MAGIC Pannonia in April

Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus by Igor Maiorano
 

Yesterday I got a very strong dose of Pannonian birding, as I ventured into north-east Slovenia with four other friends. We were mainly after some scarce and rare migrant species reported in the past couple of days and we were very successful in finding them. We first visited the Ormož lake (on the border with Croatia), then the lake of Ptuj and finally the Medvedce reservoir (near Pragersko). First of all I must mention the incredible migratory movement that we witnessed from the car along the whole length of the motorway, mainly involving Marsh Harriers Circus aeruginosus (+50) and Common Buzzards Buteo buteo and huge numbers of finches (mainly Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs), all heading north.

We first went to Ormož because of a lingering female WHITE-HEADED DUCK Oxyura leucocephala that we spotted immediately upon arrival to the lake's shore. And the morning started with the right twist...

The bird was not even too far from the shore and was usually associating with some Mallards. I managed a couple of pics for documentation. Probably the same individual was present in the past few months in Austria and was quite popular up there.

White-headed Duck Oxyura leucocephala

Apart from the commoner ducks and waterbirds, the lake held also a few other goodies in the form of: an OSPREY Pandion haliaetus flying overhead, 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls Larus fuscus, a 1st winter Caspian Gull Larus cachinnans and a few Velvet Scoters Melanitta fusca.

Osprey Pandion haliaetus

About 15 minutes later we were watching (from the car) the female LONG-TAILED DUCK Clangula hyemalis on the lake of Ptuj. The bird was still around in the same area where it spent the last months, but this time it was sporting a darker plumage.

Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis

Nearby were also some 5 Velvet Scoters Melanitta fusca, 2 Scaups Aythya marila and good numbers of Pochard Aythya ferina and Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula, plus some Goldeneyes Bucephala clangula. The lake's surface was covered in a huge cloud of Swallows Hirudno rustica (as were also Ormož and Medvedce reservoirs) and we must have had a total of more than 3000 birds in the course of the day. Mixed among them were also a few House Delichon urbicum and Sand Martins Riparia riparia.

From the female Long-tailed Duck we then pointed our scopes to the sky, where and adult WHITE-TAILED EAGLE Haliaeetus albicilla was soaring. Impressive!

Later our first Common Terns Sterna hirundo of the season appeared over the lake's surface.

After the stop on the lake, we moved to the nearby fields to see the rare swans and we found just 1 remaining BEWICK'S SWAN Cygnus columbianus (adult), along with five Mutes Cygnus olor.

A small wet alder woodland provided some good entertainment as well. Here we found our first Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca (male) and Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix of the year which were feeding on the trees, along with a couple of singing Willow Warblers Phylloscopus trochilus, Chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita and Blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla.

Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca

Overhead a Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis passed by (also year's first) and the open fields also yielded 2 Grey Partridges Perdix perdix, +100 Yellow Wagtails Motacilla flava, Meadow Pipits Anthus pratensis and some displaying Lapwings Vanellus vanellus.

Here we also had a major (mammal) highlight of the day in the form of a STOAT Mustela erminea running around the edge of the woodland and showing extremely well.

Stoat Mustela erminea

In the early afternoon we moved to the Medvedce reservoir and before arriving there we stopped on the fields north of Pragersko.

We had a small detour because of a male PALLID HARRIER Circus macrourus that caught our attention from the car. We watched the stunning bird performing extremely well in front of us, frequently hunting along with a male Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus, thus allowing direct comparison. At a certain point we had the bird flying in front of our car (actually cutting our way!) down to 5 metres!

Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus (above by Igor Maiorano)

The Medvedce reservoir held quite a lot of wildfowl as usual, but the most interesting birds included: 1 White Stork Ciconia ciconia (year's first, but other were seen from the car as well), 1 Black Kite Milvus migrans (also the first this season), 1 OSPREY Pandion haliaetus (clearly another bird from the one in Ormož), 1 adult BLACK STORK Ciconia nigra (feeding on a tussock meadow, later in flight), 1 adult WHITE-TAILED EAGLE Haliaeetus albicilla (soaring overhead and later perched on the ground, feeding on a carcass), 1 Great Grey Shrike Lanius excubitor, 4 Night Herons Nycticorax nycticorax (year's first), 1 male Goosander Mergus merganser, some Stock Doves Columba oenas, 2 Rooks Corvus frugilegus, 5 male Wheatears Oenanthe oenanthe, 3 Hen Harriers Circus cyaneus and a load of Marsh Harriers Circus aeruginosus.

