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| A Report from birdtours.co.uk |
A brief site description of Suzdal, near Moscow,
Suzdal - Another site of interest for a travelling birder in Russia
Suzdal is located to the north-west of Moscow and makes an excellent side trip from Moscow, both for the family birder and his/her family. It is reachable in about 3 to 4 hours by bus and train from Moscow and is of great historical interest. It is also protected from development, which means that the town and its surroundings offer a lot of good habitat for birds.
I visited on the 14th June and was immediately captivated by the place and particularly by the number of singing birds, which sang all through the middle of the day. The Kremlin area is flanked on one side by a large wetland, which is basically a river and water meadows with scattered bushes. The amount of birdsong was remarkable.
The birds of greater interest to western birders that I heard singing were:
Marsh Warbler (Acrocephalus palustris) – many in a lot of good habitat and difficult to say how many, as the site is extensive.
River Warbler (Locustella fluviatilis)
Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)
Icterine Warbler (Hippolais icterina)
Corncrake (Crex crex)
Blyth’s Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus dumetorum) – 2 singing in taller, well-spaced trees near the Kremlin.
Greenish Warbler (Phylloscopus trochiloides) – 2 singing in parks in the town.
Also, from within the Kremlin, it was easy to have close views of the many Swifts (Apus apus) that were nesting there.
A more thorough search of the area, particularly in the morning and evening, would undoubtedly turn up a lot more species of interest.
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