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I am talking of the very heart of the Balkans and the final birding frontier of Europe: Serbia. When choosing the top birding area of Serbia for a weekend visit, head for lowlands, Deliblato Sands and Labudovo Okno complex with 250 bird species. Serbia – the big picture. How he prepared for his tour of Serbia?
Autumn Zajecarsko Beer in a garden with plum trees and Sombre T**s (Jerma River Canyon) A Yellowhammer in the same garden (Jerma River Canyon) Pear brandy on the Global Big [Birding] Day (in the Deliblato Sands Reserve) That Great Black-Backed Gull that is supposed to overwinter at sea and not the Danube in the land-locked Serbia.
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). And where to look for the Ural Owl in Serbia?
We are in the Tara Mountain in western Serbia, ranging from 1,000-1,500 m / 3,000-5,000 ft above sea level. Also, there are 58 mammal species represented in the park, which is home to the largest Brown Bear (50+ animals; bear watching can be arranged through the NP authorities, find the link below) and Chamois populations in Serbia.
We are heading towards the Great Bustard Pastures Nature Reserve in the very north of Serbia, along the border with Romania (near the town of Kikinda, the world Long-eared Owl capital ). The post Birding northern Serbia, or a sudden bird tour appeared first on 10,000 Birds. A fitting end to a sudden bird tour.
In the chill morning of late January, I am driving east of Belgrade towards the Two Towers section of the Danube and the best waterfowling bonanza in the whole of Serbia. The post Going Medieval: Waterfowling the Two Towers of Serbia appeared first on 10,000 Birds. Cover photo : Ram Fortress by Ilija Jacanovic.
“I would certainly recommend Serbia to visiting birders. Nonetheless, I visited some excellent habitats, especially the flooded wetlands, and saw some good birds,” wrote the UK Birdwatch Magazine journalist Mike Unwin of his bird tour of northern Serbia 15 years ago. A birding year in Serbia. What has changed in the meantime?
This October, a previously unknown name shined in the eBird alerts in Serbia: Raphael Nussbaumer. Here is how he prepared for his tour of Serbia: Guest-author : Raphael Nussbaumer. This was the feeling I had last October, when we travelled to Serbia with my wife for a week. There was none in Serbia.
Iron Gates, after the ancient Roman name for the gorge, Porta Ferrea) National Park lies in the north-eastern Serbia, where the Danube has incised the longest gorge of Europe, extending for over 100 kilometre (62 mi), stretching from the medieval Golubac Fortress to the Roman castrum Diana. Horned) Lark and the Woodchat Shrike.
Where to find shorebirds around Belgrade, Serbia? So far, 33 species have been eBirded in Serbia. Let me add that the only ever ringed Critically Endangered (yet, possibly extinct) Slender-billed Curlew was ringed in northern Serbia (Carska bara Ramsar site) in the 1970s. Common Redshank. Collared Pratincole.
Serbia has 317 eBirded species so far, or 89% of the 356 in the national checklist. Among travel guides, due to its extensive coverage of natural history and birding sites, recommendation goes to Laurence Mitchell’s Serbia: The Bradt Travel Guide (5th edition, 2017). Every few years, Rosy Starlings appear – this was one such year.
The weather has already improved, and in 23 days the spring will be back. With longer and warmer days, we feel the urge to bird in the country, away from our local city patches. So, if you were coming into my neck of the woods – Belgrade, where would I suggest you go birding?
Our destination lies further west, along the Drina River, which marks the border between Serbia and Bosnia. Due to mass wolf poisonings in the 1960s and the 1970s, Griffon Vultures in Serbia suffered a dramatic population crash. Povlen, a quick stop filled with a song that sounds familiar, but I haven’t heard it since last year.
Serbia has a large number of pigeon fanciers and a long history of lack of law enforcement in the field of wildlife crime ( Newsweek on poaching in the Balkans ). This time it is not in Serbia, but in Zurich, Switzerland, where this particular Serbian pigeon fancier / blogger lives. Painting (c) by Paschalis Dougalis.
