Bulgaria (May 2024) - Rhodope Mountains
May 5
My initial plan of pre-dawn owling were curbed due to the
URI I was fighting. It would have been great to try for Boreal Owl near
Pamporovo but I really needed some rest. I did have one map pin I wanted to hit
en route to Trigrad. Turns out there is a site for breeding CORN CRAKE between
Teshel and Borino. I arrived around 6:30am and was immediately greeted by
calling Corn Crakes upon stepping out of the vehicle. At least five birds could
be heard “singing” from this one spot, including a couple quite near the road.
I had previously seen Corn Crake quite well a few years ago when a vagrant
turned up on Long Island, NY. USA. But I had never heard one, and that’s what I
was going for here. Hearing this iconic sound as sunlight spilled into the
valley made for quite the idyllic scene. Singing ORTOLAN BUNTING was a nice
surprise as well, and had another look at HAWFINCH here. I soaked it up for a
while before pulling myself away to get to the day’s main task: Wallcreeper.
eBird
Checklist - 5 May 2024 - 197, Borino BG-Smolyan 41.67629, 24.33452 - 9 species
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Rather stunning Corn Crake breeding habitat |
I arrived at Trigrad Gorge at 7:30am. The drive in had been spectacular and I couldn’t wait to explore a bit on foot. The site is called “The Devil’s Throat.” It was clear, crisp and COLD. A light dusting of snow was visible on some grassy roadside surfaces. Temperature was just a hair above freezing and there was a breeze coming down the canyon. I was underdressed, though I was grateful for the last-second decision to pack a winter hat and gloves. I had parked in the main tourist lot on the south side of the tunnel and began walking towards the tunnel when I heard a Wallcreeper singing from what sounded like not far away. I looked up the cliff face and realized that finding the singing bird would be much harder than I had hoped. I failed to locate it, and the singing stopped. I continued to walk through the tunnel (to the north side) and stepped over the guardrail to my right where there was a nice little spot for standing that could fit a couple people. At that point I began scanning the canyon walls, using both binoculars and naked eye, mostly looking back south. After another 20-30 minutes one began singing behind me from the canyon wall above the road. I looked up the cliff face and once again failed to find the bird. As I lowered my eyes I saw movement only 5-7m above eye level. It was the WALLCREEPER, singing from a crevice opening. A bit stunned, I watched it sing intermittently as it clung to the rock. I managed some grainy photos, though in hindsight it was a missed video opportunity. A silent second bird, presumably the female, appeared on top of the concrete tunnel itself. Very close. After hanging out by the tunnel for what was probably a couple minutes, both then quite literally fluttered one after the other across the gorge. It felt like I could have reached up and grabbed the male out of the air if I wanted to. One of them again sang for a bit at eye level but this time across the canyon. They then flew south along the gorge and out of sight from my vantage; presumably they would have been visible from the parking lot side of the tunnel. Not another soul was present for any of that. Just me, the wallcreepers, ALPINE SWIFTS calling overhead, and a bit of wind and white noise from the stream running through the gorge. A real wtf moment. After that encounter I spent another 40 minutes or so waiting for a second act, but I never saw or heard the birds again. By the time I got back to the car, the roadside coffee stand was open 🙏🏻.
eBird
Checklist - 5 May 2024 - Trigrad Gorge - 10 species
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Wallcreeper |
Devil's Throat or Devil's Vagina? You decide. |
There is actually a café here and a couple trinket shops. When I drove back through a few hours later, the lot was full, it was packed with people (holiday weekend), and I decided not to eat there.
After the Wallcreeper experience I birded my way to Trigrad
village itself, making a few roadside stops and hitting a couple trails.
Highlights included a family of WHITE-THROATED DIPPERS along the rushing
stream, my first SERIN of the trip, plenty of CRAG-MARTINS, and a close
encounter with four ground-feeding EURASIAN BULLFINCHES.
eBird
Checklist - 5 May 2024 - Auto selected 41.61228, 24.38035 - 1 species
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White-throated Dipper (juv) |
Nearing lunchtime I left the village and headed back through the gorge and back towards Pamporovo, making a couple quick stops en route and seeing another DIPPER. Stopped for lunch at an outdoor restaurant and had kebapche for the first time – not bad! I checked back into the same Pamporovo hotel early afternoon for more rest and research. It looked like tonight might be my best and only chance at Boreal (Tengmalm’s) Owl, as I had a reliable site marked near Pamporovo. I still needed Black Woodpecker too, so the plan was to get up to elevation for early evening, bird around, then try for Boreal Owl after dark. Before heading back into the field, I sat down for dinner at the hotel restaurant. Today was Orthodox Easter, and their special meal for the day was lamb soup, lamb ribs, and rice & veggies. The soup in particular was excellent.
I really enjoyed all of the high elevation birding during the
trip, and this was no exception. The diversity is obviously not spectacular,
but the quality is. Any outing with such cool species as RING OUZEL, EURASIAN
BULLFINCH and RED CROSSBILL is a success. And I finally enjoyed fine views of BLACK
WOODPECKER, including prolonged flight views as it bounded across the open
meadow.
