and then the afternoon and first part of the night (herping) at Shabla Lakes. Ebird trip report HERE. Highlights including 4 White-tailed Lapwing (part of an influx in the Balkan area this year, with six in this area recently), a Great Snipe (sound recordings of the Lapwings and Great Snipe below) and some trip ticks including Night Herons, Ferruginous Ducks (15), Pygmy Cormorants, Barn and Scops Owl at night and some nice vis-mig of Little Gulls, Black Terns and Mediterranean Gulls and an impressive number of birds coming into roost at the reed bed, mainly Spanish Sparrows, Starlings and over 600 Yellow Wagtails. A hepatic female Cuckoo was nice to see too.
White-tailed Lapwings (above). These birds were the 5th record for Bulgaria (discovered last week).
Little Gulls (above) and Med Gulls (below) on the move
The Arctic meets the Mediterranean with Black-throated Divers and Yelkouan Shearwaters- both species spending the non-breeding season in the Black Sea. Up to 70 Black-throated Divers gathering off Cape Kaliakra at the moment and been daily movements of 100s of Shearwaters.
Little Gulls again
A rather warm adult male Pied Wheatear
Black-headed Wagtail
Syrian Woodpecker
Common Wall Lizard
Harbour porpoise- lots of these off Cape Kaliakra
Brown Hare. On the mammal front also a few Golden Jackals, Eastern Hedgehog, Roe Deer, some bat species at Shabla Lakes during the evening (lots of small and larger bats) and Red Squirrel.
Calm morning over the Black Sea. The conditions have been fair with a light north easterly for last few days resulting in a steady small stream of migration.
No comments:
Post a Comment