Also, it is a part of the international ecological corridor and the “Confluence of the Sava and the Danube Rivers” Important Bird Area (IBA), already proposed for a nature reserve by the Government’s Institute for the Protection of Nature of Serbia. White-tailed Eagles in Beljarica. mi2 of the Danube Backwaters in 2014 (cover photo).
The night temperatures in Belgrade, Serbia, were already below minus 10 Celsius / 14 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks. Up to the mid-20th century, Pygmy Cormorant was a common breeding species of wetlands around Belgrade until most wetlands were drained and the birds were lost, at one moment – from the entire territory of Serbia.
Two years ago, I was counting active nests of Rooks in the flat agricultural landscape north of Belgrade, Serbia. In the northern Backa region of Serbia, in the mid-1970s there were more than 37,000 active nests of Rooks, while in 2009 there were less than 8500, indicating a loss of more than 76% over a time span of 35 years ( source ).
Some 40 km north of Belgrade, Serbia, I am driving to the very end of an oxbow lake with the intention of looking for the Ruddy Shelducks ( Tadorna ferruginea ) that were found here the day before. Ruddy Shelducks do not normally show up in Serbia. Birds ducks Europe Serbia' I already have a history of searches for this species.
Hence, in land-locked Serbia, it has been recorded only three times: in 1857, one was shot at the Morava River; in 1993, one was observed by a bird photographer Rastko Aleksandrov at the Centa fish farm, north of Belgrade; and in 2012, a team of Croat and Serbian ornithologists found one at the Belgrade city rubbish dump.
Serbia holds 13 per cent of the European breeding population of this “electrified” species which is not only Endangered in Europe but also listed as Globally Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Still, we are a bit disappointed: those are not Sakers, but Common Kestrels – the only truly common falcon species of Serbia.
We were heading to the Djerdap (Iron Gates) Gorge National Park, stretching along the south bank of the Danube in eastern Serbia, to do the 400 km / 250 mi bird tour interconnecting possibly the very best sites around Belgrade reachable within a day. Michael’s summer birding along the Danube in Serbia appeared first on 10,000 Birds.
In Belgrade, Serbia, winter months offer surprisingly good birding possibilities. Also, a rare Greater Spotted Eagle was spotted here in December (only about a dozen of them overwinter in Serbia). Winter is a season of extremes – opt for the very top and the very bottom of the city.
Last month, I birded my favourite local patch, Beljarica – the best eBird hotspot in Belgrade city and the 3rd best in Serbia – four times. Some days ago, one impressive flock of more than a thousand Barn Swallows , Sand and Common House Martins greeted me from the wires. Photo: Gordan Pomorisac. And I felt… relieved?
Most perching birds have already left us sometime from late August and September; soaring birds do migrate over Serbia, but there is no known bottleneck site to observe them (it is believed that they follow the main river valleys to the east and south); while waterbirds will start arriving in a month or so. Birding city birds Europe Serbia'
and I were counting waterbirds along the Danube and stumbled upon that Great Black-backed Gull that I told you about before – the fourth one recorded in Serbia since mid-19th century and a very uncooperative bird that successfully avoided all photographic searches afterwards. Birds Europe gulls Serbia' This weekend, S.
mi2 of the Danube backwaters in Belgrade, Serbia. Out of my total of 15 observations ever, this is only the third within Serbia (the rest were half in India, the other half in Greece). Now, that fits the bird I saw, but soon I will realise another issue: in Serbia, this species was recorded only once! My favourite poplar tree.
These days I am busy with something called the “avitourism product“ of Belgrade, Serbia. Okay, that choice is something to be expected, but how about this: some seven years ago I was guiding another British couple to a nearby fish farm where I was happy to show them the Great White Pelican – the only one I have ever seen in Serbia!
While there are some two dozen birding spots in Belgrade, Serbia, that stand out, in this guideblog I will focus on the river Danube and its floodplain, inside the Important Bird Area “Confluence of the Sava and the Danube Rivers”. Trips birdfinder Europe Serbia' In the previous guideblog: Where to watch birds in the Iron Gates.
