10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2020

The Ural Owl inhabits old and undisturbed boreal forests, in an unbroken belt from Sweden and Finland across Russia to Japan, and is rarely seen to the south, only here and there, in the Carpathians (Slovakia/Ukraine/Romania/eastern Serbia) and Dinaric Alps (Croatia/Bosnia/western Serbia). Two years ago I screamed “UralOwlUralOwlUralOwl!!!”

Serbia 98

Serbia Owls Birds Breeding 98

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2018

Habitat destruction combined with hunting has pushed them away from their former breeding grounds. The Pastures of Great Bustard occupy 6770 ha of extensive steppe, bordered by meadows, pasture, arable fields and seasonally inundated depressions in the north of the country, towards the triple border with Romania and Hungary.

Serbia 60

Serbia Breeding Birds Hunting 60

10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2017

Shallows provide an ideal spawning ground for almost 50 fish species and submerged islands breeding ground for more than 100 bird species. Beside several well-showing Red-backed Shrikes , the highlight was one uncommon Lesser Grey Shrike (highly localized ** , with only 700 to 1000 breeding pairs in Serbia). I like driving.

Serbia 72

Serbia Birds Woodpeckers Blackbirds 72

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2022

On the second day of that visit, the wardens suggested to try the “Forgotten” Road, once the main road to Romania, but today, after a dozen tunnels and a new riverbank road were constructed four decades ago, merely a track of a derelict and crumbling tarmac winding over a mountain pass. Hopefully, something may have changed in the meantime.

Serbia 105

Serbia Birds Woodpeckers Species 105

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2016

The decrease in numbers has been accompanied by fragmentation of the breeding range and is continuing to affect all populations. Disturbance on breeding grounds (e.g. Illegal spring hunting and round-ups of moulting birds are taking place on the Russian breeding grounds and illegal shooting continues in Norway.

Species 81

Species Serbia Birds Pelicans 81

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2023

If you aim to achieve some kind of immortality, you might do worse than follow the example of Oana Mirela Chachula, a biologist at the National Museum of Romanian History, Romania. The last bird shown in this post is a Pallas’s Leaf Warbler – but is it really?

Birds 59

Birds China Species Hunting 59

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2014

The national park ranges some 100 km in length along the right bank of the Danube (the left bank is in Romania), where the river varies in width from 5 km / 3 mi to only 150 m / 500 ft and the mountains rise up to 800 m / 2600 ft a.s.l. The Forgotten Road does not exist on the GPS screen either.

Birds 97

Birds Serbia Eagles Turtles 97