Thursday 27 February 2014

Kokra river

Dipper pin badge - today's most satisfying Dipper
Goosander Mergus merganser male in flight
Helleborus niger - quite common in woodlands
A nice trip today brought me to the Gorenjska region in Slovenia. The focus was primarily to check the river Kokra for breeding Dippers for a future study on the species. Only three birds were seen in the course of the day, although a total of 6 active nests were found (out of 11 nests in total) - mostly under concrete bridges crossing the river. Apart from the Dippers, the most attractive birds of the day were Goosanders - a total of 20 birds seen on the lake of Trboje. This lake and the one at Zbilje were checked and produced a good number of other winter species like 11 Goldeneyes, lots of Tufted Ducks, 1 Pochard, Great Crested and Little Grebes and commoner stuff.