Bulgaria, October 2005- Days five and six

The northeast wind resumed yesterday and migration was turned off like a tap. You would hardly believe that Cape Kaliakra is the same place just a day later. 69 species of 1336 individuals yesterday whereas the day before that there were 46,365 individuals. HERE. Highlights included a very out of place Treecreeper and a Garden Warbler was also a trip tick. 

Then I used the lull in the migration to catch up with some work and went to Kavarna and bought some equipment for the caravan and on the way back did Balgrevo Steppe HERE. The highlights there were a Great Grey Shrike, a late Tawny Pipit and the staging Stone Curlews were still present since September.

In the evening I took a walk round Kamen Bryag village and steppe HERE with the highlights there being just the sheer number of Chiffchaffs and a nice selection of other common migrants.

Today, there was a even less birds at Cape Kaliakra, with only 60 specis of 1157 individuals HERE and the wind was cold and again from the northeast. However, today was about quality and not quantity when Dimiter and Marina found a sprite on the cliff edge which I was able to confirm as a stunning little Pallas's Warbler. A local twitch then ensued with Steve and Pauline Fisher and Pavel joining Dimiter, Marina and myself. Good times! 

Live Trip Report HERE

Pallas's Warbler- perhaps counter-intuitively there are more records of Pallas's in Bulgaria than Yellow-browed and despite us being a lot further east, neither are expected scarce migrants here and are rather vagrants. 

Treecreeper- actually looked really quite cold on the head and strikingly white flanks so maybe something from the North? The first Ebird record for the Cape.

Brambling- quite a few of these around

RB Fly

Juv Hobby

Migrating Blue Tits at the Cape

Black Red

Stone Curlew