10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2018

“I would certainly recommend Serbia to visiting birders. My own trip was not an intensive birding experience, and August is clearly not the most productive month. I chalked up 132 species in a pretty relaxed eight days, during which birds shared the agenda with culture. What has changed in the meantime? eBird bar chart. #2

Serbia 164

Serbia Birds Bulgaria Farming 164

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2019

In mid-December, I was birding along the Beljarica levee (Beh-LYAH-ritza), my local patch north of Belgrade, when something other than birds attracted my attention: three wild boars , appearing all black because they had just swam through the swamp to reach the bottom of the levee. I barely started when some sulphur (a.k.a.

Serbia 246

Serbia Otters Boars Eagles 246

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 161

Serbia New Jersey Europe Hunters 161

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. On a wire by the road, one European Bee-eater awaits me.

Greece 162

Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 162

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 196

Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 196

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2018

I am preparing for the new census of one of the rarest birds of Serbia, the globally threatened Great Bustard , taking place two days from now. Together with African Kori Bustard (which I observed on a camping trip in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve), this is the heaviest flying bird in the world. m–8 ft 10 in). m–8 ft 10 in).

Serbia 105

Serbia Romania Hungary Hunting 105

10,000 Birds

JUNE 22, 2017

I do not know how roads in your nick of forest look like, but here in Serbia, many of them are poorly maintained and potholed. With birding, the same thing happens. Potholes and good birds aside, what does this has to do with elephants? They remember it the same way we remember those good birds. Knowing without knowing.

Elephants 182

Elephants Serbia Deer Hunters 182