Viewing entries tagged
Belarus

Comment

BELOWEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA NATIONAL PARK, BELARUS

Eurasian Lynx, Belowezhskaya Pushcha NP.

An evening drive north into the vast Beloweshskaya Pushcha National Park protected area of the forest produced around 20 Wild Boars, 10 Red Deer, 2 Western Roe Deer as well as the desired European Bison, a bull in the evening in a quiet meadow followed by another nearby at dusk. A Eurasian Nightjar and a Long-eared Owl were also spotlit but the highlight of the drive (and the whole tour for all) was the Eurasian Lynx that Dima spotted trotting along the side of the road, wagging its short black tail. It occasionally veered off into the understory next to the road but soon returned to continue on its way somewhere. Dima was able to attract its attention to look round at us from time to time before it finally disappeared after around 20 minutes. Fabulous! After hearing that our guide at Vygonoshansky has only seen lynx twice ever and our guide at Belowezhskaya sees it around three times per year we were not expecting this!

The weather was still rather changeable and rain hammered down as we headed to the forest again for our final day’s birding. Happily the downpour gradually to eased to another fine sunny day and we enjoyed a pleasant morning with a couple of surprises. First of all we visited a Tengmalm’s Owl nest hole in a dead pine tree stump, formerly home to a Black Woodpecker family. Its occupant soon popped its head out of the hole with its Collins Guide ‘astonished look’ on its face and glared at us for a while before deciding we were not worth any more attention and shuffling back into the dark hole. En route to another hole appointment a Pine Marten crossed the road, soon followed by another. Eventually we reached the place to be and were surprised to see that the Eurasian Pygmy Owl we were hoping to see was already looking out of its hole in our direction. It duly obliged with a nice view for all before we left it to tend its nest. What a great trio of sightings to start the day!

After lunch we had a quick look around the animal enclosures, with their sad inhabitants before making our way to the ancient oak grove. Woodpeckers abounded here with White-backed and Middle Spotted particularly welcome. It was hard not to be impressed by the size of some of the ancient deciduous trees here, now a rare sight in lowland Europe and their fallen ancestors left to rot where they fall providing much food for the rest of the ecosystem. Flycatchers were also here too with European Pied, Collared and Red-breasted.

Comment

Comment

SPOROVO RESERVE, BELARUS

Aquatic Warbler, Sporovo Reserve.

We were not quite finished yet today. Pressing on towards our hotel at Bereza we started our exploration of the vast sedge fens of the Sporovo reserve. The main attraction here is the rapidly declining Aquatic Warbler. Time really is running out for this sedge fen specialist and sooner rather than later is a good plan if you want to see it. The sun was still shining and we had no trouble in locating at least three of these buzzing little warblers not far from the roadside, singing atop bull rush stems. A couple of Sedge Warblers allowed a good comparison with the much simpler buzzing song of Aquatic Warbler. The following morning we visited another sedge fen area where we found another very obliging Aquatic Warbler. There were many Sedge Warblers here as well as a few Eurasian Reed Warblers and a Common Grasshopper Warbler but the stars of the show were the lovely Citrine Wagtails, including two lemon yellow males.

Comment

Comment

VYGONOSHANSKY RESERVE, BELARUS

Great Grey Owl, Vygonoshansky Reserve.

Heading further west we spotted a pair of Crested Larks by the roadside, a bird we had missed last time. One of them was busily collecting nesting material, including a piece of string! Eventually we stopped in a small village to pick up our local guide, who devotes his life to, amongst other things, studying the population of Great Grey Owls in the forests of Vygonoshansky. He took us straight to one of his six nest sites this season. An encounter with a Great Grey Owl is a very moving experience for anyone, not just birders so you can imagine the excitement amongst those of us who had waited their whole lives for this moment. The massive female owl of the pair stared down at us while we stood not far from where her young were hiding for half an hour or so, her partner was somewhere not far away but we did not search for him or their youngsters, keeping our disturbance of their secret lives to a minimum. The concentric barring of her huge round face is like no other owl and although I have seen many in captivity there is nothing like seeing Great Grey Owl in its natural forest home. The owls in southern Belarus are found far to the south of the true Taiga zone and are birds of mixed Alder and pine forest bogs, specializing in preying on hydrophilus vole species. Also in this area we visited a Tawny Owl nest box, where a couple of well grown fluffy chicks poked their heads out to take a look at us. Their parent was nearby but did not show well for anyone, the mobbing of Blackbirds and jays marking its position. A very nice surprise here was a Hazel Grouse next that we were taken too, complete with a female sitting on it, tucked in close to the trunk of a birch tree. This was a great ‘pickup’ for those on the main tour only but also a better look for those not. The woodland here is particularly lovely with carpets of Lily of the Valley. A group of 38 Common Cranes were in roadside fields outside the forest and we also stopped to take a quick look at the German WWI fortifications. This area also marked the front line between German and Russian forces in 1918 and some of the bunkers have proved difficult to remove for developments almost 100 years later. Apparently a road was planned to go through the site of one but all attempts to destroy it failed. Owing to the sandy soil, the Germans had sunk very deep foundations into the ground and eventually the road builders gave up, buried the bunker and built the road over the top of it!

