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Dave Gosney’s Finding Birds Series covers mostly the Western Palearctic and describes birding in various regions of Portugal, Spain, Morocco, France, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, etc., with some additions, namely South Texas, The Gambia, and Goa (India).
The Ural Owl inhabits old and undisturbed boreal forests, in an unbroken belt from Sweden and Finland across Russia to Japan, and is rarely seen to the south, only here and there, in the Carpathians (Slovakia/Ukraine/Romania/eastern Serbia) and Dinaric Alps (Croatia/Bosnia/western Serbia).
It was an unexpected bird tour, without too much planning and aimed at a few target species, of which we saw most, but the main one eluded us… Early morning, leaving the last houses behind… and a Little Owl awaits us on a traffic sign.
On the second day of that visit, the wardens suggested to try the “Forgotten” Road, once the main road to Romania, but today, after a dozen tunnels and a new riverbank road were constructed four decades ago, merely a track of a derelict and crumbling tarmac winding over a mountain pass. Other species include Grey Wagtail and Marsh Tit.
On my 21-day Kenyan safaris we reckoned to find around 600 species of birds and around 60 mammals, both impressive totals. In 2023 I attempted to keep a year list of mammal encounters: the list barely exceeded 20 species, while it became complicated by seeing bats and voles that I was unable to name specifically.
I may try to use it in the field the next time, but am still suspicious of it: I find it faster to write down a name code (in my case, the first three letters of a genus and the first three letters of a species name) plus a figure, than to press the touch screen. It actually makes perfect sense.
Shallows provide an ideal spawning ground for almost 50 fish species and submerged islands breeding ground for more than 100 bird species. Until about a decade ago, this warmth-loving species lived only in the south, but then it quickly spread much further, even north of the Danube. Mallard – Anas platyrhynchos.
The national park ranges some 100 km in length along the right bank of the Danube (the left bank is in Romania), where the river varies in width from 5 km / 3 mi to only 150 m / 500 ft and the mountains rise up to 800 m / 2600 ft a.s.l.
Invercargill The bottom of New Zealand and you’d be forgiven for thinking the end of the world is where you’ll be heading if you’re following Argentina, Scotland, Romania or Georgia. In actuality, you’ve lucked out, you’re near The Catlins , a dramatic area of well preserved temperate rainforest.
According to the British Trust for Ornithology’s BirdFacts website, “Although a small number of vagrant Red-breasted Geese from the declining arctic Siberian breeding population winter in Britain each year, the species is popular in wildfowl collections and many birds are of captive origin. The post The World’s Most Beautiful Goose?
Out of just under 200 bird species I observed this year in SE Europe, there are 6 threatened species. point to just one problem source, one over-abundant and highly invasive species – Homo sapiens. point to just one problem source, one over-abundant and highly invasive species – Homo sapiens.
That comes at a price – the HBW describes the species as “stocky and fairly sluggish” and – with a critical undertone – continues to state that the species is “generally less agile in flight than are most flycatchers”. Why the Latin species name is cyaniventer (meaning having a dark blue belly) remains a mystery to me though.
Turtle Doves have been declining in Europe since the 1970s, and in this century alone, the continent has lost 40% of its population of the species. Since this spring’s revision of the European Red List, the Turtle Dove is listed as a vulnerable species. Money and effort are being invested in that protection.
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