Karstlife

I didn't have much time to be in the field in the last few days. This afternoon I ventured out with a couple of friends and spent some time around the Karst on both sides of the border. We also checked the Barred Warbler site and confirmed there are now at least 2 singing males hodling two different territories. The birds are easily observed in the bushy areas, especially when the male is singing on the top of low trees. The song is usually quite short, but their dry rattling calls are more obviuos. A pair of birds was particularly showy today; chasing each other around the place and showing well out in the open (both sexes in a scope view!).
A few shots of the male bird:




Apart from that we had some entertainment with other common birds (Skylark, Woodlark, Common Whitethroat, Red-backed Shrike, Corn Bunting ect.) plus a singing Quail, 2 Hoopoes (one in the local village giving excellent views), a flock of migrating BEE-EATERS (+5 birds) and a singing Common Redstart (male perched on a walnut in the village). Other birds seen on different sites around the Karst included also Cirl Bunting, Yellowhammer, Stonechat and Melodious Warbler. The flowering meadows with lots of butterflies and other insects were also very attractive to photograph - see pics below. We also managed to find a few orchids (last three pics) including Orchis ustulata and Gymnadenia conopsea.









Orchis ustulata:

Gymnadenia conopsea:

Barred Warblers & co.

I've just spent a great day of good birds and wildlife on the Karst. Late in the morning I went on the Slovenian side to check the site where Barred Warbler was found last week. The area held a good variety of the usual coutryside birds: Red-backed Shrikes and Skylarks everywhere, 3 Ravens, Corn Buntings, 2 Common Whitethroats, Buzzard, Spotted Flycatcher, a singing Hoopoe, Black Woodpecker, Golden Oriole, Cuckoo ect.
Raptors were very active from about 12.30 onwards. Six Red-footed Falcons were still on site; usually seen hovering over the grassland or perching on a dead tree:




Later a beautiful male Honey Buzzard joined them:


...and eventually a Short-toed Eagle showed up as well:

While scanning the sky with bins I immediately noticed a far away black dot in the sky - almost motionless. I pointed the scope and realised it was a GRIFFON VULTURE! In was probably on migration either down to Croatian colonies or northwards to the Alps. But this is still a good bird to see on the Karst! After that a female Marsh Harrier appeared in the sky and then the true star of the day started to perform: BARRED WARBLER! Initially I spotted a bird that I aged as an immature/female on a small Fraxinus tree - showing pretty well while feeding there for about 10 minutes. Later when I heard an adult bird singing I pointed the scope to a bush and... bang! A perfect male with the yellow eye, singing in full view. Unfortunately the view was very short, so I couldn't take any pics of the male. I then got nice flight views of it when it was chased away by a Red-backed Shrike! Before leaving the area I realised there should have been a third bird around (just heard).
Some pics of the immature/female (see also top of the post):






Skylark:


In the late afternoon I attended a talk about birds and butterflies on the Karst that was held by a friend of mine in the Doberdob lake nature reserve. After that we had a walk around the rocky path above the lake to see a bit of butterflies. Best birds noted here included 3 singing Rock Buntings, a Hobby and a male Red-backed Shrike.

Spring weekend in Slovenia

Back for some blogging after a pleasant weekend spent birding in eastern Slovenia with a couple of friends. Friday and Saturday were spent in the Krakovo forest area (Krakovski gozd) near Kostanjevica na Krki, while yesterday we were concentrated around the Cerknica lake. In total we had 96 species of birds, including some top quality ones.
The main target was indeed the Krakovo forest: a lowland broadleaved forest east of Novo Mesto, which holds the biggest breeding density of Collared Flycatcher and Middle Spotted Woodpecker in Slovenia.
Cvelbarjev dob in the village of Malence - the second widest tree in Slovenia:

