Shorebirder

A few more odds and ends before I close out the Bulgaria report... Here is the eBird Trip Report: Bulgaria - eBird Trip Report Final tally: 237 species, 55 of which were life birds. 10/10 fun factor. Combining high elevation boreal forest, mountains, lowlands, and coast during peak migration made for a stellar trip. The misses: Paddyfield Warbler – Given reports from previous years, I really thought I would get one or two at the classic spots with some effort. This just seemed to be a late year for them, and those persistent cool strong north winds could not have helped, I imagine. It’s possible a few were present but silent due to the weather, as Pavel suggested might be the case. Boreal Owl – Late for calling birds. Peak calling period in Bulgaria is reportedly mid-Feb to mid-Apr. The birds are probably in the height of breeding activity at this point in the spring and are not wanting to be seen. I’d have liked more chances to try, but I did what I could within the confines of my i...

May 11 It was back to Durankulak Lake this morning in search of Paddyfield. I was greeted by a cold, stiff wind and bright sun. Parked near the campsite and walked south entire length of lake, 2.5 miles each way. Southward walk was focused almost entirely on finding Paddyfield Warbler, which was a fail. Meanwhile a very nice northward diurnal migration was happening and lasted til 8am when it slowed considerably. Swifts and swallows were dominant but also included RED-FOOTED FALCONS, bee-eaters, rollers and the like. In hindsight, I should have spent the whole morning watching the flight instead of looking for another bag-of-shit Old World warbler. Luckily I broke concentration briefly enough to glance over the dunes to see two huge gulls flying north that could be only one thing. I was pretty shocked to see two subadult PALLAS’S GULLS, a species I was hoping but not expecting to see. They don’t breed very far north of here but there is a surprising paucity of May records. Not a ...

May 9 This was my first of several days birding the northeast coast. The idea here was to set up shop in the region and hope to hit good migration weather at some point. Of course there would be other resident species and breeders to target as well. The Kaliakra Cape area, and the coast north from there, can be quite good for passerine migration in spring (and presumably raptors in fall, given the geography of the Bulgarian coast). There is a lengthy vagrant list for the region. I arrived in the parking lot at Kaliakra Cape at 5:55am in hopes of witnessing some morning flight, and I was happy to see some! The wind was blowing NNE at 10-20mph under mostly cloudy skies. There was a decent showing of warblers plus a few flycatchers. Nothing major, but it was cool standing at the tip and seeing a few warblers fly in off the sea and land in the bushes next to me. These were mostly WILLOW WARBLERS plus some CHIFFCHAFF. Birds would hit the tip, then push northward thru the veg and along t...