10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2023

The night temperatures in Belgrade, Serbia, were already below minus 10 Celsius / 14 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks. Up to the mid-20th century, Pygmy Cormorant was a common breeding species of wetlands around Belgrade until most wetlands were drained and the birds were lost, at one moment – from the entire territory of Serbia.

Protection 278

Protection Serbia 2004 Legislation 278

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2019

Shorebirds (in Europe: waders) must be an acquired birding taste. No one starts birding dreaming of drab-coloured, unobtrusive and, far on a mud-bar, largely invisible little mud-skippers. Who even spots a Woodsand without deliberately searching for birds? Who even spots a Woodsand without deliberately searching for birds?

Serbia 156

Serbia New Jersey Europe Hunters 156

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2021

The adventure of the second European Breeding Bird Atlas, or EBBA2, was the topic of one of my first posts here at 10,000 Birds: In a warm Catalonian March, Barcelona is filled with sunlight and full of Rose-ringed and Monk Parakeets. In a very short time, we get two responses, two birds calling from opposite directions.

Europe 264

Europe Breeding Denmark Birds 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2020

If you are old enough, you will remember birding without a phone? Later I carried it because of a stash of bird songs I compiled in it. And now I carry it for the same reason, only now they are a part of the bird ID app. Anyway, I don’t even have an app for the European birds at the moment, but for the Birds of Southern Africa.

Serbia 272

Serbia Birds Ducks Cyprus 272

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2023

Superficially similar but unrelated to New World condors, it is huge, more pterodactyl-like than bird-like. Before I was born, it used to be a rare breeding species in mountainous areas south of Belgrade, but became extinct after the 1960s due to intensive poisoning of wolves. But it’s a huge bird.

Bulgaria 263

Bulgaria McDonalds Eagles Serbia 263

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2019

Some five years ago I was involved in a project of ecotourism evaluation of the river Danube in Serbia, which included the city of Belgrade, founded at the bank of this river. a British expat birder who was living in Belgrade, for a suggestion: “The top species is undoubtedly White-tailed Eagle. Hence, I asked my friend B.C.,

Serbia 249

Serbia Birds Woodpeckers Breeding 249

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2020

Part of the Labudovo okno Ramsar Wetland and protected within the Deliblato Sands Special Nature Reserve , this section of the Danube, downriver from Belgrade, Serbia, is unique for its wide shallows, before the river narrows downstream from the village of Ram. When to visit: best during winter and migration season, but also breeding season.

Mali 264

Mali Serbia Eagles Birds 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2020

Like many of you, I had plans for this year’s spring migration: to bird the very best tour of the Balkans, heading for northeastern Greece. First, 800 km of driving from Belgrade through Bulgaria to very NE corner of Greece and the Dadia Forest National Park with its 36 species of diurnal raptors, out of Europe’s 38.

Greece 236

Greece Bulgaria Birds Serbia 236

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2020

It has been a while since I wrote on where to watch birds (unbelievable, I know), and will now focus on the nature reserve of Deliblato Sands and the adjoining Labudovo okno Ramsar Wetland, about an hour east from Belgrade, Serbia. When to go: breeding and migration seasons (April to June and late August to mid-September).

Europe 230

Europe Serbia Birds Woodpeckers 230

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2014

While there are some two dozen birding spots in Belgrade, Serbia, that stand out, in this guideblog I will focus on the river Danube and its floodplain, inside the Important Bird Area “Confluence of the Sava and the Danube Rivers”. The next winter bird spot lies some 4.5 Bus: 79 & 24. eBird list.

Serbia 236

Serbia Birds Ducks Eagles 236

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2014

These days I am busy with something called the “avitourism product“ of Belgrade, Serbia. Yes there are birding sites and there are birds – but hardly much info about them (beside Fat Birder ). Local birding sites are well known – among local birders. Nevertheless, describing where to bird is easy.

Serbia 178

Serbia Eagles Birds Sparrows 178

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2019

What qualifies a bird to be included in the top-5? eBird doesn’t offer such an option, so I used the second best: the species was observed in one month only. This version extended the list a bit and it turned out that almost every fourth bird was an one-monther. Lesser White-fronted Goose by Iggy/Wikimedia Commons.

