Bulgaria Day Seven

Tuesday June 14th saw the worst weather of the trip, but we were fortunate to get the day's targets. We started in an area where we finally saw Eastern Bonelli's Warblers. These birds are found in the tops of oak trees and had proved elusive the previous day. We then went to a nearby more open area and sat in the car for two hours waiting for the rain to clear. As soon as it did Daniel heard a Wryneck and I had a decent look at this very strange woodpecker.

We then drove toward Kavarna and parked in a Car Park for the only time on the trip to wander around some woods in an old fashioned holiday camp. Daniel played taped calls of our target woodpecker but never received a reply - although a Lesser Spotted was attracted to the sound! We saw a number of common woodland birds including Short-toed Treecreeper. We had given up and were heading to the car when I saw a woodpecker fly from the woods into a large tree at the side of a shop. Hurrying over the Grey-headed Woodpecker flew to the ground and pecked around for insects in the open for at least 10 minutes. I could not have gotten a better look at this much wished-for lifer. sadly my camera had been left in the car.

We ended the day in a valley close to a wind farm where we saw an Eagle Owl sitting in the mouth of its cave. Pied Wheatears high above us on the cliff top and some Shags on the rocks by the beach.

European Shags