First time to Europe: looking for advice and tips on birding the Balkans (1 Viewer)

Hi - I'm new to this forum. Been birding about 30 years - all in North America - and have a life list of around 660.
My wife & I are planning a trip to Europe(our first) to the
Adriatic area, including Croatia & Slovenia, next September and I'd
like to do some birding while we're there. I've got Lars
Jonsson's Birds of Europe, and have ordered the "Collin's guide" - Birds of Europe.
The areas we will be visiting include; Ljubljana, Bled, Bovec and Piran in Slovenia;
Istria, Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes, Hvar, Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia;
Mostar in Bosnia and the Kotar Bay region in Montenegro.
As the trip is going to be a general "sight-seeing"
tour-type of situation, most of my birding will most likely be
limited to city parks, a couple of national parks, and catch-as-catch-can
birds along the way. Never having been to Europe, even the most common
"dirt" birds will be target species for me. So, any advice on sources to help with
the "where", "when"(seasonal occurance) and so on to maximize my
bird list?

Tom Dudones
Saranac Lake, New York USA

Hi Tom I see this is your first post, so may I welcome you on behalf of the Staff and Moderators.

Have a look in Opus here for Croatia and this one for Slovenia - there's links on these pages for specific sites. They'll maybe keep you going until someone else pops in with more ideas for you.

I hope you enjoy your time on Birdforum

D

1st trip to Balkans

Thanks, Delia. Both those links have been helpful. Hope to get more feedback on birding sites, etc as well.

Tom