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