I finally made it to Romania last week on holiday,though this was not actually a birdwatching holiday . I stayed in Zarnesti near Brasov walking in the Piatra Crailui National Park . The highlight being 6 of the European Woodpeckers and 10 lifers . The downside being hearing a Corncrake but not seeing it ( no tick there ) . The highlight of the holiday though was seeing Brown Bears on 3 occasions , one time on the streets of Brasov a little too close for comfort . We were lucky enough to be able to go to a hide in the forest at dusk and see two males fighting over food . Romania was a beautiful country and largely unspoilt by western standards the people were also very friendly I would recommend Romania to anyone who loves the outdoors.
The full list of birds seen were as follows :
* indicates lifer
White Stork
Honey Buzzard *
Sparrowhawk
Common Buzzard
Kestrel
Grey Partridge
Lapwing
Herring Gull
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Cuckoo
Swift
Alpine Swift
Hoopoe
Black Woodpecker *
Green Woodpecker
Grey Headed Woodpecker *
Three Toed Woodpecker *
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Syrian Woodpecker *
Skylark
Woodlark *
Swallow
House Martin
Tree Pipit
Grey Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail
White Wagtail
Dipper
Wren
Robin
Redstart *
Black Redstart
Northern Wheatear
Blackbird
Fieldfare
Ring Ouzel
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush
Chiffchaff
Whitethroat
Blackcap
Goldcrest
Firecrest *
Spotted Flycatcher
Collared Fycatcher *
Marsh Tit
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Treecreeper
Nuthatch
Red Backed Shrike
Starling
Jay
Magpie
Jackdaw
Raven
Hooded Crow
Rook
House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Serin *
Goldfinch
Bullfinch
Linnet
Yellowhammer
Sounds good . . . Brown Bear "a little too close for comfort", eh? What's the story there? Sounds fascinating!
Michael
Michael
we were watching a bear scavenging in the bins on the other side of the road when I noticed a large number of the crowd moving rather quickly up the road I turned round only to see another bear came walking up the path about 5 metres away I move pretty sharpish unlike some of the local youths who like to prove how macho they are by getting as close to the bears as possible sometimes even feeding the bears out of there hands . I fear this will eventually lead to someone being attacked and who's going to get the backlash then?