Great Grey Owl, Vygonoshansky Reserve.

Comment

Comment

TUROV, BELARUS

Azure Tit, Alshany Pumping Station.

Our time spent exploring the area around Turov was simply fantastic again! Early morning started with showy Thrush Nightingales, singing in full view and collecting nest material. It is always more extrovert than its thicket-loving Common relative and its rich but slightly discordant song (more Jimi Hendrix than Eric Clapton to my ear) and is a common sound of the Belarusian spring countryside.  Other welcome migrants seen on the edge of the small village included: Red-backed Shrike, the first of many; Golden Orioles including a pair building a nest high in a willow; Icterine Warbler (with its song full of loud buzzing and wheezing notes); European Pied, Spotted and Red-breasted Flycatchers; Common Rosefinch (a red songster) and a gorgeous nest-building female Serin. The bird that most folks wanted to see more than any other on this trip was the gorgeous Azure Tit, breeding at the western limit of its range in Belarus, and sure enough one appeared in the usual place, feeding on phragmites reed heads. Although we enjoyed some nice views, we were not able to find a nest in one of the rickety houses here this year, the female probably incubating rather than feeding young like last time. We got the impression that most birds were breeding a little later than in 2014.

Thrush Nightingale, Kremnoe.

However, Terek Sandpiper is the emblematic bird of Turov and we were lucky to enjoy some nice views of a couple on the banks of an ox-bow lake, reminiscent of the Common Sandpipers. Exploring a little further into the myriad channels and marshes along the Pripyat we found more waterbirds, which included: Terek Sandpiper (another two pairs); Northern Shoveler; Garganey; Common Goldeneye; Common Oystercatcher; Northern Lapwing; Common Ringed Plover; Black-tailed Godwit; Common Redshank; Wood Sandpiper; Temminck’s Stint; Curlew Sandpiper (a brick red bird); Dunlin and Ruff but the star of the show was probably a young Northern Goshawk, which zoomed past us chasing shorebirds, Quentin could even hear the rush of air(!). Later another goshawk, this time an adult was hunting low over the meadow, they must find rich pickings during spring migration here. Less interesting and much less common was the second calendar year Greater White-fronted Goose feeding quietly by the hordes of feral geese out on the marsh, presumably a lingering wild bird. Soaring overhead were our first Black Storks, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Black Kite, Common Kestrel as well as plenty of Western Marsh Harriers and Common Buzzards and a Common Raven. A Stock Dove flew over the meadow, an uncommon bird here. Sedge Warblers buzzed away nearby and ‘Dombrowski’ form Yellow Wagtails were a common sight on the meadow. Whinchat and Meadow Pipit were also new for the tour and in the middle of town a pair of lovely Syrian Woodpeckers delighted near their nest hole as we passed pretty wooden village houses, most of which are smallholdings with cultivated fields for back gardens.

Greater Spotted Eagle (adult), near Turov.

After lunch we made our way to an area of open country bordering the forest of Pripyatsky National Park that is usually good for raptor watching. We had not been in position long when a fine adult Greater Spotted Eagle soared into view, this time showing all the requisite features without any hybrid anomalies: seven obvious fingered primaries; suffuse pale base to primaries on the upper wing and no double comma below; darker coverts than flight feathers and particularly, very dark brown, almost back plumage (it is called Black Eagle in Hungarian). Five Black Storks were also up soaring over the forest here as well as a Lesser Spotted Eagle for Dima and several Common Buzzards. Three Common Cranes had flown in from the forest to feed on the agricultural fields and a nearby reed-filled ditch produced our only Marsh Warbler of the trip, singing away in the open and allowing us to see such as its pale claws and silvery-tipped primaries. They also appeared to be a little late in arriving this year. Nearby we checked the same area of flooded oak forest as last year, where White-backed and Grey-headed Woodpeckers and also Collared Flycatcher showed up very nicely in the afternoon sunshine. A Garganey was disturbed from a ditch, a Wryneck also showed briefly, forest-breeding Green Sandpipers flew around calling loudly and a pair of Grey Partridges was our only sighting of the tour. Smart Red-backed Shrikes hawked for insects and a Great Grey Shrike was nearby – these two shrikes breed side-by-side here.

Grey-headed Woodpecker, near Turov.


