Visit your favourite destinations |
A Report from birdtours.co.uk |
Vojvodina, Serbia June 17 - 23 - 2013,
My wife and I spent a week in Vojvodina in northern Serbia in a town called Novi Knezevac, close to the Hungarian border from June 17 to June 23 2013. We went here because some friends had recommended the dentist in this town, and we needed to fix our teeth, which would save us a lot of money. The air-ticket with the Polish Wizzair cost only 25 US dollars both ways from Torp, Sandefjord to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. We were picked up at the airport late at night and drove the 3 hours up to this town.
I wasn't here to watch birds, but our host and hostess knew the only birdwatchers in the whole area, Atila Agoston and Mirjana Rankov. They knew about my hobby, so they contacted Atila and I went with him to bird-spots close by for one evening and one morning. I also went with him and Mirjana the morning the day I left in order to ring-mark Roller kids - only two minutes drive from where I stayed. He had put up about 10 boxes in a small area, and now he checked them for the first time this season. We had only time to check 4 of them this morning. In one of them there were 6 eggs, in another there were 4 newborn kids, and in one we ring-marked 6 pretty grown-up kids and 4 in the fourth box. This was a new experience for me - and a good and interesting one.
I have only been to eastern Europe a couple of times on vacation. I have not been here on a bird-watching trip, so the birds here I am not so familiar with, even though I have seen them all before.
Just outside town there is a wetland which attracts a lot of birds on migration. But even in late June there were several species around that attracted my attention. This area consisted of several fishponds where the local farmers "grew" fish for sale, emptying the lakes in autumn and picking up the fish. In these ponds Porchards and Ferruginous Ducks were the most common. We also saw most species of Herons and Egrets that exist here as well as Little Bittern, and above the marshes the always present Marsh Harrier was hunting. The whiskered Terns were noisy, and in the marshes the Great Reed Warbler and the Grasshopper Warbler sang all day, and the Bearded Reedings (Tits) were plentiful with many juveniles around. Corn Buntings and Stonechats were also around together with Yellow Wagtails. We even found a Eurasian Spoonbill. Where the Roller boxes were, we also saw a pair of Lesser Grey Shrike.
Very close by we visited a smaller breeding colony of Bee-eaters together with hundreds of Common Sand Martins. In town several pairs of Black Redstarts were breeding, often singing from chimneys and the European Serins were singing from antennas.
We also visited an area half an hour's drive from here closer to the Hungarian border, to a small forest where there was a colony of Red-footed Falcons breeding in manmade special boxes. And also here the breeding seemed successful. It was a surrealistic experience to see all the Falcons flying around us in such a small area. Here also we heard Golden Oriole and saw the Great Grey Shrike and its nest. The name of this small village is called Vrbica (Little Willow).
On our way back to the airport I also saw a Common Buzzard, Turtle Dove and Rook from the car.
Explanation to the species list:
All species are seen in the same area - the wetland and adjacent areas just northeast of the town Novi Knezevac, except those species that are marked *.
X - more than 10 birds or common
? - uncertain
h - heard only
* - Vrbica
4 X 1 20 20 1 15+ 6 1 4 6 5 2 10+ 20 15+ 15+ 1+ 1 10+ 10+ 8 1 1 X 40 |
Greylag Goose
Mallard
Garganey?
Common Porchard
Ferruginous Duck
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Great Cormorant
Great Bittern
Little Bittern
Black-crowned Night Heron
Squacco Heron
Little Egret
Great Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
White Stork
Eurasian Spoonbill
Red Kite
Western Marsh Harrier
Common Kestrel
Red-footed Falcon*
Saker Falcon?
Common Moorhen
Eurasian Coot
Northern Lapwing
1 X 15+ X 6 X 7 5 6 8 1 h 2 600+ X 20+ 1 1 8 3 h 3 3 7 X 1 h 2 h 1 |
Common Sandpiper
Black-headed Gull
Whiskered Tern
Rock Dove
Common Wood Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
Common Cuckoo
Common Swift*
European Bee-eater
European Roller
Great Spotted/Syrian Woodpecker
Common Skylark
Common Sand Martin
Barn Swallow
Common House Martin
Tawny Pipit
White Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail
Common Nightingale*
Black Redstart
Northern Wheatear
Common Stonechat
Common Blackbird
Common Whitethroat*
Blackcap
Sedge Warbler
5 7 10+ 15+ 2 2 8 9 X X X 1 X 6 10 X X 5 2 1 h 7 |
Common Grasshopper Warbler
European Reed Warbler
Great Reed Warbler
Bearded Reeding (Tit)
Great Grey Shrike*
Lesser Grey Shrike
Red-backed Shrike
Common Magpie
Western Jackdaw
Hooded Crow
Common Starling
Eurasian Golden Oriole*
House Sparrow
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Common Chaffinch
European Goldfinch
European Greenfinch
European Serin
Common Reed Bunting
Yellowhammer
Corn Bunting
Why not send us a report, or an update to one of your current reports?