On Friday we started the walk along the main path to the forest and one of the first birds we saw was an adult WHITE-TAILED EAGLE! It soared low over the forest and then headed out towards the open fields. An impressive bird and an excellent start! The White-tailed Eagle is also one of the rare nesters in the Krakovo forest.
As soon as we entered the true woodland our first COLLARED FLYCATCHERS appeared - a pair nesting in a tree cavity. In the course of the day (during our circular walk around the trail) we counted a total of 15 Collared Flycatchers (both singing birds and some females). In fact, singing Collared Flycatchers are the commonest birds to be heard in the forest along with Chaffinches and Blackcaps. Some singing males gave excellent views and were really gorgeous to see with the backdrop of the green canopies.
Male Collared Flycatcher at nest (see also top of the post):


The first MIDDLE SPOTTED WOODPECKER appeared a bit later when we reached some more mature oak-tree stands (predominantly Quercus robur). The first bird gave nice views up on a tree and called as well. Later we got also nice views of another bird and heard at least 4 others. The day total was 6 Middle Spotted Woodpeckers.
The only pic I could take of a Middle Spot:

In a small woodland clearing we could do a bit of sky-watching and soon found several soaring Common Buzzards with an adult male Honey Buzzard - my first this year.
Commoner birds in and around the forest included: Nightingale, Buzzard, Hawfinch, 1 Wryneck, 2 Stonechats, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Starling (very common breeder in the forest), 1 singing Wood Warbler, 3 Woodpigeons, loads of Blackcaps in the canopy, 3 Cuckoos, Marsh Tit, 2 Willow Warblers, 1 Short-toed Treecreeper, Chiffchaff, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blue and Great Tits (quite numerous inside the forest), Song Thrush, Jay, Blackbird, 1 Black Woodpecker, 1 female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Corn Bunting, Grey Heron, Tree Sparrow, Swallow and House Martin.
Other wildlife seen during the first day included: 1 Slow-worm, Salamander larvae, Yellow-bellied Toad, Peacock Butterfly, Brimstone, Scarce Swallowtail, Vole sp. (5-6 chasing each other on the woodlands floor), Agile Frog, Grass Snake, Speckled Wood, Orange Tip, 1 European Tree Frog and 1 Striped Field Mouse (Apodemus agrarius). The top butterfly sight was a Common Glider (Neptis sappho). Wildflowers included: Dactylorhiza majalis (orchid), Viola ulginosa and Leucojum aestivum.
Leucojum aestivum:

Viola ulginosa:

Forest views:



The top bird species of the area:

Dactylorhiza majalis:

Striped Field Mouse:

In the evening we also had a singing Tawny Owl from our cottage just out of Kostanjevica na Krki.
On Saturday the day began very well with two BLACK STORKS soaring over our cottage! After they circled very low over our heads, they dropped down into a woodland. Black Stork is also a rare breeder in the Krakovo forest and a speciality here.
Black Stork:


The birdlife activity around our cottage was quite impressive as well - a really nice mix of coutryside birds including: breeding Linnets, Greenfinches, 2 singing Wrynecks, 2 Cuckoos (showing extremely well), Tree Sparrow, Serin, Green Woodpecker, Starling, 1 Spotted Flycatcher (my first this year!), Black Redstart and Green Woodpecker. In the morning we also had our first singing Golden Oriole just in the "backyard".
A gorgeous male Cuckoo (see also top of the post):




Linnet (male):

Linnet (female) with nest material:

Greenfinch:

Spotted Flycatcher:

Wryneck:

Tree Sparrow:

White Storks were also seen on a daily basis - usually on one of the two nests around Šentjernej or feeding in the fields. A male Whinchat was also a new addition to the trip-list.
The rest of Saturday was spent around some unexplored part of the Krakovo forest, looking for other woodland birds. We had great views on several MIDDLE SPOTTED WOODPECKERS and countless singing COLLARED FLYCATCHERS.
In addition to common or previously encountered birds we also saw 2 URAL OWLS being flushed/mobbed by a Jay. One of the two perched on a high branch and gave excellent views for about 15 minutes! All this in the middle of the day!
Other new birds in the forest included 3 Golden Orioles, 1 purring Turtle Dove (first of the year), 2 Tawny Owls (singing by day as well!) and 3 Eurasian Treecreepers (both treecreeper species are present in the forest).

