An SX50 goes to Belarus 2013! (2 Viewers)

[Cactusdave]

We then we started the last full day of birding, and an eventful day it was too with three really good bird sightings in the course of it. We drove to a small rural village some kilometres from Turov away from the immediate flood plain called Becsanskaya Buda. The village had cultivated land around it but also extensive woodland nearby. We stopped at a spot which gave good views over a large field which was being ploughed and the surrounding woodland. Black Stork and (Greater) Spotted eagle and Lesser Spotted Eagle occur in this area. The freshly ploughed field attracted plenty of interest from White Storks, and eventually we saw a couple of Black Storks well. A secretive species on its breeding grounds, but we saw double figures over the course of the week. Our first eagles at the site were Lesser Spotted, but after a while we had excellent views of a single Spotted Eagle. The bird circled quite low overhead and even briefly landed, all the diagnostic features could be seen well and our group leader got some nice pictures. I must confess I was more excited to see the bird, and photography came a poor second! Our lunch was enlivened by a visitation of large cockchafers. The amount and variety of insect life in Belarus was striking. The Large tortoiseshell picture was taken earlier in the week.

 

[Cactusdave]

After lunch we started walking around the village, which was typical rural Belarus, wooden single storey dwellings with large gardens growing flowers and vegetables, but also some empty half ruined houses with gardens going back to the wild making interesting habitat. We encountered a nice male red backed shrike that posed well for a brief while, and then heard the distinctive rasp of a corncrake. The bird was in thick nettle cover at the back of an abandoned garden/orchard. However someone had started work on the front of the garden nearest the road to remove a growth of Japanese Knot Weed (Yes I know even in Belarus!) It was possible to persuade this newly arrived bird to come to the edge of the cleared area with a bit of calling and it paraded up and down looking for the imagined rival for several minutes before retiring victorious. This gave the chance for some decent shots at no great distance, though sometimes with intervening foliage.