Dragan's Birding Travel Tips
@albicilla66
ecotourism consultant, destination maker, experience curator, birder, guider, wildlife-travel writer and the @WildlifeMag award winning blogger www.10000birds.com/author/dragan, ambassador for @SwarovskiOptik
🔥🔥🔥🔥 The state of my favourite #birding hount–the #DeliblatoSands NR, east of #Belgrade, on the 9th day (Aug 13) since the outbreak of the forest fire on Aug 5. The #wildfire is not yet extinguished. The yellow zone shows the burned scar covering about one fifth of the reserve. Source: Sentinel-2🔥🔥🔥
#Beljarica Reserve, 10km N of #Belgrade, is an exciting #birding spot, esp. in August, at the height of autumn migration: Turtle Dove, Snipe, Marsh, & Wood Sand, White Stork, Little Egret, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Black Wood, Golden Oriole, RB Shrike, Sand Martin, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Brown Hare..
The state of my favourite #birding hount–the #DeliblatoSands NR, east of #Belgrade, on the 6th day since the outbreak of the Great Fire on August 5. The red zone shows the burned area covering about one sixth of the reserve. The #wildfire is not yet extinguished. Source: NASA FIRMS & Sentinel-2🔥🌳🔥🌳🔥
Late July #birding #Beljarica, #Belgrade, a spacious flood retention basin of seasonally inundated riparian forests: Garganey, BW Stilts, Common, Green & Wood Sandpipers, Pygmy Cormorant, Squacco Heron, WT Eagle, Little Owl, Bee-eaters, Sand Martins, half a dozen Brown Hares 🌳 #birdingadventures
One volume, 370 pages and 1,100 species: what their names stand for, both common and scientific? The Vanishing Mew Gull is a comprehensive dictionary of bird names of the Western Palaearctic, as well as their history ▶️ www.10000birds.com/the-vanishin... 🐦 #PelagicPublishing 🦜 #birdbooks 🦚 #birding
Offering affordable European charm, #Belgrade is an excellent base for weekend #birding breaks: 1hr from Europe’s largest inland sand dunes & 3 Ramsar sites 2hr from 2 mountainous national parks 3hr from the nearest #GriffonVulture colony ▶️ www.10000birds.com/belgrade-are... #GlobalBirdfair #Serbia
June #birding the #NorthernPindos National Park in #Greece: a lot of Brown Bear scat on the road (!), Pallid Swift, ST Eagle, Lanner Falcon, RB Shrike, Coal Tit, Shore Lark, ST Treecreeper, RR Swallow, Northern Wheatear, Grey Wagtail, Tawny Pipit, Cirl Bunting.. #ValiaCalda #Pindos #Vikos #Zagori
Yep. Have them all (and used the first two in India):
June #birding the #AcheronDelta, aka #Ammoudia marshes in #Epirus, northwest #Greece: Dalmatian Pelican, Pygmy Cormorant, Spoonbill, Spotted Redshank, Bee-eater, LG Shrike, Crested Lark, E. Olivaceous Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, RR Swallow… ▶️ www.birdingplaces.eu/en/birdingpl...
