Just spent a week in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria with the wife and two boys; they stayed around the Hotel "Aqua Nevis" and associated water park all week while I did what any sane man would do, go bird watching.
The resort is about 30 minutes from Burgas Airport and we passed a small marsh opposite the Black Sea where I saw Pygmy Cormorant in a small bush and Night Herons flying about, further along we passed some salt pans at Pomarie on the way to the hotel. Here I could see Black-winged Stilts and Avocet plus Mute Swans and Grey Herons. Pretty hard to see anything small as the coach driver wasn't hanging about.
I hired a car for four days that cost 37 Euro's per day and included all insurances etc.
Pretty much stayed within 1/2 hour driving of the hotel each day and avoided the wetlands area around Burgas as I had hired a guide for a day there through "Neophron Tours" see link for details of their guided tours:
http://neophron.com/birding_southern_coast.htm and wanted to explore the rest of the area first.
Not all birds seen are listed but those mentioned give a flavour of what can be expected, a full list at the end of the report.
Day one: I headed north from Sunny Beach and along the E87 main coast road till the turn off to Cape Ermine, it's pretty much the first turn off after driving over the twisty mountain bends. After turning off I started to see Red-backed Shrikes almost on every bush with Black-headed Buntings and Corn Buntings on anything spare. I stopped for a while and could here Golden Oriole and Cuckoo in the nearby trees.
The road leads to a small village called Emona which is about 6 km from the main road, unfortunatly you would need a 4X4 to go any further than about 2 km as the road has not been repaired for quite a while and I didn't want to ruin the sump on the hire car.
Just before the road gets bad there is a small bridge over a stream where I had Black-headed Wagtail, Bee Eater, Turtle Dove, Buzzard sp. and more of the others already mentioned. Headed back down the twisty mountain road back to Sunny Beach.
Went Inland from Sunny Beach and stopped at the first major river bridge over the road, here there were several Great Reed Warblers singing from the reeds plus Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins and a White wagtail. A few Km further I took a small track to a reservoir where I had several Lesser Grey Shrikes, Woodchat Shrikes, Golden Oriole, Tree Sparrow, Cuckoo, Jays, Magpies, Turtle Doves and a few different Finches.
That evening I took the family out for a drive round and came across my first White Stork of the week nesting on a lamp post with several Spanish Sparrows nesting in the Stork's nest, Quite noisy.
Day two: I went back to the Stork Nest for a few daylight photo's and then followed the road out of the village. Here I saw Isabelline Wheatear, Little Owl and Kestrel. I took a side turning down to a small tip where I saw Calandra lark, Skylark, Northern Wheatear, Tawny Pipit, Rollers and the first of several large kettles of White Stork using the thermals and drifting north. During the week I must have seen a few thousand White Stork heading north but it was nice to have a few close views of the local breeding population. I bumped into the only other birdwatcher I saw that week who was from Holland, we exchanged a few notes on where we had seen birds and he pointed me in the direction of a wood near Poroy where he had been the day before looking for Butterflys; it sounded good so I decided to give it a try.
I arrived at the wood which was a mature Oakwood spanning several acres and followed the paths around the trees. It was possible to walk anywhere in the wood as there was no undergrowth just short grass and leaves, I think the local goat herd keep everything short. The wood was a great place to be as there wasn't a soul about and you could hear every bird call. Hoopoes and Golden Orioles seemed to be everywhere calling allthough I found them hard to pin down. Lots of Woodchat Shrikes, Hawfinch, Green Woodpeckers, Great Spotted Woodpeckers seen and a close encounter of a Honey Buzzard. Plenty of Butterflys seen also, a great place so I knew I would be back for another look the next day.
Back in the car I drove to Poroy and spotted two Ravens in the air, a little further after the village there was a sharp bend in the road over a small stream and I noticed a sandy bank where there were lots of Bee-eaters flying about. I decided to stop for a while to take some photos. Also present were Red-rumped Swallows and a rather large snake. The Bee eaters were coming and going from the holes in the sand bank so presumably had nests. Back to the Hotel for some grub.
Day Three: Drove south along the coast road to Pomorie to view the salt pans, very little wader action just Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Lapwing and a dozen or so Med Gulls present, I later found out there had been hundreds of waders through two weeks earlier. A small walk close to the marsh at Pomorie saw Little Tern, Whiskered Tern, Kentish Plover and a colony of Sandwich Terns.
I drove back to Poroy wood for a second visit where I had Spotted Flycatchers, one Pied Flycatcher and either a very good mimic of a Savi's Warbler or an actual Savi's Warbler, never did see it though. A drive around took me back to previous sites already seen with no new species seen.
Day Four: Just north of Sunny Beach there is turn off to the left to a village called Kosharitsa, the road doesn't lead anywhere but I thought I would have a look. A few km along the road there is an obvious valley with a small stream coming from the mountains, I parked and followed the track along the stream into the mountains. Here I had Little ringed Plover, Nightingale and my only Black Stork of the week but nice close views.