In the evening we went to see some wet grasslands and bushy areas near the small village of Čučja Mlaka. Highlights here included a singing GRASSHOPPER WARBLER (showed well in a bush), Yellowhammer, 1 Turtle Dove, 1 female Marsh Harrier, 1 Lapwing, Cuckoo, 3 female RED-FOOTED FALCONS flying over the forest (firsts of the year), 3 Common Whitethroats, Stonechat, 2 singing Tree Pipits, 1 White Stork and a singing European Green Toad.
At night two Scops Owls were heard singing from our cottage.
The last day of the weekend was spent around the Cerknica lake (Cerkniško jezero) and surrounding areas. Here we had a nice variety of spring birds, including some new arrivals. Top highlights were 3 WHITE-WINGED BLACK TERNS quartering the reedbeds in the company of a BLACK TERN (both firsts this year). Other interesting species included: pair of White Storks on the nest at Martinjak, Yellow Wagtail, 2 f Marsh Harriers, breeding Tree Pipits, 2-3 Hobbies, 1 female/imm male Hen Harrier over the grasslands (late bird), 2 male Red-backed Shrikes (the firsts this year), 3 Common Whitethroats, several Whinchats, 5 Fieldfares, 5 Sedge Warblers, 4 Wood Sandpipers, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Raven, 8 Great Crested Grebes (breeding on the lake), 1 female GREY-HEADED WOODPECKER (showing well), 1 Greenshank, 9 Ruffs (flying flock), Spotted Flycatcher, 11 Black-winged Stilts (an interesting record for the area), 5 Garganeys, Cuckoo, 2 Wrynecks and 1 imm Night Heron.
A short stop near Planina (Planinsko polje) produced 2 Grey Wagtails on the local stream, singing Yellowhammers and a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
Further down near Postojna we stopped at the usual site for breeding Crag Martins and found several birds flying around.
Grey Wagtail:

What can I say? Birding Slovenia in spring is really awesome!

MEGA: GREEN-WINGED TEAL!!

Škocjanski zatok NR: this morning while counting the Teals I came across one of my best finds ever: a beautiful drake **GREEN-WINGED TEAL**! Needles to say I immediately recognised the duck due to the vertical white stripe down the shoulder. There was almost no golden/buff border on the green eye-stripe (as seen in Teal), so the head seemed a bit different as well. It didn't seem to have any rings on the legs, but we'll have a check in the next days (if the bird remains there). If accepted it would be the second ever record for Slovenia and of course the first for Škocjanski zatok NR!
Tomorrow I'll be probably back there trying to get more views. For now I leave you with the above photos.
Quite a lot of other movement today, with several new arrivals. First of all I had both Porzanas in a day: a female LITTLE CRAKE and a SPOTTED CRAKE - both showing well at the edge of a reedbed area (freshwater marsh). Little Crake being the year's first.
A female Ferruginous Duck was on the Jezerce pond, along with several Pochards and 2 Tufted Ducks. A flock of about 20 Alpine Swifts over the reserve held a COMMON SWIFT as well - my first this year!
The lagoon produced the first 3 COMMON TERNS of the season.
Other commoner birds included: 3 Wigeons, 10 Garganeys, 2 Black-necked Grebes (lagoon), 2 female Marsh Harriers, 5-6 Black-winged Stilts, several Little Ringed Plovers, 6 Wood Sandpipers, 3-4 Green Sandpipers, 1 Redshank, 2 Spotted Redshanks, Greenshank & Curlew, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, lots of Snipes, cca 60 Ruffs, 1 Common Gull, about 10 Swallows over the reserve, Water Pipit (a few remaining birds - in breeding plumage), YELLOW WAGTAIL (heard repeatedly).