Bulgaria Day Three

We spent the whole day of Friday June 10th around Krumovgrad, but it was another long day. We left immediately after out 8:00am breakfast and got back just in time for an 8:30pm dinner.

The main goal of the day was to head out to the vulture 'restaurant', a spot where butcher scraps and sometimes carcasses are laid to attract the vultures. The site has a cage into which birds may be attracted so that rings and radio trackers may be attached to birds.

Along the way we saw many White Storks in the villages. The utility company puts nest bases on top of some of the poles to stop the birds building on the power lines where problems may arise. The storks are welcomed by the locals who consider the birds as bringers of good luck.

White Storks

Sparrows breed in the lower parts of the Stork nest, afforded some protection by the storks. Often there was a mix of House Sparrows, Tree Sparrows and Spanish Sparrows. The latter was a life bird for me.

Tree Sparrow

As we left the villagers and headed to higher ground we saw many shrikes - Red-backed, Lesser Gray and Woodchat as well as Crested, Wood and Sky Larks, and a couple of Short-toed Eagles. We stopped at a few spots along the way when Daniel heard warblers singing and added Sardinian, Subalpine and my lifer Barred Warbler to the trip list.

Crested Lark

Woodchat Shrike

Nearing the vulture restaurant we ran into two local biologists who had just left butcher scraps near the cage and we hiked up to a viewing spot with Anton to see what happened. By the time we had walked 15 minutes to the spot there were many Eurasian Griffon Vultures in the air, soon joined by a rare Cinereous (or European Black) Vulture and some Egyptian Vultures. The birds circles for a while and some sat on the nearby cliffs but only Common Ravens and Hooded Crows came down to eat in the two hours we were there. We also saw a Golden Eagle and a couple of Common Buzzards while watching the skies at this spot.

We then drove down along a new route and Daniel heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. We followed this to a remarkable tree in which I then had 3 lifers in 15 minutes! First a Syrian Woodpecker, then a Hawinch and finally a couple of Sombre Tits! We also saw our first Red-rumped Swallows of the trip

Red-rumped Swallows

We then drove quite a way to the day's final location spotting two Black Storks and a Long-legged Buzzard along the way. But the Eastern Rock Nuthatch chicks had fledged and these birds were no longer at Daniel's location for them. We had to settle for Ortolan and Rock Buntings, a Black-eared Wheatear and (after some searching) a Blue Rock Thrush.

Long-legged Buzzard

Resting after dinner at the end of the day I could hear a Eurasian Scops Owl calling from close to the hotel.