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SPOROVO RESERVE, BELARUS

June 17, 2015

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.

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VYGONOSHANSKY RESERVE, BELARUS

June 17, 2015

*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!

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TUROV, BELARUS

June 14, 2015

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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KRASNY BOR, BELARUS

June 7, 2015

*Ural Owl - a female peers down at us near its nest site in Krasny Bor.*

SOSNOVY MEANS 'VILLAGE MADE FROM PINE' and originally consisted of around 20 homesteads, which were burned to the ground by the Germans in 1943. Some folks returned but when our Belarusian guide Dima moved in around eight years ago there was only one old lady living there and she is now no longer with us. A few homes that are still vaguely habitable are used during the summer and the general area consists of a mosaic of abandoned hay meadows, marshes and pine wood lots and is full of wildlife. Eurasian Beavers have a lodge at the bottom of his ‘garden’ and we could see them from the dining table each evening as they emerged from their lodge to feed on waterside vegetation. Green Sandpiper breeds along the stream below the lodge and there was a nest box occupied by a female goldeneye. We also saw the recent tracks of wolf, hazel grouse and cranes as we crossed a small field used by hunters to lure deer and elk into the open during the autumn. Each evening we attempted to see Dima’s local pygmy owl, however, we did not have any luck. It was probably preoccupied with its nest rather than defending its territory? Whilst we did not have any luck with the owl, our evening excursions featured numerous encounters with roding woodcock against a chorus of Thrush Nightingales, cuckoos and the blood curdling howling of Dima’s tamed wolf pack. No wonder he does not have any neighbours! A short distance from the lodge we saw an impressive female Ural Owl at her nest site, a large species with a nasty reputation but this individual was fortunately rather docile. The Collins guide describes its big, pale, flat face and small dark eyes as giving it a ‘deceptively gentle look’ but it is well known for attacking intruders near its nest. We also had a good look for Tengmalm’s Owl after dark on our second evening here, in Dima’s Soviet-built UAZ 452 (= Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod), known as the ‘bread loaf’, which promptly broke down deep in the forest. However, they are renowned for their simplicity and Dima was able to fix the problem, which involved sawing a section of tree trunk from a fallen tree and jacking up the entire front and then the rear axles in succession, an incredible sight! There was no sound of Tengmalm’s Owl unfortunately as Mike’s biggest bogey bird continued to elude him but we were all simply relieved to avoid a couple of hours walk home in the dark.

We had two full days plus an evening and a morning in the Krasny Bor reserve. The mornings were spent looking for grouse and our first venture deep into the forest produced all three species we were looking for: Western Capercaillie, Black Grouse and Hazel Grouse. Black Grouse emerge from the forest to lek in open fields and clearings and we easily saw some, very conspicuous against a plain green background, their peculiar bubbling calls filling the air. With the help of Dima’s radio-collars we tracked down some male capercaillies and got a brief view of them, massive black shapes crashing through the branches of the trees. However, we did get a very good view of a cryptic-plumaged female perched in a pine tree and on our last evening we also had a good view of a male that flew across a clearing, its inner primaries being replaced now. The trickiest of the trio is usually Hazel Grouse and this proved to be the case again. After hearing one calling and then another’s wings whirring as it flew away from us we saw a male fly across a forest track and then make off away through the understory. A small pile of feathers suggested that one of the local birds had succumbed to a predator as we searched for a nest one afternoon. Finally, on our last morning at Krasny Bor, an extensive drive on forest tracks resulted in two males flying across the road in front of us, one of which perched up for a while, visible through a small gap in branches for Mike only.

*Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker, Krasny Bor*

Our first morning’s birding of the tour also included Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker, a male zooming in to inspect us in an area of flooded birch forest that also held goldeneye, Green Sandpiper, Black Woodpecker, Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, the cute northern, white-headed form of Long-tailed Tit and Red Crossbill. The surrounding forests were full of Tree Pipits, Mistle Thrushes and Common Chaffinches. We did well for woodpeckers at Krasny Bor, as well as three-toed and Black we also saw White-backed easily, finding a bird feeding young at a nest hole in a birch stump in a flooded area of forest – a great site for a picnic! The flooded forest was the work of beavers, damming a small stream, which drowned the trees and provided numerous nest sites for woodpeckers. There is a strong association between beaver and woodpecker populations here. Lesser Spotted, Great Spotted and Grey-headed Woodpeckers were also noted here. Nearby glacial lakes were quite productive, with breeding Whooper Swan, Garganey, Western Osprey, Northern Goshawk, White-tailed Eagle, Black and White-winged Terns, Little Gull, Great Reed and Savi’s Warblers as well as some large Grass Snakes. We also made a visit to a vast raised acid bog, accessed by a precarious dilapidated wooden boardwalk, sometimes partly submerged it was a challenge to place your boot in the right place at times, however, the result of a mistake was just a boot full of muddy water rather than a dangerous fall. Once out on the wide-open bog the view of the surrounding area was wonderful, with shorebirds calling all around us. Mostly Black-tailed Godwit but I was surprised to see Eurasian Whimbrel (alongside Curlew) song-flighting here, well to the south of its main breeding range. A Common Greenshank was also calling and Dima had a Citrine Wagtail on his more extensive exploration of the bog. There were at least two Great Grey Shrikes, presumably breeding here as well as three Eurasian Hobbies overhead – an unfamiliar combination of birds that we see on UK raised bogs in opposite seasons.

During our stay at Dima’s lodge, which comprises a modern extension to an original village house with recovered parts of other wooden properties, we saw a variety of birds from the veranda including: European Honey Buzzard; Common Whitethroat; Common Grasshopper Warbler; Common Redstart; Whinchat; Red-backed Shrike; Eurasian Siskin and Yellowhammer. It would make a good place for a big sit we thought. A Corn Crake finally called for the first time from the meadow by the lodge on our last day, the first of the year and arriving much later than usual but it did not show itself. Olga’s superb traditional style Belarusian cooking was also a real highlight of our stay at Krasny Bor as was the feeling of isolation in the forest, where we saw few other vehicles on the dirt roads and of course no other birders! Our last evening produced a fantastic nocturnal encounter with a Tengmalm’s Owl perching in the open for us numerous times in an open pine canopy on the edge of a forest clearing. A noisy badger snuffled his way past us here not seeing us until the last moment and the hares in the north are Mountain Hares that turn white in winter. We saw four live ones in total, plus a couple of dead ones. All too soon it was time to say goodbye to Krasny Bor and Olga as we made our way south to Minsk airport to meet the rest of the group for the main tour. We paused at the Berezina River, near the site of the famous 1812 battle during Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow where he and his army narrowly avoided being trapped and annihilated. They suffered massive losses of maybe as many as 45,000 of their number, roughly 50%, at the hands of the Russians but they managed to cross the river and escape. The word Bérézina has been a French synonym for a disaster ever since.

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SPOROVO RESERVE, BELARUS

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TUROV, BELARUS

KRASNY BOR, BELARUS