The last big sighting of the day occurred when we were driving back home, just out of the town of Pragersko. A male PALLID HARRIER Circus macrourus flew yet another time directly in front of the car, showing beautifully the diagnostic underwing pattern and leaving us mouth-opened. What a better way to round up the day?

Other interesting birds seen on different locations during the day also included: Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula, Pochard Aythya ferina, Goldeneye Bucephala clangula, Common Gull Larus canus, Shoveler Anas clypeata, Garganey Anas querquedula (small flocks), Wigeon Anas penelope, Teal Anas crecca, Pintail Anas acuta, Skylark Alauda arvensis, Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella, Linnet Carduelis cannabina, Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros, Siskin Carduelis spinus, Stock Dove Columba oenas (up to 60 in a single flock!), Mistle Turdus viscivorus and Song Thrush Turdus philomelos, Fieldfare Turdus pilaris, Stonechat Saxicola torquatus, Brambling Fringilla montifringilla, Serin Serinus serinus, Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus, Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula, Raven Corvus corax, Penduline Tit Remiz pendulinus, Greylag Goose Anser anser, Lapwing Vanellus vanellus, Grey Heron Ardea cinerea (colony), Greenshank Tringa nebularia.

So far one of the most intense days of my birding career!

Happy team at the end of the day!

Spring oh yes!

Škocjanski zatok NR: quite springy today in the marsh with some new arrivals of note like this year's first YELLOW WAGTAILS (1 flava & 1 cinereocapilla - pics above respectively) feeding on the wet grassland with +10 White Wagtails and several Water Pipits (still around). Then also 2 Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Ruffs, 2 Common Redshanks, 2 Green Sandpipers... actually everything in twos and sharing the same piece of freshwater marsh! The only really numerous migrants were Garganeys with up to 80 birds counted; they probably just came down from migration today, because they were almost all resting on the grassy islets. Some fine males were displaying though.
Two Swallows flying overhead were nice and the grazing marsh was infested with Stonechats (12 birds on the same piece of wire). Other birds of note included: 1 male Marsh Harrier, 6 Lapwings, 4 Tufted Ducks, 3 Pochards, 11 Snipes, 2 Curlews, Greenshank, 1 Penduline Tit, 12 Chiffchaffs (all in the hedges), 3 Gadwalls (2 m & 1 f).

 A bit of colour in the marsh

Garganeys

Little Ringed Plover

Stonechat

Local patch: it was a nice evening even on the sea, with literally hundreds of ducks everywhere. I estimated at least 500 birds, which were almost all concentrated in a huge distant raft. I suppose the most numerous were Garganeys. Of the closer ducks I indeed managed to identify +30 GARGANEYS, some mixed flocks of Wigeon and Shoveler, 2 separate flocks of Pintail (easy to tell in flight) and a fly-by flock of 25 TEALS (year tick for the patch). The Great Crested Grebes were also very numerous with 230 birds counted and 38 Mute Swans made a large circle above the gulf in the evening. At dusk I also spotted a small flock of Shelducks flying towards Trieste.
A few days ago I also had 4 House Martins flying past the house, up to 15 Mute Swans on the sea (almost daily), 2 Grey Herons on migration and 1 Red-necked Grebe (breeding plumage) + a few Red-breasted Mergansers from Miramare. Common Gulls numbered about 60 birds some days ago.

Sightings from further afield included a flock of 37 COMMON CRANES on migration over Socerb (Slovenia/Italy border) and a few Black Woodpeckers all on Saturday evening.

Wildcat!

Today I got confirmation from an expert about a doubtful cat that I photographed on Saturday near Dolenja vas (Senožeče - SLO). As I initially supposed it was a WILDCAT (Felis silvestris), roving around the snow-covered fields in the middle of the day! In the above photo you can see the very bushy tail and the clearly divided black rings around the tail (the tip of the tail being completely black). The cat was also quite big and bulky for a domestic cat and ran into cover as soon as I started watching it, after I stopped the car (yes, I spotted it while driving on a country road).
As far as I know, Wildcat is a widespread mammal across Slovenia and the area where I observed it seems quite perfect. But of course is far from easy to see one during the day.

