Decided to put this as a separate thread here, it is also available here ( http://www.birdforum.net/showthread...6895#post386895 ) in sections.
This trip to Romania was a follow up with a charity project that I was involved with last year ( see http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=22849 ), and as such birdwatching took a bit of a back seat. The first couple of days were spent in a very wet Bucharest followed by two days on the Black Sea at a place called Sulina. This is at the edge of the Danube Delta but not the best birding location.
The actual birding and a short period of better weather, started when we left Tulcea, which is at the heart of the delta, by ferry. We had just left the buildings behind, when a European Roller (L) flew out from trees on the bank and across the river. The next few sightings were of the commoner birds; Little Egret, Whiskered Tern, Black Headed Gull, Cormorant, Herring Gull and various hirundines; all of which were seen frequently on the journey, with the first two in particular being almost constant companions.
The ferry stopped briefly at a village called Partizani and a group of four White Pelican (L), flew overhead, they look prehistoric. They were quickly followed by White Stork, White & Grey Wagtail and Common Tern. The next stop, Marluc, produced 2 Great White Egret (L), which looked huge compared to Little Egret, 5 Spoonbill and a Grey Heron.
The channel that the ferry was on then passed to a large lake, and while most of the birds were at some distance, Black Terns (L), White Winged Terns (L), [B]and Squacco Heron (L) [/B]had all drifted over onto the main channel giving excellent views. It was above the reeds at this lake that I saw the first of many Marsh Harriers.
A little later I got a Pygmy Cormorant (L), which just looks so dull. After this the clouds started to close in along with the odd shower, and while I was still able to view the river from a covered area at the back of the ferry, I didn’t see anything else worth recording.
We arrived in Sulina after two and a half hours on the ferry. The rest of the day had poor weather and I was busy getting settled in accommodation, eating and exploring the town.
The weather started to improve in the evening, and started to look promising, but that is another day…
The promise was not fulfilled with the next day dawning overcast and showery quite a strong wind blowing off the sea; the morning was mainly spent indoors. The weather did improve in the afternoon with the cloud breaking up, and we went for a walk down to and then along the shore of the Black Sea. The walk down, about 2Km produced Bee-eater and Hoopoe and a number – at least 6 – of Kestrels and 2 Hobby.
The beach itself provided the usual gulls and terns and the odd Oystercatcher, but the highlights were Yellow-legged Gull and Caspian Gull (L), which were sitting about 10 metres apart on the beach and made separating them fairly straightforward.
A two hour walk through an area of scrub behind the beach proved somewhat frustrating, as although I could hear birds calling, they were sheltering from the wind, deep within the bushes, and not showing. I did see more Hoopoe, some Red-backed Shrike and a family of 15 Pheasant before getting a small reward for my patience in the form of a Sardinian Warbler (L) and a very close view of a beautiful male Marsh Harrier.
On my way back to town I saw 6 Black-winged Stilt (L) by the side of a drainage channel.
After dinner we walked along the Danube and a beautiful red sunset gave hope for the next day, so we arranged for a boat trip for a small group of us.
The next day, Tuesday, was clear and bright but still breezy and the boat trip got of to a great start with Squacco Heron and Kingfisher almost as soon as we left the main channel, quickly followed by the first of many Marsh Harriers. The usual Terns and swallows were everywhere and then in the distance but circling closer was my first tick of the day, and a real bonus bird, a Dalmatian Pelican (L).
We then turned up the first of 2 very narrow channels that we explored and were rewarded by a Pygmy Cormorant and a flock of 50 – 60 White Pelicans circling up from the marshes to our right. There then followed a quieter period for birds but there were beautiful dragonflies everywhere, many different colours and sizes – some as long as small birds - plus turtles and frogs.
We kept seeing terns and Marsh Harriers, I stopped counting at 15 but the next bird of interest was a Hobby. Then came my next tick which I almost missed by assuming it was the usual Marsh Harrier, it was instead a female Montague’s Harrier (L), a lovely bird.
Shortly after this we grounded for a short time and got a few blue and great tits, a jay, a kestrel, a moorhen and a buzzard. When we boarded again and headed back towards the larger channel I saw a Dabchick and 2 Purple Herons. It was at this point that I got the second bonus birds 3 Ferruginous Ducks (L) which flew up from the reeds at the side of the channel and passed round behind us before landing again in more or less the same spot.
We then had some great views of a Red Footed Falcon which was hunting at the entrance to the second of the narrow channels that we went up. This channel proved to be the highlight of the day. Within 20 metres of the entrance I saw Squacco Heron, Night Heron and what turned out to be my final tick of the day a Little Bittern (L). This was not the end of interest for the day as about another 100metres up this channel we again grounded for a short while an immediately I heard Cuckoos calling from three different locations and saw 2 more in flight. When we left this landing there seemed to be Cuckoos flying out of every other tree and we had great views of both males and females. It was in this channel that we also saw water snakes.
All in all the day on the river was memorable but again there was a lack of smaller birds, we heard lots of Reed, Marsh and Greater Reed Warblers but didn’t see any, not even glimpses. I also heard Bitterns booming but did not see them.
We left Sulina early the next morning and the rest of the time in Romania was spent on the project; we were based in the city of Iasi and birding opportunities were minimal although a day trip to the Carpathian Mountains produced an Alpine Swift (L) and a Golden Eagle. On other days mainly in the villages of Osoi and Chicerea, where the project was based, I got Golden Oriole, Red-backed and Greater Grey Shrike, Crested Lark, Hoopoe and Bee-eaters as well as lots of commoner crows, doves, sparrows, martins etc.
Rgds Roger
Hi Roger,
Sounds like a good trip with 15 lifers.
Thanks for sharing.
Mark
Hi Roger,
Were you involved in an environmental or educational project while travelling to Romania?
Thanks,
Diana