Birding experiences in Europe/WPal (1 Viewer)

[Nohatch]

I was recently thinking about birding experiences - those moments, places or events with birds that make you go "wow!" - and I was curious to hear what you think are the standout ones that can be had in Europe and/or the Western Palearctic.

A few that came to mind...
Displaying Cranes at Lake Hornborga
Raptor migration in Batumi
Wintering King/Steller's Eider rafts in Varanger
Pelagic birding in Madeira
Wader flocks in the Waddenzee area
...and so on.

Which would you add based on past experience or bucket list dreams?

 

[dwatsonbirder]

2nd week of May in eastern Poland takes some beating. Raptor passage in southern Spain can be impressive. Migrants arriving "in off" the Sahara south of Merzouga also pretty awe inspiring!

 

[Nohatch]

2nd week of May in eastern Poland takes some beating. Raptor passage in southern Spain can be impressive. Migrants arriving "in off" the Sahara south of Merzouga also pretty awe inspiring!

Ah yes I believe there is some sort of bird festival then? Sounds like a wonderful place

 

[DMW]

The seabird colony at Hornoya Island in Varanger mid March while there's still snow on the ground. In fact Lapland in general at this time of year.

 

[earlytorise]

Holy Island, Northumberland, autumn 2020, afternoon.

Beautiful place. It so happened that when I was there, my experience mirrored a part of an episode of Bill Oddie's documentary on birding. I travelled there to twitch a Lesser Grey Shrike (so did he in the programme, but his was in Norfolk). There was also a Red-flanked Bluetail, which I twitched as well. After good views of the Bluetail I went back to the shrike, and had it almost all to myself (very few people hung around late that particular afternoon, because most wanted to leave before the causeway connecting Holy Island to the mainland gets submerged in high tide). I then looked at waders in the evening light in a relaxed manner, which is what Bill Oddie did as well after the stressfulness of twitching his shrike was over.

Eiders and mergansers can be viewed with a scope if you stand on the jetty. On a different afternoon, I found my own Yellow-browed Warbler on Holy Island too, moving along a row of trees and giving its characteristic call at sundown ... and a lone swift flew over - who knows if it was a Pallid!

 

[Nohatch]

Holy Island, Northumberland, autumn 2020, afternoon.

Beautiful place. It so happened that when I was there, my experience mirrored a part of an episode of Bill Oddie's documentary on birding. I travelled there to twitch a Lesser Grey Shrike (so did he in the programme, but his was in Norfolk). There was also a Red-flanked Bluetail, which I twitched as well. After good views of the Bluetail I went back to the shrike, and had it almost all to myself (very few people hung around late that particular afternoon, because most wanted to leave before the causeway connecting Holy Island to the mainland gets submerged in high tide). I then looked at waders in the evening light in a relaxed manner, which is what Bill Oddie did as well after the stressfulness of twitching his shrike was over.

Eiders and mergansers can be viewed with a scope if you stand on the jetty. On a different afternoon, I found my own Yellow-browed Warbler on Holy Island too, moving along a row of trees and giving its characteristic call at sundown ... and a lone swift flew over - who knows if it was a Pallid!

Sounds like a great day, and Holy Island is a lovely place - but rarity hunting is sort of the opposite of what I was after (although it can be plenty of fun in its own way). The relaxed wader watching in evening light, that's more like it

 

[Steve Lister]

The roost flights of Pink-footed Geese in Norfolk always amaze me when you get to be in the right place at the right time.

 

[opisska]

2nd week of May in eastern Poland takes some beating.

I still remember my first visit to Biebrza at the beginning of May in 2012 - this is basically the time when I was starting birding and this experience really helped push me in this direction: the whole landscape covered in water and visibly shimmering in the distance. But it was not heat haze, it was endless amounts of White-winged Terns feeding on insects above the wetlands, there must have been thousands upon thousands of them.

Only when I moved to Poland in 2016 and spent 5 years living there I learned that 2012 was a spectacular year even for Biebrza standards, never since then I have seen anything quite like it and a few of the years I spent there were exceptionally dry. But still, when everything comes together, the experience is really hard to match.