Here is a joint media release: WWF, Decembar 11, 2015 – This December, 3,800 Pygmy Cormorants are wintering by the river Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, representing 2 percent of the global population and 5.4 “The Pygmy Cormorant is a strictly protected bird species in Serbia, as well as in the European Union.
Avala, some 10 miles south of Belgrade, Serbia. Birding Black Woodpecker Europe Serbia woodpeckers' One more wakeup call way too early (quite often, when I should wake up early – I hardly sleep at all) and I am in a hurry to meet N. at the very top of Mt. That is where I dipped the Alpine Accentor in December.
In February 2022, the Collaborative submitted 127 checklists in 7 countries ( Costa Rica , United States , Mexico , Trinidad and Tobago , United Kingdom , and Serbia ). The 2022 year list stands at 888 and the life list is now at 4,112.
Back in November, one group of British birders visited Serbia and, as one of them later wrote in his blog, their local guide promised them the GGS – “That one is guaranteed“, the guide declared. ‘He Birding city birds Europe owls Serbia' He will think twice before guarantying the GGS next time’ the British birder wrote.
Iron Gates (Djerdap) national park, Serbia. This one is most likely my latest swift in Serbia ever. Small canyon among wooded hills. Framed by red Permian sandstone, Eric Hyman is staring into the bare branches of a dead tree, or, to be more precise, into some fluttering t**s. From there we go back to Belgrade through heavy showers.
In my native Serbia, I’ve observed this species in winter only once, while here in East Anglia every site held one. While not those we were looking for, I am not disappointed: this is twice as many as I had ever seen in Serbia. that in deforested agricultural areas of Serbia wintering Common Buzzards even use those clods as perches.
I used to live in Botswana, where there are about 450 bird species in an area a few dozen miles from the capital; then somewhat naively moved back to Serbia with mere 250 species around the capital. So, the perfect country to move to needs to have at least twice as many species as Serbia. And it shows.
I was canoeing the Danube backwaters inside Belgrade, Serbia, on a warm and sunny November day when a Northern Goshawk tried to catch one of two Pygmy Cormorants. Northern Goshawk in Serbia, (c) Szekeres Levente. Entering some old data at eBird, I found myself puzzled with one record. This Goshawk was actually drowning its prey!
I am parked at the bridge over the Reva Pond in the suburb of Belgrade, Serbia, mere 150 metres away from the nearest buildings behind me, but facing the fascinating undeveloped 1.2 Birding Europe Mammals otters Serbia' kilometres / 0.7 miles towards the Danube River ahead of me. Photo Matthias Kabel / Wikimedia Commons.
In 2022, the 10,000 Birds eBird Collaborative submitted 1,837 checklists from 9 countries ( Australia , China , Costa Rica , Mexico , Saint Lucia , Serbia , Trinidad and Tobago , United Kingdom , and the United States ) and observed 1,273 species. The Collaborative life list increased to 4,140.
Consequently, my first local patch becomes a largish Danube River floodzone opposite to Belgrade (Serbia) city centre (cover photo: April 1992). It is a winter trap for rare gulls and that is where I found the 4th Great Black-backed Gull for Serbia this winter, as well as the 6th Pallas’s Gull two winters ago.
Birds eagles Europe Serbia wetlands' It goes after the falling fish… …almost… …but no, the older eagle misses the fish, which falls to the ground, to make some stray cat a very happy cat. Photos (c) Slobodan Panjkovic.
During my lifetime, this species was rare in my native Serbia, too. And so, I was driving from Greece to Serbia… in central Macedonia, two birds were circling not far from the motorway… black and white (above)… perhaps White Storks on migration?
These birds have already left my native Serbia, further north, and this is not just the only one I have seen in Greece, but my last bee-eater of the season. From their point of view, I suppose, they are putting those marshes to a good use (to be completely honest – pretty much like birding Serbia). Saxicola rubetra.
along the Carska Bara Nature Reserve, Serbia, a Common Reed Bunting awaits me on a low branch… and then performs a real dance, twitching its tail sideways and following it in a series of quick steps! A way to beat the cold?
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