10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2018

Serbia has 317 eBirded species so far, or 89% of the 356 in the national checklist. The country has one eBird hotspot with 200+ and 48 with more than 100 bird species. The country has one eBird hotspot with 200+ and 48 with more than 100 bird species. July – simply boring , weather too hot, birds hiding, only beer saves the day.

Serbia 144

Serbia Geese Owls Macedonia 144

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 258

Serbia Birds Ducks Cyprus 258

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Seriously though, we were walking our dog at the local park when out of the blue she said (and she is not into birding at all) “ You know what would be great. Imagine looking at birds through that.” There were rumours of cameras, some devices for bird ID, etc. Like binoculars have but with further reach. and Aaaah’s!

Serbia 217

Serbia Austria Elephants 2017 217

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2021

My readers are already familiar with Beljarica Backwaters, as described in half a dozen posts here at 10,000 Birds. It all started well three decades ago, when I intensively birded the Danube Backwaters by kayak. It is a spacious floodplain between the River Danube and the levee, 2.1 mi at its widest point and some 9 km2 / 3.5

Serbia 271

Serbia Deer Protection Boars 271

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2023

How much time do you devote to birding? How high is birding on your list of activities – is it the very first or merely one of? These are the types I recognise: Coffee Break Birding – 10-15 minutes, usually not planned ahead but squeezed out of your schedule. It is a good option if you know that there is that one special bird.

India 166

India Birds Africa Serbia 166

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

These birds have already left my native Serbia, further north, and this is not just the only one I have seen in Greece, but my last bee-eater of the season. This is possibly the only European wetland I’ve birded where Common Moorhens outnumber Eurasian Coots. There cannot possibly be any birds left at the canal by the road.

Greece 162

Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2021

The very best wetland birding around Belgrade, Serbia, is not to be found in the locally famous and tourist-promoted Obedska or Carska Bara Ramsar areas, but at Beljarica Backwaters and the fish farm triangle of Centa, Baranda and Sakule villages, in the Tamis River floodplain.

Farming 264

Farming Birds Fish Boars 264

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. The post Finding birds in Deliblato Sands Reserve, part 2/3: the Labudovo okno Ramsar Wetland appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

Turtles 164

Turtles 2002 Serbia Eagles 164

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 225

Serbia Birds Ducks Eagles 225

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Some 40 km north of Belgrade, Serbia, I am driving to the very end of an oxbow lake with the intention of looking for the Ruddy Shelducks ( Tadorna ferruginea ) that were found here the day before. Actually, when I started to bird, my second ever duck, after the Mallard , was a Ruddy Shelduck! Birds ducks Europe Serbia'

Serbia 229

Serbia Ducks Poland Kazakhstan 229

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 235

Serbia Birds Spain Hungary 235

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Usually only several birds overwinter in Serbia – the biggest count ever was less than 10. There weren’t that many birds at all, they hated the sounds as much as I did. And then a bird of prey appeared in low flight through the tree crowns. Simply, they are among the most beautiful ducks around. The search is on.

Moldova 117

Moldova Birds Serbia Greece 117

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2021

Not just mine, but all the most active birders of Belgrade, Serbia, were visiting this site at least 2-3 times a month: it is so conveniently close to the city, and even reachable by the city bus 108. Reva is also a part of the local Important Bird and Biodiversity Area “Confluence of the Sava and the Danube Rivers”.

Otters 257

Otters Protest Protesting Protesters 257

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2023

Why should something so unimaginable in Germany be possible in Serbia? Ecka Fish Farm by Mileta Cekovic Soon we reached the Ecka Fish Farm, a part of the wider Carska Bara Important Bird Area (yet, not a part of the protected Carska Bara Reserve). Protest indeed!

Protest 168

Protest Protesting Protesters Germany 168

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

The shallows are full of ducks in eclipse, a real puzzle that requires a bit of time and a sharp eye – something you usually reserve for warblers and such. Wigeons are only migrants and not a breeding species in Serbia and August is a bit too early for any longer distance duck movements. The autumn migration has clearly started.

Serbia 158

Serbia Protection Eagles Ducks 158

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 171

Serbia Eagles Birds Sparrows 171

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

January is sort of a birding sprint – you start fresh and, all of a sudden, head for them all. In a typical birding year, no other month will bring you that many new species as January. The most agile in quick jumping in and out of the car become the bird spotter, the least experienced become the bird recorder and I was the driver.

Serbia 176

Serbia Geese 2001 Ducks 176

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

It is the end of January and my year list reached 110 birds. More productive areas of the Balkans have January eBird lists from 105 to 115 species (but I combined several areas in two countries, Greece and Serbia), so I have every reason to be satisfied. My January 2018 list (4 birds in bold are globally threatened): 1.

Owls 104

Owls Greece Serbia Woodpeckers 104

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2015

I am driving down the dirt track in the Carska Bara Ramsar site (Serbia) and a cloud of dust closely follows me, like a rider on a pale horse. A dozen Ferruginous Ducks and several Garganeys in the shallows of the floodzone. Wheat fields around me were harvested in the previous days. Just for fun, it seems – joie de vivre?

