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Freeze-birding down the Danube

10,000 Birds

At the snowy Danube riverbank, we are waiting for geese to come to their roost inside the mostly submerged island. A shot or two coming from the opposite bank, but they do not sound like geese shooting – more like boar hunting. Scanning the water for rarer species… S. warns me of two locally rare Bean Geese.

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Prespa Lakes National Park, Greece: the largest Dalmatian Pelican colony in the world

10,000 Birds

Greylag Geese. Soon I hit the brakes for a 60 strong flock of Greylag Geese of the Siberian race rubrirostris grazing near the road. In all that swirling of swallows, I am not certain was there a third species, so I keep watching. The smaller part of the flock was nervous and soon took flight, while the majority remained.

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The Kerkini Lake, Greece: Dipped One, Got One

10,000 Birds

It’s the boar hunting season. The soil is disturbed by foraging boars (and there is not a single shot from those hunters). By the cliffs we find several Eurasian Crag-Martins and a consolation species – a family of Golden Eagles in the air! The Greater Spotted Eagle is a threatened species. Enough of the mountains.

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