Green Woodpecker in the snow

I decided that today was the time for a stroll on the snow-covered Karst plateau. The weather was very nice if we don't take into account the extremely annoying cold wind that made several observations quite difficult.
In the afternoon I found the above female Green Woodpecker digging a hole into the snow, on a field not far from a country road. The bird remained on view for a about 5 minutes, until it flew up on the nearest oak tree, still showing well (here is a video). A common bird set in a nice wintery context.
The increasing wind in the late afternoon put a rough stop to my waiting-for-the-Wallcreeper plan. However I managed to see 3 smart ALPINE ACCENTORS on the cliffs of Mt.Stena (Glinščica valley NR) foraging in the short grass on the steep slope. I located them thanks to their frequent calls. In the area a male Peregrine was sitting on its usual perch and a pair of Ravens was constructing its nest in a crevice in the cliff. Two Rock Buntings and a male Black Redstart were also on the cliff face, but few other birds were around in the wooded areas, apart from the usual tits and a Siskin (heard).
Also the other places I visited during the day (mainly on the Slovene Karst) were quite calm and my search for a potential Rough-legged Buzzard ended with no actual lagopus in the bag. Two Fieldfares and some other commoner countryside birds were nice to see though.

Peregrine in the Glinščica valley/Val Rosandra

The first Helleborus braving the snow

Oh, and here I put a video of the Cirl Bunting I had in the garden the other day. Sorry for the black dot...it must be some kind of dirt on the inner camera lenses.

5 star birding with SHORT-EARED OWLS

What a fantastic day I had yesterday! Early in the morning I went on a trip in northeastern Slovenia with a couple of friends from DOPPS (Birdlife Slovenia) for some top-quality birding. First of all I must mention my personal highlight of the day: no less than 4 SHORT-EARED OWLS at the Medvedce reservoir! One of my top favourite birds. It was quite an experience because the owls appeared all at once at dusk and began to hunt low over the fields surrounding the reservoir. There was still enough light left to see them quite well - at least with the scope. Up to six birds were seen in the area a few days ago, so there's a kind of wintering population here.
Later we also had a perched LONG-EARED OWL by the roadside, hunting on the ground, right in the car's headlights.
The Medvedce reservoir also held a lot of wildfowl as usual, but mainly the commoner species. The Goosanders were the most interesting, along with a flock of White-fronted Geese in the fields. Three Stock Doves were nearby and a few Hen Harriers were hunting above the fields (+5 later at the roost). A small nearby wooded area produced a calling Black Woodpecker and a flock of 100 Fieldfares was feeding on the edge of a garden.

Earlier in the day we also visited several places around Ptuj and Maribor. The lake of Ptuj held more or less the same species I saw here at the beginning of January (see this post). The female LONG-TAILED DUCK was still present at the dam of Markovci, always associating with the Velvet Scoters.

Long-tailed Duck

The lake also held a nice total of 17 Smews (pic on top of the post), +7 Velvet Scoters, a lot of Goosanders, 1 male Ferruginous Duck, Goldeneyes, Pochards, Tufted Ducks and commoner species. A mixed flock of TUNDRA BEAN GEESE (118 ind.) and White-fronted Geese (+100 ind.) also landed on the lake. Quite astonishing as I never had such a big flock of Bean Geese! Also some Rooks were seen around Ptuj during the day.

Velvet Scoter with Tufted Ducks

On the surrounding fields the two BEWICK'S SWANS were still present as well (ad + juv), but there was no sign of the Whoopers - apparently gone by mid January.

Bewick's (adult and juv)

A nice urban Peregrine entertained us on the main bridge over the Drava river, in the town of Ptuj. It also landed several times on a bell tower - see below:

In the afternoon we also checked a popular LONG-EARED OWL roost in a nearby village, which held more than 15 birds, roosting on some pines. Fortunately not all the birds were on the higher branches and some were staring down at us from 8 metres away (see pics). These were actually viewed from a private garden - some friendly owners allowed access to it. In these area we also had two other Black Woodpeckers (1 seen from the car, 1 heard).

Obliging Long-eared Owls

 LEO in the scope at 60x!

We also added an additional 4 Smews (1m, 3f) at the ponds near Rače (Rački ribniki) which rose our day total to 21 Smews!
All in all a good load of birds for a single day!

