Blackstart
Saxophonus pinus
Hi all-
Don't know if there will be much of interest in here for BF members, but I offer it for your perusal nevertheless.
-Adam
Polish Coast – September 6-11, 2004
Whenever September rolls around, I get the urge to go the sea. Living in Prague, the nearest options are the Adriatic or the Baltic. As I had never been to the Baltic and had some free time last week (and thinking I would see more migration and life birds than on the Adriatic), I made a trip up to the coast of Poland.
I was accompanied by my girlfriend who is not a birder, so the trip was not a 100% birding expedition, but the itinerary included visits to some of the well-known birding locales. Early September is not prime birding time in northern Poland, but I still hoped for about 100 species during the trip.
September 6 – The Long Drive Up and Mewia Lacha
We left Prague very early (0330), drove through Hradec Kralove and crossed the border into Poland at Nachod / Kudowa Zdroj. Our route then took us through the city of Wroclaw, and soon after we made a bathroom break near Zmigrod where we saw three Cranes flying low to the southeast.
Continuing along the E261, we passed through many villages with at least one stork nest (though the storks had already left) and through towns where I enjoyed seeing so many Rooks. After making it through Poznan and approaching Gniezno, we had upwards of 100(!) Lapwings flying over a field near Lubowo.
We reached the Gdansk area around 1600 and proceeded to Wyspa Sobieszewo, an island in the mouth of the Wisla River. As we still had enough time before sunset (and a little energy), we decided to drop off our things in our lodgings in Swibno and make a walk to the shore to enjoy the late afternoon light and see what birds were about.
While entering the wet woods between Swibno and the shore, we became immediately aware of something we hadn’t packed – insect repellent. The numbers of mosquitoes and their voracity were something I had never before experienced. We charged along the trail, stopping for nothing (despite some fantastic habitat between the woods and the beach), and eventually we made it to the lovely shoreline near the Wisla River (in the bird reserve called Mewia Lacha).
Somehow I had expected that this area would have large flats covered with birds, but this wasn’t the case. Instead, there was one smallish sand island near where we arrived on the shore and one large sand island a long distance off (apparently the size and location of these islands change with the wind and waves). I scanned the nearby shoreline and small island and noted five species of gulls (Great Black-backed, Baltic, Herring, Common, and Black-headed) and several Goosanders. Waders were about, too, with Knots (1 still in breeding plumage), Dunlins, and Ringed Plovers in attendance. A breeding-plumage Grey Plover gave good looks as did a Sanderling, while 16 Spotted Redshanks were wading up to their bellies and feeding frantically. A number of Great Crested Grebes were seen offshore.
The light was soon fading and we had no choice but to run the gauntlet of mosquitoes and return to Swibno for the night.
September 7 – Ptasi Raj
The island of Wyspa Sobieszewo has bird reserves at both ends – the aforementioned Mewia Lacha on the east and Ptasi Raj on the west. After purchasing insect repellent at the pharmacy in Sobieszewo (where the woman behind the counter was sporting a lab coat adorned with a large, embroidered mosquito), we drove to the trailhead at Ptasi Raj.
There were two young Polish female birders heading down the trail upon our arrival. We applied copious amounts of our new insect repellent and started down the path heading toward a rocky seawall.
We soon ran into the birding girls, who were peering at an immature Red-backed Shrike in the top of a small tree. It was quite confiding and we all had long looks at it before it flew off. The Polish girls hiked onwards, while we lingered behind enjoying mixed flocks of tits (Great, Blue, and Coal), a Reed Warbler, two Willow Warblers and a Spotted Flycatcher.
Walking on and passing a reedbed on our left, we saw a Reed Bunting and heard a Sedge Warbler. A raptor caught my eye that turned out to be a Goshawk cruising from the reserve woods across the channel, and soon a lone Curlew flew overhead.
Eventually, we reached the low rock wall and had a channel of the Wisla on our left and a small lagoon on our right. A Wheatear was flitting down the path in front of us and we flushed two Snipe. A look back toward the woods yielded brief distant views of an adult White-tailed Eagle. We had six fly-by Sandwich Terns and a Common Tern before we paused as a group of schoolchildren was walking by. After the last of them had passed, we sat on the rocks to scan the lagoon.
