Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Bulgaria, Spring 2022, Days twelve and thirteen

My final two days on the Black Sea coast for this Spring, I finished on 191 bird species for the two week trip HERE although I spent time herping, mothing, noc-migging. vis-migging, mincing and doing conservation work too so 200 bird species in a two week trip would be easy for anyone who could be more focused.

White-tailed Lapwings and Long-billed Dowitcher were the birding highlights along with Great Snipe, Jack Snipe, Red-throated Pipits and plenty of great migrants. Still need to go through the noc-mig recordings so maybe something else to add yet. 

 

Male Citrine Wagtail
Male Golden Oriole- nice to actually see these out in the open at Shabla Lakes feeding in the ground vegetation
First-summer male Common Rosefinch singing at Cape Kaliakra 
Alpine Swift at the Cape. Got to be one of the best places to try and photograph this species. 
Short-toed Larks on the Balgrevo Steppes- good numbers of this species at this site

Female Pied Wheatear
Slender-billed Gulls moving past the Cape
First-summer Baltic Gull- still moulting outermost primary (arrested moult) and also nice plain greater coverts and mottled dark upperparts characteristic of this taxon in first-summer
Tawny Pipit
Male Whinchat
Had this Meadow Pipit flying round calling at Cape Shabla. According to Ebird it's a rare species for Bulgaria. boom. 
The only Black-headed Bunting of the trip- an unfortunate RTA casualty
'Red' Squirrel (these might actually be split into one of the recently described Black Squirrel European species). 

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