IWC on the Slovene coast

Had a busy day on the Slovene coast, counting for the IWC (International Waterbirds Census). I had a couple of coastal transects between the towns of Koper and Izola. The top highlight appeared right at the beginning when I spotted 6 female VELVET SCOTERS in the bay of Koper. They gave good flight views before landing distantly on the sea. Other birds seen during the census included: 3 Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Great Egrets (over the sea), 4 Black-necked Grebes, 27 Great Crested Grebes, 21 Cormorants, 3 Common Gulls, 2 Shags, 1 Med Gull and 1 first winter Caspian Gulls (Izola harbour).
Later in the day I checked Škocjanski zatok NR, which held some newly arrived northern guests: 19 White-fronted Geese (arrived overnight). The flock was quite flighty and wary and always on the move between the grazing marsh and some other fields in the Srmin area, out of the reserve.
Otherwise pretty much the same in the wetland, with the usual numbers of wildfowl, but an astonishing number of gulls. A flock of about 800 Black-headed Gulls and 500 Yellow-legged Gulls held also at least 3 first winter Caspian Gulls and 48 Common Gulls.

Caspo

In the Srmin area (near Ankaran) I also checked a newly built "sewage farm" or some kind of strange reservoir, which held twice the number of gulls. Among the three commonest species I also found at least 6 additional Caspian Gulls, this time also two nice adults and some sub-adults.

Two adult Caspian Gulls

 

A Fieldfare was in the nearby fields, along with Meadow Pipits and about 40 Jackdaws.
My final stop was in the evening in the bay of Lazaret - Debeli Rtič (near Ankaran) where I had to count the Shags at the roost. There was a miserable total of 29 Shags and 122 Cormorants. The sea here held additional common grebes and Red-breasted Mergansers and most surprisingly, a lone White-fronted Goose (it didn't seem too handsome). The final highlight came at the end when I spotted an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL on one of the buoys.
A quite gull-y day I must say (I probably broke my record for Caspian Gulls in a day!)

LONG-TAILED DUCK, BEWICK'S and WHOOPER SWANS - Ptujsko jezero (SLO)

 

Today I spent an exciting day in the far north-east of Slovenia. I visited the lake of Ptuj (Ptuj reservoir) to see a couple of rarities reported there since last week. As I arrived to the south-eastern part of the lake, at the dam close to Markovci, literally the first bird in my scope was the LONG-TAILED DUCK. This bird, which was a female, was the main target of the trip. I was really relieved to find it so quickly. It was swimming with a group of 9 Velvet Scoters, which showed all very well (see above), quite close to the reservoir's concrete bank. After about 15 minutes I was watching it, the whole group (including the Long-tailed Duck) took off and headed to the central part of the lake (last two pics above). Later in the day I couldn't find them again.
From the dam at Markovci I then checked the rest of the wildfowl which included some very interesting birds. The first which caught my attention were 4 drake SMEWS. The commonest duck was Mallard, with probably more than a thousand birds on the lake. Both Tufted Ducks and Pochards were also abundant, along with the funny-displaying Goldeneyes, which formed good groups as well. A few Pintails, Gadwalls and some more Wigeons were also around. Other interesting sawbills included about 23 GOOSANDERS (both sexes) in a big raft in the middle of the lake. I didn't find any of the reported rarest grebes (Red-necked and Slavonian), but a Red-throated Diver was quite good as well. A few Pygmy Cormorants were also present, along with at least 20 Common Gulls and flocks of Rooks in the surrounding farmland.

Female Velvet Scoter

  
Mixed wildfowl on the lake, including a raft of Goosanders in the background

Next stop were the open fields close to the lake where I went looking for the two reported rare swan species.
Not long after I discovered a small muddy road going through the fields (sewage works area), I spotted some white dots in the distance. I approached a few hundred metres and soon I had in the scope 4 yellow-billed swans among some 15 Mute Swans.
Two were adult WHOOPER SWANS and some metres away from them were feeding also 2 BEWICK'S SWANS (adult and juvenile). Comparison here was possible due to the presence of both species; a bit like at Welney WWT in Britain! I never imagined I would see both species together in Slovenia. I know Bewick's is the second record for the country and probably there are no more than 10 records for Whooper in Slovenia, so both true rarities!

 Two adult Whoopers

Adult Bewick's

 Juvenile Bewick's

In the afternoon I went to check the Medvedce reservoir - a must-stop on the way home. Also here Mallards were the most numerous and among them I managed to pull out a 6 GOOSANDERS, some Wigeons and Teals. A Great Grey Shrike was as usual present in the surroundings and about 24 White-fronted Geese were grazing on the nearby fields. A nice ending to the day were four Hen Harriers preparing to roost (2 males and 2 females) on the central part of the reservoir.
By the way I also heard that flocks of Waxwings have been seen in Maribor and other parts in NE Slovenia, but today I didn't have time to go and look for them.
Well, I can't complain... I had an excellent day regardless!