As light fell I took a walk for Boreal Owl. The hike started
with a displaying EURASIAN WOODCOCK that made several passes right overhead. As
dusk turned to night, an owl vocalized, but not the species I was hoping for. A
pair of TAWNY OWLS began duetting and kept going for quite a while. This would
have kept any intelligent Boreal Owl silent, and sure enough there was no sign
of this species. I walked about 1km before turning back and heading for bed. I
could have explored the area further but again I was trying not to run myself
into the ground while recovering from that cold/flu-like bug.
eBird
Checklist - 5 May 2024 - Grashtitsa, Grashtitsa BG-Smolyan (41.6161,24.6334) -
17 species
eBird
Checklist - 5 May 2024 - Grashtitsa, Grashtitsa BG-Smolyan (41.6161,24.6334) -
5 species
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Black Woodpecker |
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Coal Tit |
May 6
Slept in a bit this morning. There was a bit of confusion
when I went down to the hotel lobby for breakfast at 7 AM , but the dining room
was closed. When I asked staff about the breakfast that was supposed to be
included, she reminded me that I told her last night that I would be leaving
before 7am so would be passing on breakfast. It hadn’t occurred to me before,
but I was the only person staying there, so there was no food prepared. The
woman was very kind, made me a quick coffee anyway and gave me a banana and a leftover
colored Easter egg for the road. Clearly this ski resort town does not see much
activity in May, which makes sense, but I wonder if during summer more people
use it as a base for a mountain getaway.
There’s something special about solo
travel, when you are simply on your own time. You don’t have to run decisions by
anyone, and you can move at whatever pace strikes you on that given day. If you
want to toss the day’s plans and do something random on a whim, you can.
Absolute freedom. The more I solo travel, the more I enjoy it.
Leaving the hotel, several dozen PALLID SWIFTS massed high overhead. I had a long, winding drive from Pamporovo to the Eastern Rhodopes, which looked a lot different than the high elevation of the Rilas and Western Rhodopes. Gone were the moist high elevation boreal forests, replaced with deciduous woodland and arid rock formations. I didn't start birding until 10:30am, just as it was getting hot - today's temperatures in the mid 80s were about the warmest I would see all trip.
My first stop in the town of Krumovgrad itself was for a life
subspecies of Common Redstart called “Ehrenberg’s” Redstart, told from the
nominate mainly by its white wing panel. It took longer than I had hoped, but I
finally got a brief look at a male moving quickly through some pines in a small
town park. Not very satisfied with the views, I moved on anyway, as there was
lots to do.
I headed for the Dolna Kula Valley which is where I ended up
spending nearly the entire afternoon. For the first several hours, the sun was
baking and the bird activity was subdued. However, activity picked up my last
couple hours there, which is when I bagged some of my bigger targets such as
OLIVE-TREE WARBLER, EASTERN ORPHEAN WARBLER, and EASTERN BLACK-EARED WHEATEAR.
The valley was both scenic and birdy which is why I didn’t bother trying to
tear myself away from the place. I do recommend giving this road and its
offshoot tracks and trails quite a bit of time and exploration if you can.
Vultures were flying and my single sweep high count of EURASIAN GRIFFON was 31.
A pair of adult EGYPTIAN VULTURES were really welcome as this was a life
plumage for me (brown immature seen previously). I stumbled across a SYRIAN
WOODPECKER at a nest hole which provided excellent views. I had my best trip
views of BLACK-HEADED BUNTING along this road. Other personal highlights
included CIRL BUNTINGS (5+), three CHUKAR, BARRED (heard) and SARDINIAN
WARBLERS. And of course throw in the ever-present BEE-EATERS, a ROLLER, GOLDEN
ORIOLES and RED-BACKED SHRIKES…all made for a really enjoyable afternoon.
eBird
Checklist - 6 May 2024 - Dolna Kula Valley - 51 species (+1 other taxa)
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Black-headed Bunting |
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Red-backed Shrike |
Before I left the area I realized I had time for an evening walk at the nearby vulture feeding station to the north. I did not actually see any vultures there, but arrived after 7pm so presumably they would have been off to roost. Nor did I actually look for the station itself. My interest here was passerines, not vultures. Specifically I still had not seen Sombre Tit or Eastern Subalpine Warbler, two bigtime Eastern Rhodope target species for me. I didn’t connect with either of those, but there were a few more singing OLIVE-TREE WARBLERS.
eBird Checklist
- 6 May 2024 - Auto selected 41.60059, 25.66213 - 28 species
It was off to Madzharovo for the night, which is also where
I would be spending the wee hours of the following morning in search of Western
Rock Nuthatch and others. As noted at the start of this report, Google Maps led
me astray. On my way to Madzharovo, Google tried to take me along an impassible
rutted dirt track along the south side of the Arda River. While that would have
been a great shortcut, I could not make it in my vehicle. Instead you have to
cross to the north side of the river, take the main road eastward, and then
cross back to the south side as you approach Madzharovo. Luckily this only set
me back about 25 minutes.
