Sunday June 12th was our transition day starting in the mountains and ending on the Black Sea coast. In between we birded around Svivelengrad where we were within 2km of Greece and 5km of Turkey.
In the morning we drove through places we had birded seriously over the past couple of days stopping only to look at raptors overhead - we had all three Buzzards, Common, Eurasian Honey and Long-legged - and when Daniel heard and then attracted a Middle Spotted Woodpecker into view. We had seen many Corn Buntings and Red-backed Shrikes over the past days, but unbeknown to me at that time these two species continued to be seen regularly for the remainder of the trip.
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| Corn Bunting |
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| Red-backed Shrike |
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We took a slight detour at a point near the Greek and Turkish borders to have lunch and to wait at Daniel's special spot for Levant Sparrowhawk. We had a brief sighting of the male bird but did not cooperate as Daniel had hoped. We saw our only Black Kite of the trip while scanning the sky at this lunchtime stop. Returning to our route we pulled off the main road and waited just a few minutes before a cooperative Imperial Eagle flew over.
A highlight of the trip was to see a conservation project for Lesser
Kestrels. These birds had been introduced a year earlier, had flown to
Africa for the winter and had now returned to breed. Lesser Kestrels are communal and the facility had a number of nest holes for them in two different buildings. Eggs were monitored and fledglings gathered into one place - we saw a group of nearly 30 through the TV monitors. A number of birds were flying around looking for insects and I enjoyed ading this bird to my life list.
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| Plastic Lesser Kestrel |
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| Artificial Nest Holes |
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| Captive adults used in rearing the chicks |
This was a long driving day and as we got to the edge of the city of Burgas I had another lifer. A Lesser Spotted Eagle perched in a tree along the main road and gave us long views through the scope. We ended the day on the other side of Burgas, in Pomorie, a Black Sea resort with a strong Russian presence.
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