10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2024

It was an exciting experience, though a remarkably chilly one, as winters in Castile and León can be very cold. A Red Fox in Georgia, not looking very red I’ve never been to Svalbard, so I haven’t ticked off polar bear, but I have seen brown bears on a number of occasions in both Romania and Bulgaria. They particularly like chocolate!)

Fur 185

Fur Bulgaria Otters Estonia 185

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2024

All the so-called grey geese – Greylag, Bean, White-front, Lesser White-front, Swan – look very much alike, and it takes experience to identify them by their calls and their shape and size. In recent years the majority of the Red-breasted Geese have stayed in Romania, with much smaller numbers in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria 130

Bulgaria Geese Romania Estonia 130

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2018

My own trip was not an intensive birding experience, and August is clearly not the most productive month. Unlike the previous hotspots, which lie close to Belgrade, the Kompenzacioni bazen lake (literally “compensation pool”), is in the town of Pirot, close to the border with Bulgaria and about 300 km from Belgrade.

Serbia 157

Serbia Birds Bulgaria Farming 157