Serbia 234

Serbia Horses Eagles Birds 234

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

Not having any cooperative birds in the garden at the moment, I opted to follow a train of ants. In the afternoon, I went birding the Paljuvi Dam, south of Belgrade. With just about every other bird I had one of those “wow” moments. So I watched an unknown duck now, quite bright, clearly a male.

Chile 301

Chile Argentina Raised Serbia 301

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

Birding that starts with the largest eagle of the continent certainly bears promises… The next stop is the town park in Opovo, north of Belgrade, where local bird expert Ceda Vuckovic reported one, locally rare, Short-eared Owl. Sakule is almost fully enclosed by its fishfarm and it is a tranquil home for numerous birds.

Serbia 233

Serbia Owls Rodents Eagles 233

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

In front of us, the river is two miles wide… and it is paved with birds: smaller groups of Greater White-fronted and Greylag Geese , numerous Mute Swans and Mallards , plus Eurasian Teals , Gadwalls , Common Pochards , a few Ferruginous and Tufted Ducks , Common Goldeneyes and several Smews. How can I call them all poachers?

Geese 167

Geese Hunting Boars Birds 167

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 235

Serbia Stray Dog Protection Botswana 235

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2016

Out of just under 200 bird species I observed this year in SE Europe, there are 6 threatened species. Some of them were always uncommon in the region, others are highly localised, some are hard to notice among thousands of similar birds, but others were abundant recently and one of them still is, despite the decrease in numbers.

Serbia 198

Serbia Greece Montenegro Bulgaria 198

10,000 Birds

APRIL 16, 2015

I am parked at the bridge over the Reva Pond in the suburb of Belgrade, Serbia, mere 150 metres away from the nearest buildings behind me, but facing the fascinating undeveloped 1.2 They have pointy tails, almost eel-like, I do not notice any tail flipper… whatever, they aren’t birds. Birding Europe Mammals otters Serbia'

Otters 172

Otters Serbia Fish Mammals 172

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 183

Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 183

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 182

Serbia Turtles Birds Eagles 182

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

I was canoeing the Danube backwaters inside Belgrade, Serbia, on a warm and sunny November day when a Northern Goshawk tried to catch one of two Pygmy Cormorants. The Mallard did something that all dabbling ducks can do but I haven’t seen any of them doing it but this one – it took a dive and disappeared underwater. (My And not moving.

Serbia 241

Serbia 2004 Eagles Chickens 241

10,000 Birds

APRIL 17, 2014

I love birds. I am surrounded by yellow flower-covered bushes of the endemic Greek Spiny Spurge Euphorbia acanthothamnos from which Cetti’s Warblers sing, but not a single bird is willing to show itself… “Warblers always sing from the middle of a bush,” explains my guide Georgos Spiridakis. I like to travel. And customs.

Greece 188

Greece Birds Serbia Europe 188

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 252

Otters Croatia Eagles Protection 252

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 10, 2015

To those unfamiliar with the Old World geography, this means that these grebes breed way north from the banks of the Danube, where I reside, and overwinter by the coasts, away from land-locked Serbia. As a consequence, this species is only a rare vagrant in Serbia. But I said I’ve dipped it? Photos (2) by S.

Serbia 157

Serbia Norway France Japan 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2016

Oddly, in 1936 this mountain was declared a national park, the first in Serbia, but in 1946 it was stripped of its title and got a lower protection status, further confirmed in 2007. But the bird does not bother to linger anywhere for more than a second! Can I get 6 more birds? Hence, the first stop becomes Mt.

Woodpeckers 236

Woodpeckers Serbia 2007 Species 236

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2016

How much time do you devote to birding? How high is birding on your list of activities – is it the very first or merely one of? These are the types I recognise: Coffee Break Birding – 10-15 minutes, usually not planned ahead but squeezed out of your schedule. It is a good option if you know that there is that one special bird.

Birds 109

Birds India Africa Serbia 109

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2015

While February offers some good birding (wintering waterbirds, gulls), it is a kind of an anticlimax after the intensive and hectic schedule of the January IWC counts – the International Waterbird Census, that is. Yet birding is slim, songbirds, such as the first Northern Wheatears , haven’t arrived yet. Birding eBird Serbia spring'

Serbia 203

Serbia ALA Protection Collecting 203

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2017

I am a birder and I can claim that out of Serbia’s total of 350+ bird species, highly urbanised inner city areas of Belgrade hold almost 100 birds, while the outskirts have more than 200 species. eBird says that, at the time of writing (April 2017), there are some ten hotspots that have crossed the 100 bird species mark.

Birds 199

Birds 2017 Eagles Otters 199

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2014

Can birding possibly compare? I haven’t put myself in life threatening situations while birding (unless you count paddling with crocodiles ?). The intensity of experience is not the same, but, e.g. focusing on a single bird and trying to solve the puzzle… or finding the rarest owl of India , that was a mind-blowing one.

Farming 228

Farming Serbia Europe India 228

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2016

I remember, several times while motionlessly surveying birds, I found myself being investigated by Striped Field Mice , who would dare to come to sniff me. Europe: The sun is scorching the area, and the birds are nowhere to be seen. No, birds are way too smart for that stupid trick. My first ever Balkan Egyptian Vultures!

Wildlife 171

Wildlife Tigers Asia Europe 171