2018 117

2018 Serbia Falcons Greece 117

10,000 Birds

MARCH 26, 2020

LABUDOVO OKNO Ramsar Site and an Important Bird Area represents a section of the Danube floodplain downriver from Belgrade, Serbia, and situated in the south of the Deliblato Sands Special Nature Reserve. eBird list of the recorded species. Nature reserve since 2002. Dubovacki Rit; photos (3) by Slobodan Puzovic.

Turtles 170

Turtles 2002 Serbia Eagles 170

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2019

The Christmas Bird Count was the answer. The IWC census starts from mid-January following the logic that it is the period when the birds have reached their wintering grounds and are rather static, so the chance of double-counting the same flock is minimal. But it is so frustrating to pass the birds by without IDing them!

Geese 147

Geese Serbia Birds Estonia 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 24, 2015

Here is a joint media release: WWF, Decembar 11, 2015 – This December, 3,800 Pygmy Cormorants are wintering by the river Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, representing 2 percent of the global population and 5.4 “The Pygmy Cormorant is a strictly protected bird species in Serbia, as well as in the European Union. .

Serbia 183

Serbia Protection Europe 2015 183

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2015

What do you think makes for a good bird hide? I have asked myself that same question many times over the last six months, until last week, when I was involved in an opening ceremony of five new bird hides at the Palic Lake, by the town of Subotica in the very north of Serbia, along the border with Hungary (all photos are from that area).

Serbia 246

Serbia Birds Spain Hungary 246

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Photo: This area holds 3 to 4 breeding pairs of White-tailed Eagles , which represents the biggest density per square mile anywhere in the country. Wigeons are only migrants and not a breeding species in Serbia and August is a bit too early for any longer distance duck movements. Photographed by Szekeres Levente.

Serbia 169

Serbia Protection Eagles Ducks 169

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2015

And so on… not much of a birding day, heh? Serbia has a large number of pigeon fanciers and a long history of lack of law enforcement in the field of wildlife crime ( Newsweek on poaching in the Balkans ). The weakest bird from a pigeon fancier aviary gets a dubious honour to be promoted into a Kamikaze. A Hooded Crow.

Switzerland 195

Switzerland Serbia Feral Falcons 195

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2018

During the final stages of the Pan-European bird-atlassing work last year, computer models of Serbian ranges for some 150 bird species were produced for the first time ever. New target species for the next spring field trip. Cannot wait to see it published, but it will take a few more years.

Serbia 101

Serbia Breeders Breeding Woodpeckers 101

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

And where all those birds are? This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. And it raises a question: if all the birds are having a party over there, am I in the wrong spot? I am talking 600 or 700+ bird species.

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

JUNE 13, 2013

Gentle March sun, bare oak branches, short grass, and bird migration in full swing. Serbia holds 13 per cent of the European breeding population of this “electrified” species which is not only Endangered in Europe but also listed as Globally Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. March 2007.

Falcons 226

Falcons Serbia 2007 Europe 226

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 17, 2013

Most perching birds have already left us sometime from late August and September; soaring birds do migrate over Serbia, but there is no known bottleneck site to observe them (it is believed that they follow the main river valleys to the east and south); while waterbirds will start arriving in a month or so. We met at 10.00

Serbia 228

Serbia Europe Netherlands Eagles 228

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2014

Since I have started to bird by kayak, it took me a lot of time to realise that paddling is not the synonym for birding and that I can bird without a paddle, although I cannot paddle without a pair of binoculars. To avoid the predator, the duck – dived, and that was the only time ever to observe this species doing so.

Serbia 242

Serbia Stray Dog Protection Botswana 242

10,000 Birds

APRIL 16, 2015

One Common Raven is disappearing towards its nest among the branches of the poplar plantation, only to reappear a few minutes later to give a good chase – aerial acrobatics included – to its first neighbour, the White-tailed Eagle which breeds in the vicinity. Birding Europe Mammals otters Serbia' kilometres / 0.7

Otters 178

Otters Serbia Fish Mammals 178

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2014

The night temperatures in Belgrade, Serbia, were already below minus 10 Celsius / 14 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks. Up to the mid-20th century, Pygmy Cormorants were a common breeding species of wetlands around Belgrade… until the wetlands were drained and the birds were lost, at one moment – from the whole of Serbia.