There were many Coots here along with other waterfowl including Mute Swan, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Goldeneye, Goosander, and Scaup. Great Crested and Little Grebes were present, Herring and Black-headed Gulls were lolling on the wall, and a Great Black-backed Gull was floating in the channel. A rather scary-looking Mi-24 HIND helicopter flew over as we were enjoying all the birds here.
Continuing along the wall, we flushed two Common Sandpipers and were accompanied by a several White Wagtails. Just before reaching the end of the wall, we ran into the girls again. “See anything?” I enquired. “Yes, a White-tailed Eagle was sitting in front of us,” was the reply. “Is it still there?” I asked hopefully. Of course, the answer was no (isn’t it always?). At least a dozen Penduline Tits in the reedbed here, though, made up for the absence of the eagle.
We turned toward the shore and walked through the grassy dunes, seeing two Yellow Wagtails and few Wheatears before arriving on the beach. We walked east along the shore toward the head of the trail that runs back through the reserve, passing two Knots, seven Dunlins, and five Ringed Plovers along the way. White Wagtails were scattered along the beach and Wheatears were in abundance (at one point we had eleven in view at once). A group of 25 Great Crested Grebes was floating offshore.
After finding the trailhead, we turned south and walked through the woods, coming across a Mistle Thrush and soon after a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that gave great views as it fed low and close – an excellent end to the birding portion of the day.
September 8 – Mewia Lacha Revisited
This morning we made the walk to Mewia Lacha again, seeing mixed flocks of tits and a Goldcrest in the woods and flushing four unidentified larks in the grassy dunes on our way to the shore.
The mix of birds was similar to that on the 6th, but today we also had two Little Stints, a few Common and Sandwich Terns, and 16 Little Gulls. I spent a good bit of time scanning the large distant sand island and sea, but despite a north wind and my best efforts, I couldn’t add any new species to the trip list.
We returned to Swibno, showered, and spent the remainder of the day in the lovely old center of Gdansk, where the only bird of note was a Swift.
September 9 – Rewa River Mouth (Almost) and Bielawskiego Blota
We left Swibno at 0530 this morning and arrived in Rewa just before 0700 after taking backroads from Reda through Kazimierz (where we happened upon a covey of Grey Partridges). It was our goal to walk to the mouth of the Reda River, which appeared to be achievable by walking west along the shore from the village.
Soon after beginning our walk, it became clear that this locale (part of the Bay of Puck) was extremely popular with birds. There were many hundreds of waterfowl in the shallow waters between Rewa and the river mouth. The mix was about the same as at Ptasi Raj, but the numbers were orders of magnitude larger (and it was only the first week of September). Many gulls and Cormorants could be seen on the point that we assumed was the mouth of the Reda.
As we walked along the shore toward the river mouth, we saw a Marsh Harrier in the large reedbed to our left, had five Little Gulls fly past, and encountered a number of Wheatears and a Reed Bunting. We had some waders here, too, with Ruff, Knot, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, and Little Stint, and we found the first and only Turnstone of the trip.
We reached the reedbed near the mouth of the river and began walking through, encountering a rather tame Red Deer along the way. The trail became more and more ambiguous, however, and neither one of us wanted to spend the rest of the day lost in the reeds, so we turned around.
On the walk back to Rewa we made a short detour to some ash pits (which I had read were good for birds) near some blue pipes. These were bone-dry, however, and we found nothing around here but Starlings and Skylarks. (I’m still not sure if we were at the wrong pits and I still have no idea how to reach the mouth of the Reda River!)
Upon reaching Rewa, we opted out of walking the long sandspit from the village and instead left the area, driving back to the main road at Rumia and proceeding north towards Wladyslawowo.
