Romanian Village
Between July 17th and August 7th, I was in Osoi, a small village just southeast of the city of Iasį in northeast Romania. The village was situated at the foot of the valley of the River Prut but about 2 Km from the river, with flat grasslands in between. There were trees throughout the village and near the top of the hills. I was working on a charity project but was able to do some birding while going around the village, and also while traveling by train to and from Vatra Dornei, a holiday resort in the Northern Carpathians.
Species seen
Mallard
Cormorant
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron*
White Stork*
Marsh Harrier
Buzzard
Golden Eagle
Kestrel
Red-footed Falcon*
Hobby
Green Sandpiper
Redshank
Mediterranean Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Black-headed Gull
Whiskered Tern*
Stock Dove
Woodpigeon
Turtle Dove
Collared Dove
Swift
Bee-eater*
Hoopoe*
Syrian Woodpecker*
White-backed Woodpecker*
Crested Lark*
Sand Martin
Swallow
House Martin
Tree Pipit
Yellow Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Pied/White Wagtail
Robin
Nightingale
Black Redstart
Redstart
Stonechat
Wheatear
Blackbird
Mistle Thrush
Song Thrush
Blackcap
Garden Warbler
Lesser Whitethroat*
Collared Flycatcher*
Great Tit
Treecreeper
Golden Oriole*
Red-backed Shrike*
Lesser Grey Shrike*
Great Grey Shrike*
Jay
Magpie
Jackdaw
Rook
Hooded Crow
Raven
Nutcracker
Starling
House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Chaffinch
Serin
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Linnet
Corn Bunting
* Denotes Lifer
Nice birds Roger.
Was it a nice place generally? I get the impression that these eastern european countries haven't yet had the chance to ruin their wildlife with intensive western agriculture yet. Haven't been there much though, just an excellent trip to Montenegro in 1991, just in time to see the start of the Yugoslavian civil war...
Hi Roger and Andrew. I visited Romania on a birding trip in 2002 and found the country to be a wonderful experience and not at all as one would imagine from our media clips. I would reccommend anyone thinking of extending their birding activities into Europe to give Romania a try. I visited the Carpathians and Danube Delta. Both wonderful areas, and as yet unspoilt and the people are very friendly although I did not visit any cities where things may be a lot different. I spent several days on the Delta itself which gives great opportunities for the bird enthusiast and although I am not into botanising even I appreciated the Flora. Some of the villages I visited were like somehting out of a 'Hardy' novel with very low intesity farming but how long that lasts remains to be seen. Hopefully those in powerful positions will have learnt from some of the mistakes made in the West. The strangest thing I saw was Brown Bears eating from garbage containers outside blocks of flats. I understand they occaisioally get into the buildings. Not somehting I would like to walk into on returning home, but the locals seem to cope. Brian.