The grand finale to a superb day’s birding was an evening visit to a Great Snipe lek by the River Pripyat near Turov. The main act here also did not disappoint on a sunny evening we were able to watch the snipes arriving at their display ground. I have visited the Narew Valley lek in Poland several times and have always been a bit disappointed by poor views of the birds in long grass so it was a pleasure to be able to watch the snipes here in much shorter grass and at closer range once again. Their display starts with a clicking of the bill and then the birds eventually fluff up their plumage and throw back their heads, while making peculiar popping sounds, ending with a flash of their striking wing markings and their bright white outer tail feathers. We counted nine birds here dotted around the lekking area. Many of the males are ringed and also carry geolocators that have tracked them to their wintering grounds in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), taking a mere two days from Turov, one of the fastest migrating bird journeys! The supporting cast this evening included Black-tailed Godwits flying around but Corn Crakes were strangely almost absent with one bird calling where we had around eight last time. They also appeared to be late this year or maybe simply absent? Nevertheless this was another classic birding day that few of us will forget.

We followed up this success with our first walk in the woods. Turov lies on the edge of the vast Pripyatsky National Park, much of which consists of pine forest bog. We enjoyed a very productive walk through mixed deciduous and pine forest, interspersed with pretty dammed bogs, the work of the local beavers. The forest floor itself had a lovely flora with many ancient woodland indicators such as Toothwort and Herb Paris. The walk got off to a good start with a Red-breasted Flycatcher singing, complete with red breast (some songsters are first year birds in female type plumage). Collared and European Pied Flycatchers were also present, the latter included a couple of grey-brown variant males, which are apparently commoner in eastern Europe. A huge Black Woodpecker nest hole was located in an area of flooded forest, the adults feeding their hungry youngsters. We also added Eurasian Nuthatch and ‘Northern’ Treecreeper here – both with bright white flanks unlike their western counterparts and as the walk came to an end several Hawfinches were feeding in roadside trees.

Smew, Beloe Fishponds.

Departing from our usual schedule, after breakfast we made a visit to Beloe Fishponds, located around 45 minutes drive north of Turov, where we found a good concentration of water birds on the southern ponds. Gadwall, Mallard, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck and Common Goldeneye were numerous and amongst them we were pleased to find at least 7 pairs of Smew, which breed here at the westernmost limit of their range. Beloe is designated BirdLife International’s IBA BY019 ‘Bielaje fish farm’ in recognition of its waterbird breeding populations, particularly its c.20 pairs of Smew, it is the sole breeding site for this smart duck in Belarus. Dima had a fly-by Ferruginous Duck and around four White-tailed Eagles soared overhead, a handful of shorebirds included Wood Sandpipers and Little Ringed Plover. A few Eurasian Bitterns boomed from distant reed beds and there were a few large gulls around, mostly Caspian and a handful of Commons but one large white-headed second year gull, which had a heavy pale based bill, advanced head and body, pale under wings and dark slate grey adult feathers emerging in its mantle was presumably heuglini = ‘Siberian Gull’. In between heavy rain showers, passerines on the fringes of the fishponds included some smart Red-backed Shrikes, a lovely white-spotted male Bluethroat and plenty of Great Reed Warblers. We then switched our attention to the northern collection of ponds, where we were treated to a marsh tern spectacle. Hundreds of White-winged Terns were hawking low over a large marsh, with smaller numbers of Black and Whiskered also present. Eared Grebes frequented a colony of Black-headed Gulls for protection and on a nearby drained fish pond at least 12 Black Storks were feeding on fish in the shallows, a similar number of Great Egrets was also here and shorebirds included Wood, Green and Common Sandpipers but unfortunately not the hoped-for Marsh. Four rusty-necked Whooper Swans and some very instructive views of second calendar year Caspian Gulls followed before it was time to head back south to Turov.

Beloe Fishponds landscape.

The following morning was cold and windy but again not windy enough to stop us from enjoying some nice views of Great Reed Warbler and Savi’s Warbler at another regular site at a dyke beyond the fields containing endless cucumber greenhouses at Alshany. A Eurasian Penduline Tit also afforded some excellent views, as ever like a miniature Red-backed Shrike while a northern Long-tailed Tit flitted past. From the same spot a River Warbler started up its crazy sewing machine-like song and afforded some great views as its whole body shivered. Another star attraction here was a pair of Azure Tits in riverside willows, which stayed put taking in the morning sunshine and allowing some ridiculously close views, the male occasionally feeding the female. Presumably they had also not nested yet. A Eurasian Hoopoe was searching for ants along the sandy path atop the dyke and to our surprise a huge Elk broke from cover in the reeds and galloped north over the farmland.

Azure Tit, Alshany Pumping Station.

Comment