 

[dwatsonbirder]

I still remember my first visit to Biebrza at the beginning of May in 2012 - this is basically the time when I was starting birding and this experience really helped push me in this direction: the whole landscape covered in water and visibly shimmering in the distance. But it was not heat haze, it was endless amounts of White-winged Terns feeding on insects above the wetlands, there must have been thousands upon thousands of them.

Only when I moved to Poland in 2016 and spent 5 years living there I learned that 2012 was a spectacular year even for Biebrza standards, never since then I have seen anything quite like it and a few of the years I spent there were exceptionally dry. But still, when everything comes together, the experience is really hard to match.

100% agree with you there Jan, the forests are (or possibly were) exceptional too. Very fond memories of my time there despite being absolutely knackered after starting birding at 4am and finishing the next day at 2am for several days on the trot, the nocturnal chorus has to be heard to be believed.

 

[Gladiator96]

Nothing beats vis mig and it seems that Besh Barmag in Azerbaijan is the place to be for it. Definitely on the bucket list. All migration routes and bottlenecks are great really.

 

[Nohatch]

The roost flights of Pink-footed Geese in Norfolk always amaze me when you get to be in the right place at the right time.

Having grown up in the Netherlands, I know what you mean!

 

[Nohatch]

I still remember my first visit to Biebrza at the beginning of May in 2012 - this is basically the time when I was starting birding and this experience really helped push me in this direction: the whole landscape covered in water and visibly shimmering in the distance. But it was not heat haze, it was endless amounts of White-winged Terns feeding on insects above the wetlands, there must have been thousands upon thousands of them.

Only when I moved to Poland in 2016 and spent 5 years living there I learned that 2012 was a spectacular year even for Biebrza standards, never since then I have seen anything quite like it and a few of the years I spent there were exceptionally dry. But still, when everything comes together, the experience is really hard to match.

That sounds amazing, Jan, thanks for sharing. Eastern Poland definitely gone up a few notches on my wish list of places to visit.
Where I live now in the southern UK there are no avian spectacles like that, sadly.

 

[Nohatch]

Nothing beats vis mig and it seems that Besh Barmag in Azerbaijan is the place to be for it. Definitely on the bucket list. All migration routes and bottlenecks are great really.

Agree! I briefly visited Batumi during the autumn migration - and even on a quiet day it was a great experience. I'll have to look into Besh Bermag, had not heard of it - cheers.

 

[birdmeister]

Nothing beats vis mig and it seems that Besh Barmag in Azerbaijan is the place to be for it. Definitely on the bucket list. All migration routes and bottlenecks are great really.

I'm curious about this place, too. Do you have any links or info on it?

 

[DMW]

Agree! I briefly visited Batumi during the autumn migration - and even on a quiet day it was a great experience. I'll have to look into Besh Bermag, had not heard of it - cheers.

If you follow Trektellen for daily vizmig records, you will soon become familiar with Besh Bermag and some of the outrageous counts. I believe >30,000 Little Bustards were recorded this Autumn, for example.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

As a non-European, my favorite may not be the same as the others.

The first time I birded in Europe was on a tour to Romania. On the first morning, we went to a wetland area for Ferruginous Duck. While everyone was setting up to scope the water, I heard several Common Cuckoos calling around us. It was a sound I knew from TV, cuckoo clocks, etc. but I'd never heard it in real life before. I just stood there on the dike with this goofy smile on my face.

The other birders on the tour - all Europeans - were unimpressed, but for me it was an absolutely thrilling moment.

 

[jurek]

Another for North-Eastern Poland in spring.


On the flooded river Biebrza from the high western bank, one sees one huge crowd of waterbirds, kilometers long, from the horizon to the left, to the horizon on the right. The birds are simply uncountable.

One can go driving on dirt tracks, navigating around flooded parts, with swans resting on the road and flock after flocks of waterbirds.

And the soundscape after dusk, with Spotted Crakes and Bluethroats calling from all directions, and sounds of Snipes, cranes and many other marsh birds.

 

[bonxie birder]

Diving into the cliff top shelter at Filey to escape an easterly gale and finding a goldcrest sitting next to me doing exactly the same thing. A simple magical moment.