Offering affordable European charm, #Belgrade is an excellent base for weekend #birding breaks: 1hr from Europe’s largest inland sand dunes & 3 Ramsar sites 2hr from 2 mountainous national parks 3hr from the nearest #GriffonVulture colony ▶️ www.10000birds.com/belgrade-are... #GlobalBirdfair #Serbia
Mid-summer morning in the Balkans, early enough to create an illusion of a coolness, umm, almost. I am #birding in the #CarskaBara NR, & a cloud of dust closely follows me like a rider on a pale horse ▶️ www.10000birds.com/birding-with... #onewithnature #GlobalBirdfair #Belgrade #BeloBlato #Serbia
Offering affordable European charm, #Belgrade is an excellent base for weekend #birding breaks: 1hr from Europe’s largest inland sand dunes & 3 Ramsar sites 2hr from 2 mountainous national parks 3hr from the nearest #GriffonVulture colony ▶️ www.10000birds.com/belgrade-are... #Serbia #GlobalBirdfair
#KučajBeljanica NP is an area of limestone cliffs, forests, meadows, pastures & streams, 2hrs S of #Belgrade. #Birding in May yielded Honey-buzzard, Tawny Owl, Wryneck, GH, & Black Wood, Coal Tit, Collared, & RB Flycatcher, Hawfinch, Roe Deer, Red Fox #JužniKučaj 🌳 #Kučajskeplanine 🌲 #onewithnature
Mid-May #birding #DeliblatoSands sandy steppe & black locust and pine woodland, 1h E of #Belgrade: Turtle Dove, Honey-buzzard, Little Owl, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Roller, RB, and LG Shrike, Woodlark, Skylark, Crested Lark, Tawny Pipit, Golden Jackal, etc. #gobirding 🌳 #birdsuniteourworld 🌳 #seetheunseen
Early May #birding #Beljarica, #Belgrade, a spacious flood retention basin of seasonally inundated riparian forests: Ferruginous Duck, Pygmy Cormorant, Wood Sand, WT Eagle, Bee-eater, Black Wood, Golden Oriole, RB Shrike, Penduline Tit, Great Reed Warbler, and 3 Brown Hares #birdsuniteourworld
#Djerdap NP extends over mtns 2h from #Belgrade, through which the Danube hollows the Djerdap Gorge. Yesterday, the park yielded Middle, Lesser, Black, & GH Wood, Alpine Swift, Woodlark, ST Treecreeper, Collared Fly, Wheatear, Rock, Cirl, & Ortolan Bunting #birding #seetheunseen #birdsuniteourworld
Mid-April #birding the #ObedskaBara NR, 1h W of #Belgrade, &its seasonally inundated oak forests with ash &elm. The flood of a week ago (the water was 1m above the track) has just receded: Collared Fly 30, Hoopoe, Wryneck, GH Wood 3, Wood Warbler, ST Treecreeper, Nightingale (my first of the season)
#Birding by Car: A car also doubles as a good hide—many species will not respond to it. They are especially suitable for open terrains and larger birds. Drive slowly, ideally 30 to 40 km/h (20 to 25 mi/h), and ignore the honking lunatics overtaking you! ▶️ www.10000birds.com/how-to-bird-...
Mid-April #birding #DeliblatoSands Reserve, 1hr east of #Belgrade – 380km2 of forest (40%), scrub (30%) and grassland (20%) in the largest inland dune system of Europe: my first Common Cuckoo, Barn Swallow, Lesser Whitethroat and Tree Pipit of the season, Common Raven, Eurasian Skylark, Corn Bunting
#Birding #Beljarica the first day of spring, the only time of the year Ring Ouzel and Common Hoopoe can be observed side by side in #Belgrade, together with Common Goldeneye (a northern species that started breeding only a few years ago), Sparrowhawk, WT Eagle, Black Wood, Mistle Thrush...
The #STBalance is a lightweight (1,300 g), image-stabilised scope that allows for shake-free handheld observation. Yes, leave the tripod, the bulkiest and the heftiest piece of equipment – at home. ▶️ www.10000birds.com/the-image-st... 🦅 #seetheunseen #swarovskioptik #birding #onewithnature
I went birding… and to admire trees! Mostly glorious White Poplars. I don’t really think of myself as a tree-hugger, but if I were religious, I’d worship trees! Birds included Brambling, Mistle Thrush, Woodlark, Marsh Tit, Black Woodpecker, WT Eagle, Sparrowhawk, etc. #Birding #Beljarica #Belgrade
#Birding #Uganda: 1060 sp., timing Dec-Feb & Jul-Sep. Queen Elizabeth NP is one of the very few areas with 600+ sp. For montane forest sp. – Bwindi NP with 350, for lowland forest sp. – Kibale NP with 375, for Guinea-Congo forest sp. Semuliki NP with 440 sp. More ▶️ www.10000birds.com/our-dream-bi...
February #birding the seasonally inundated oak, poplar and willow forests of the #ObedskaBara NR in the Sava River floodplain, 1 hr west of #Belgrade: Hen Harrier, Middle Spotted, Gray-headed, and Black Woodpecker, Treecreeper and Short-toed Treecreeper... 🌳 #goBirding #seetheunseen #mywildlife
Late January #birding #Beljarica, #Belgrade, a spacious flood retention basin of seasonally inundated riparian forests, observed fresh Beaver teeth marks and a White-tailed Eagle incubating its recently laid eggs, Merlin in a hunt, Water, & Meadow Pipit, heard a mourning call of Black Woodpecker🌳🌳🌳