We exited the road at Swarzewo, a village on the Bay of Puck, and stopped when we reached the shore of the Bay of Puck. From here we could see hundreds and hundreds of Coots, but there was very little of anything else. A juvenile Sparrowhawk put on a show, though, in a nearby field. Shortly after beginning our drive northward on the back road towards Wladyslawowo, we found a small covey of Grey Partridges.
Our petrol stop in Wladyslawowo yielded 12 Little Gulls, and we were soon on our way to visit the lighthouse in Rozewie, where we had two Ravens and a Common Buzzard circling over the light.
By the middle of the afternoon, we were in the area of Bielawskiego Blota (Bielawa Moors), where I hoped we would find some Cranes. We found the road that skirted the southern border of the reserve, driving through a lovely pastoral landscape, and soon heard their unmistakable calls. We stopped the car and began seeing small flocks here and there in the sky, some 80 birds in all. From our viewing place we also saw Linnet, Red-backed Shrike, Wheatear, Yellowhammer, and Fieldfare.
At this point we decided to drive on to our lodgings in the seaside town of Leba.
September 10 – Slowinski National Park
Today we decided to visit the Slowinski National Park, and I had the idea to take the back road from Skorzyno to Kluki. We drove from Leba to Glowcyzyce, where we got off the main road and proceeded northward to Skorzyno. After Skorzyno, the road was a concrete tile affair, passing through some lovely countryside. One stop along the road between Skorzyno and the Pustynka River yielded Fieldfare, Meadow Pipit, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Willow Warbler, Raven, Whinchat, Blackcap, and two families of Red-backed Shrikes.
After this stop, we eventually reached the southern border of the national park and arrived at a rather dilapidated bridge over the Pustynka River.
I could spend a few paragraphs describing the events of the next couple of hours, but in the interest of brevity I will just say that things went rather downhill after crossing said span. The road between this bridge (if you make it over) and the village of Kluki is unpassable by motor vehicle, period, unless the vehicle your motor is in is a tractor. If you should ever have the chance to drive from Skorzyno to the Slowinski National Park, do yourself a favor and stop before the bridge over the Pustynka River.
Ahem.
We passed through the village of Smoldzino for some traditionally greasy Polish food, visited the lighthouse at Czolpino (as well as ascended it for a view over the whole of the national park), and eventually arrived in Kluki the smart way. There wasn’t much bird-wise between the village of Kluki and the lake of Jezioro Lebsko, however, save a small field full of Meadow Pipits (and a couple of Wheatears) and a Marsh Harrier over the reedbed.
We left the national park and proceeded to the main road back towards Leba, along which, not far from the turn after Glowczyce, we had 17 Golden Plovers in a newly-plowed field. A nice end to the day.
September 11 – Slowinski National Park and Leba
This was our last full day in Poland, and as we were scheduled to leave at 0300 the following morning, we decided to spend just the morning out exploring.
It was back into the Slowinski National Park at first light, though this time from the village of Gac, southwest of Leba. We had visited several large reedbeds during our trip without seeing one Bearded Tit, and the idea this morning was to walk from Gac to the reedbed adjacent to Jezioro Lebsko. We did just that, but never saw any Bearded Tits, our only consolation being a Great Grey Shrike in the sedge meadows between Gac and the reedbed. On the road back to Leba via Zarnowska, we made a stop in the woods that brought us a nice mixed flock of tits including three Crested Tits, two Treecreepers, and two Goldcrests.
After reaching Leba, we went to the shore near the marina, as this area of beach held very few people. A couple of Crested Tits were in the pines near the beach along with a Treecreeper, and there was a mixed flock of gulls and terns not far from the mouth of the Leba River, with Great Black-backed, Baltic, Herring, Common, and Black-headed Gulls along with two Common and seven Sandwich Terns.
Conclusion
This was a thoroughly enjoyable trip, one that I would like to make again (if for no other reason then to find the mouth of the Reda River) though at a different time of year. We missed a few species that I had hoped for, such as Oystercatcher and Bearded Tit, and still others that went inexplicably unfound, such as Osprey, Caspian Tern, Redshank, and Black-tailed Godwit, but we still, however, found 97 species during just over five days in the country.