Serbia 194

Serbia Protection Legislation Europe 194

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2013

In short, the accepted view used to be that a small breeding population of Egyptian Vultures inhabited Southern Africa, but has vanished facing the spread of towns, roads and farms. It was not the first note I have published, but was the only one about a bird I have never laid my eyes upon!

Sudan 228

Sudan Macedonia Botswana Serbia 228

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

Marshes are the habitats with the greatest species richness in moderate zones, also significant as breeding, wintering and migratory stopover sites for birds; it therefore comes as no surprise that this one is among the 10,000 Important Bird Areas of the World (one per each bird species?). Saxicola rubetra.

Greece 192

Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 192

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 10, 2015

In the Old World, Horned (Slavonian) Grebe breeds in a wide belt stretching from Scandinavia to Kamchatka and it spends winters along sea coasts, from Japan to China and from Norway to France, plus the Adriatic and the Black Sea (west and east of the Balkans, respectively). As a consequence, this species is only a rare vagrant in Serbia.

Serbia 168

Serbia Norway France Japan 168

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2014

Beside birds, in this park you stand a chance of spotting the Eurasian Lynx , Brown Bear and Gray Wolf ! Even among the protected areas of Serbia, the Iron Gates National Park (in Serbian: Djerdap) stands out as better preserved. Well, do you really? So, yes – it is possible, but by no means easy. Am I complaining about it?

Serbia 190

Serbia Turtles Birds Eagles 190

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2018

As you know, I started to bird from a canoe, exploring the Danube backwaters in Belgrade, Serbia. It is a fascinating world of swampy forests of willow and poplar, inhabited by Black Storks , White-tailed Eagles , Eastern Olivaceous and Icterine Warblers (above), among more than 200 other species. Nevertheless, Nagy was right.

Beavers 121

Beavers Serbia Eagles Hungary 121

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2017

I have been there several times last month, but barely ever managed to do any proper birding! That is hardly a surprise: this area holds 3 to 4 breeding pairs of White-tailed Eagles, which represents the biggest density per square mile anywhere in the country! So, the Belgrade press become acutely interested in birding?

Eagles 169

Eagles Campaign Otters Serbia 169

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2015

Even the first bird club was founded several years later. Two years passed before I found myself looking for a new outdoor pursuit, something to do from a sitting position… And took birding? And from the kayak cockpit, I started to bird. I knew nothing of it – but the fact that it had a geriatric image.

Serbia 189

Serbia Bosnia Research Lions 189

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2015

Zlatar in western Serbia, heading towards the town of Sjenica and, behind it, the bridge on the River Vapa. Are we going to bird in the fog? This is my first visit to this area, known as the Madz Brod, where two new breeding species for the country were discovered a decade ago. Still, it’s a new bird for my country list.

Europe 248

Europe Serbia Russia Breeding 248

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

In the more normal years, I would spend January visiting the very best wildfowling spots along the Danube and seeing the best birds there are, so in February I would be well saturated with birds and feeling: Still winter? I observed White-tailed Eagles likely a few thousand times, and this didn’t strike me as the dark young bird.

Otters 259

Otters Croatia Eagles Protection 259

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2014

We sail into the relative calm of a cliff, the mast takes an upright position, navigation becomes calm and quiet… quiet enough for our bird guide, Andrea Bonetti to pick up a voice of a Western Rock Nuthatch coming from the rock face. We come closer to it, but I cannot find the bird with binoculars. Chukar (c) Marius Bolck.

Greece 236

Greece Malta Croatia Birds 236

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2017

Bank Swallow) holes, among 60+ other bird species. However easy they might be, I was there so early and the sun was so low that their white undersides were bright-WHITE and I had to observe several birds in a row just to be sure. In the Bird Identification guide, it is deservedly described as an introvert.

Serbia 118

Serbia Breeding Woodpeckers Feral 118

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2017

I go to the Hotspots page to click on the Past week only, to see which reachable Belgrade sites – especially my favourite patches – were recently visited and which birds were spotted there. They do not breed, only winter here! Widespread across northern regions of northern hemisphere, they breed in Arctic-Alpine forest zone.

Montenegro 107

Montenegro Eagles Serbia Fish 107