Just as I was approaching town along the winding road north
of the river, I was startled to see a few cattle in the road as I whipped
around a bend. The animals, clearly also surprised, tried to scatter. One
seemed a bit disoriented and turned towards me just as I was about to
pass it. A collision seemed inevitable. In that split second, which also seemed
like slow motion, the steer whipped its head over its shoulder directly towards
my side window. My mind’s eye imagined its massive horn smashing through the
window and into the vehicle. Miraculously, though, all I heard was a hard THUD
as the mirror whacked the animal’s snout and folded back into its retracted
position. Nothing appeared broken, which was confirmed when I pulled over to
take a look. I saw the steer in the rearview just standing there watching me
drive away, I’m sure wondering what the fuck just slapped it across the face
like it was the Chris Rock of cattle. I still don’t know how that horn managed
to miss the car itself. Lucky!
I arrived at my hotel a bit before 10pm to a barrage of
singing SCOPS OWLS and a distantly duetting pair of TAWNY OWLS. I hadn’t seen
Scops yet, and I was able to easily call one in for eye-level open views. Their
territories must be quite small, as there were at least six different Scops
within earshot of this one spot.
eBird
Checklist - 6 May 2024 - Paradise Hotel - 2 species
May 7
I started the day not long after sunrise at The Crater area
on the north side of the river, north of town. This is the classic spot for
WESTERN ROCK NUTHATCH, though it is no given here. In fact, I had more of a
“needle in a haystack” feeling looking for this bird than I did for Wallcreeper
at Trigrad. There is a lot of habitat here. I spent a solid 3+ hours,
and my only experience with the rock nuthatch was hearing one give its loud,
full song one time. It was upslope from me, but I could not get eyes on it. I
gathered from a bit of intel that folks were having a really hard time with
this species recently. It made me wonder if the birds are currently in the
throes of incubating and are quiet and not super active as a result.
I enjoyed this spot quite a bit despite the difficulty with
the top target, as other great birds were more cooperative. A male EASTERN
SUBALPINE WARBLER teed up and sang for quite a while along the road. And while
I was scanning upslope for signs of nuthatches, I picked up my first SOMBRE
TIT. Otherwise, both the scenery and the birds were impressive. There were more
GRIFFONS and EGYPTIAN VULTURES on the crags. I picked up on several BLUE ROCK
THRUSHES, ROCK BUNTINGS, and EASTERN BLACK-EARED WHEATEARS.
eBird
Checklist - 7 May 2024 - 8081, Gorno pole BG-Haskovo 41.65234, 25.87524 - 34
species
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Eastern Subalpine Warbler |
Once I’d had enough of this spot I decided to try one more location along the same road to the west for the nuthatch, at a site it had been recorded in prior years. No joy there either, and it had suddenly gotten hot in the bright sun.
eBird
Checklist - 7 May 2024 - 8081, Gorno pole BG-Haskovo 41.65384, 25.83787 - 16
species
It felt like time to move onto my last bit of inland
birding, the search for Masked Shrike. Unlike the nuthatch I was really keen on
a good experience with this species and was willing to put in the time to make
that happen. I drove to the well-known site near Yerusalimovo, grabbing a
delicious [and cheap] meat-filled grilled lunch en route. I began the search in
the heat of the day. Reports going a few years back had noted Masked Shrikes
rather near the road, so I was hoping to score quickly. That was not the case!
Of course it was hot and sunny for the second straight day, which probably
reduced my odds greatly. After a few hours’ search, as the intensity of the sun
was finally starting to lessen a bit, I finally spotted a male MASKED SHRIKE
teed up distantly on top of the largest bare tree up the middle of the gorge. I
was standing at (41.89083, 26.08869), which is at the edge of the gorge looking
north. After a minute or so the bird flew off, even further away from the road.
Other notable birds that afternoon included SOMBRE TIT, OLIVE-TREE WARBLER, and
nice views of some PALLID SWIFTS.
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Pallid Swift |
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that slightly taller, round-topped tree that is dead center on the horizon is where the Masked Shrike eventually popped up |
This wasn’t the shrike experience I had hoped for, so I was prepared to stay locally that night and try again the next morning. However I decided to pull up the latest eBird intel, and there was a report from the town of Levka of a male hanging out in the schoolyard the day before, complete with coordinates (41.8705183, 26.2677446). Conveniently, this was the town where the Lesser Kestrel reintroduction project is happening. I headed straight there, first checking out the LESSER KESTREL colony, from which birds were coming and going. I’d recently had really wonderful views of this species in Senegal but was glad to see them on the breeding grounds. Onto the schoolyard, I parked as close to the coordinates as I could get and walked onto the property. First bird I saw was the male MASKED SHRIKE. It was kinda skittish as far as allowing photo ops, but the binocular views were awesome. I enjoyed watching it hunt the grounds for crickets, etc. Had I known about this spot earlier, it would have saved me a few hours of sweating 😊.
eBird Checklist - 7 May 2024 - Auto selected 41.87082, 26.26739 - 1 species
The inland birding had ended on a high note! It was time to
return to the coast. It was getting late to make the entire drive, so I grabbed
a cheap Airbnb about halfway.
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Masked Shrike |
- NB
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