I then went south along the coast road past the salt pans and Airport turn off and headed for Lake Atanosovsko. The main water body was difficult if not impossible to reach but using Gosney's Finding Birds in Bulgaria I followed his instructions and got close to the reed beds. Gosney's Guide needs a lot of updating as some tracks are now not passable. Anyway I had several Marsh Harrier, Collard Pratincole, Sedge Warbler, Mallard, Pochard and Cetti's Warbler. A trip back near the tip found a pair of Stone Curlews.
Day Five: Hire car went back this morning and I was picked up at 8:00am by my guide from Neophron Tours. I was lucky to have Daniel Mitev who is one of the leaders of the project that are tracking the movement of Red-breasted Geese in Bulgaria. He has an excellent local knowledge and knew his birds by sight and sound.
We headed for Burgas wetlands area stopping for a quick look over the Salt Pans at Pomorie, nothing different seen. A quick stop at the side of the road near Lake Atanosovska then on to the main waterbody, Lake Burgas. A real spectacle here where hundreds of White Pelicans, Dalmation Pelicans and Cormorants all fishing together. Other birds of note were: Little Bittern, Squocco Heron, Dozens of Great-crested Grebes, Penduline Tit, Whiskered and Common Tern. Hundreds of Cormorants nesting on the nearby electic pylons.
On to Lake Mandra and the dam wall were we saw Glossy Ibis, Purple Heron, Little Egret, Little Owl, LRP's, Penduline Tits and Eastern Olivaceous warblers.
A small drive into the hills and a Raptor watchpoint saw White-tailed Eagle, Lesser Spotted Eagle and Black Kite all within 1/2 hour.
Back past Lake Burgas and a stop for a Collard Pratincole colony and several Spoonbill. A quick look at a small reserve on the southern salt pans of Lake Atanosovsko didn't produce much but there had been a Slender-billed Gull reported earlier in the day from there. A stop off at Pomorie marsh found two Great-White Egrets.
A bit of a drive followed up into the mountains where we had Lesser Whitethroat, Ortolan Bunting, Tawny Pipit, Isabelline Wheatear, Dozens of Shrikes and a few distant Buzzard Species, possibly Steppe or Long-legged Buzzard.
Back to the Hotel for 18:30pm
Day six: No car, no guide so stayed around the hotel watching the many Yellow-legged Gulls bathing in the water park. Well you have to have one day with the family.
Russell
Some pictures on my Blog at
http://birdmanbirds.blogspot.co.uk/Full List below:
Avocet 100+
Bee-eater 40+
Black kite 1
Black stork 1
Blackbird 10+
Blackcap 2
Black-headed bunting 40+
Black-headed gull 10+
Black-winged stilt 50+
Buzzard 5
Calandra lark 6
Cetti's Warbler 20+
Chaffinch 30+
Chiffchaff 1
Collared dove 10+
Collared pratincole 20+
Common tern 50+
Coot 10+
Cormorant 200+
Corn bunting 50+
Crested lark 25+
Cuckoo 20+
Dalmatian pelican 30+
Feldegg wagtail 2
Gadwall 10+
Glossy ibis 6
Golden oriole 20+
Goldfinch 20+
Graet reed warbler 15+
Great spotted woodpecker 5
Great tit 5
Great White Egret 2
Great-crested grebe 30+
Green woodpecker 3
Greenfinch 3
Grey heron 20+
Hawfinch 20+
Honey buzzard 1
Hooded Crow 5
Hoopoe 10+
House martin 100's
House sparrow 100+
Isabeline wheatear 6
Jackdaw 80+
Jay 10+
Kentish plover 6
Kestrel 10+
Lapwing 10+
Lesser grey shrike 12+
Lesser spotted eagle 1
Lesser whitethroat 3
Linnet 2
Little bittern 4
Little egret 20+
Little grebe 1
Little owl 3
Little ringed plover 4
Little tern 10+
Magpie 30+
Mallard 30+
Marsh harrier 10+
Mediterranean gull 20+
Middle spotted woodpecker 1
Mistle thrush 6
Montagu's Harrier 1
Moorhen 2
Mute swan 20+
Night heron 10
Nightingale 30+
Northern wheatear 10+
Olivaceous warbler 10
Ortalan Bunting 2
Penduline tit 6
Pied Flycatcher 1
Pied wagtail 10
Pochard 30+
Purple heron 10
Pygmy cormorant 20
Raven 2
Red-backed shrike 30+
Red-rumped swallow 6
Reed warbler 10+
Rock dove 20+
Roller 10+
Rook 10+
Sand martin 10+
Sandwich tern 20+
Sedge warbler 2
Shelduck 20+
Skylark 10+
Song thrush 10+
Spanish sparrow 100's
Sparrowhawk 1
Spoonbill 15+
Spotted flycatcher 10+
Squacco heron 10
Starling 100's
Stone-curlew 2
Swallow 100's
Swift 100's
Tawny Pipit 4
Tree sparrow 6
Turtle dove 10+
Whiskered tern 10
White pelican 100's
White stork 1000's
White-tailed eagle 2
Whitethroat 2
Wood lark 1
Woodchat shrike 20+
Yellow-legged gull 100's
Some pictures on my Blog at
http://birdmanbirds.blogspot.co.uk/
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