Madzharovo – Central Balkan Mountains – Sofia
This is our last day of this short birdwatching trip so we had to leave after breakfast. Before that we still wanted to try for the Subalpine Warbler as agreed yesterday. It took us some but finally Lu managed to see it and we were ready for breakfast.
We packed and started oue journey to Sofia. We leave the place with great sentiment and thanksgiving to our hosts from the lodge managed by the Bulgarian society for the protection of birds.
Central Balkan mountains
Central Balkan mountains national park is on our route today. We planned to pass through the high mountains where we wanted to see some alpine birds. Shortly after leaving we stopped for a couple of juv Little Owls sitting by the road. Our journey was rather pleasant and we all enjoyed the landscape. We didn’t do any birding along the route and arrived in the alpine area after lunch. What a scenery! Mountains from either side with 360 degrees view. We were at the very top so we had Northern Bulgaria at one side and Southern Bulgaria at the other. Mountain flowers were in blossom and lots of people were collecting wild berries. Horses were grazing and running around the meadows. It was absolutely superb. The birdlife wasn’t very rich but a Quail called and a Whinchat was around. A Kestrel was also hunting. A local shepherd confirmed the presence of Rock Partridge which was our main target but we didn’t see.
view from the Central Balkan mountains
view from the Central Balkan mountains
birdwatching trip in Central Balkan mountains
birding trip in Central Balkan mountains
Time was ticking away and it was time to head to Sofia. En route we stopped at one more place to see the European Souslik (Ground Squirrel) and we managed to add it to our list. Birds we saw here were some Crested Larks, Isabelline Wheatears and Turtle Doves. The last bird for the trip was a Short toed Eagle. Thus we called it a day and headed to our hotel in Sofia. We did the checklist for the trip which ended with nearly 90 birds for these four days. Although it was rather late after the end of the breeding season we all agreed it was a great trip. We leave with great memories and hopes to meet again.
Birds seen during the four day trip : 23-26.07.2015
- Grey Partridge
- Quail
- Cormorant
- Pygmy Cormorant
- Grey Heron
- White Stork
- Black Stork
- Griffon Vulture
- Egyptian Vulture
- Short-toed Eagle
- Booted Eagle
- Black Kite
- Long-legged Buzzard
- Common Buzzard
- Honey Buzzard
- Sparrowhawk
- Common Kestrel
- Peregrine Falcon
- Yellow legged gull
- Feral Pigeon
- Wood Pigeon
- Collared Dove
- Turtle Dove
- Little Owl
- Scops Owl
- Alpine Swift
- Pallid Swift
- Common Swift
- Hoopoe
- Kingfisher
- Bee-eater
- Black Woodpecker
- Green Woodpecker
- Syrian Woodpecker
- Middle-spotted Woodpecker
- Lesser spotted Woodpecker
- Crested Lark
- Crag Martin
- Barn Swallow
- Red-rumped Swallow
- House Martin
- White Wagtail
- Grey Wagtail
- White-throated Dipper
- Robin
- Nightingale
- Black Redstart
- Isabelline Wheatear
- Whinchat
- Blackbird
- Blue-rock Thrush
- Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush
- Whitethroat
- Subalpine Warbler
- Chiffchaff
- Firecrest
- Winter Wren
- Great Tit
- Coal Tit
- Blue Tit
- Sombre Tit
- Marsh Tit
- Nuthatch
- Rock Nuthatch
- Short-toed Treecreeper
- Red backed Shrike
- Woodchat Shrike
- Masked Shrike
- Lesser grey Shrike
- Magpie
- Jay
- Hooded Crow
- Raven
- Starling
- Golden Oriole
- House Sparrow
- Spanish Sparrow
- Tree Sparrow
- Chaffinch
- Linnet
- Goldfinch
- Greenfinch
- Serin
- Hawfinch
- Ortilan Bunting
- Black-headed Bunting
- Corn Bunting
- Cirl Bunting