In addition, and perhaps most importantly, my girlfriend fell in love with Dunlins, so maybe she will become a birder yet.
Don't know if there will be much of interest in here for BF members, but I offer it for your perusal nevertheless.
-Adam
Polish Coast – September 6-11, 2004
Whenever September rolls around, I get the urge to go the sea. Living in Prague, the nearest options are the Adriatic or the Baltic. As I had never been to the Baltic and had some free time last week (and thinking I would see more migration and life birds than on the Adriatic), I made a trip up to the coast of Poland.
I was accompanied by my girlfriend who is not a birder, so the trip was not a 100% birding expedition, but the itinerary included visits to some of the well-known birding locales. Early September is not prime birding time in northern Poland, but I still hoped for about 100 species during the trip.
September 6 – The Long Drive Up and Mewia Lacha
We left Prague very early (0330), drove through Hradec Kralove and crossed the border into Poland at Nachod / Kudowa Zdroj. Our route then took us through the city of Wroclaw, and soon after we made a bathroom break near Zmigrod where we saw three Cranes flying low to the southeast.
Continuing along the E261, we passed through many villages with at least one stork nest (though the storks had already left) and through towns where I enjoyed seeing so many Rooks. After making it through Poznan and approaching Gniezno, we had upwards of 100(!) Lapwings flying over a field near Lubowo.
We reached the Gdansk area around 1600 and proceeded to Wyspa Sobieszewo, an island in the mouth of the Wisla River. As we still had enough time before sunset (and a little energy), we decided to drop off our things in our lodgings in Swibno and make a walk to the shore to enjoy the late afternoon light and see what birds were about.
While entering the wet woods between Swibno and the shore, we became immediately aware of something we hadn’t packed – insect repellent. The numbers of mosquitoes and their voracity were something I had never before experienced. We charged along the trail, stopping for nothing (despite some fantastic habitat between the woods and the beach), and eventually we made it to the lovely shoreline near the Wisla River (in the bird reserve called Mewia Lacha).
Somehow I had expected that this area would have large flats covered with birds, but this wasn’t the case. Instead, there was one smallish sand island near where we arrived on the shore and one large sand island a long distance off (apparently the size and location of these islands change with the wind and waves). I scanned the nearby shoreline and small island and noted five species of gulls (Great Black-backed, Baltic, Herring, Common, and Black-headed) and several Goosanders. Waders were about, too, with Knots (1 still in breeding plumage), Dunlins, and Ringed Plovers in attendance. A breeding-plumage Grey Plover gave good looks as did a Sanderling, while 16 Spotted Redshanks were wading up to their bellies and feeding frantically. A number of Great Crested Grebes were seen offshore.
The light was soon fading and we had no choice but to run the gauntlet of mosquitoes and return to Swibno for the night.
September 7 – Ptasi Raj
The island of Wyspa Sobieszewo has bird reserves at both ends – the aforementioned Mewia Lacha on the east and Ptasi Raj on the west. After purchasing insect repellent at the pharmacy in Sobieszewo (where the woman behind the counter was sporting a lab coat adorned with a large, embroidered mosquito), we drove to the trailhead at Ptasi Raj.
There were two young Polish female birders heading down the trail upon our arrival. We applied copious amounts of our new insect repellent and started down the path heading toward a rocky seawall.
We soon ran into the birding girls, who were peering at an immature Red-backed Shrike in the top of a small tree. It was quite confiding and we all had long looks at it before it flew off. The Polish girls hiked onwards, while we lingered behind enjoying mixed flocks of tits (Great, Blue, and Coal), a Reed Warbler, two Willow Warblers and a Spotted Flycatcher.
Walking on and passing a reedbed on our left, we saw a Reed Bunting and heard a Sedge Warbler. A raptor caught my eye that turned out to be a Goshawk cruising from the reserve woods across the channel, and soon a lone Curlew flew overhead.
Eventually, we reached the low rock wall and had a channel of the Wisla on our left and a small lagoon on our right. A Wheatear was flitting down the path in front of us and we flushed two Snipe. A look back toward the woods yielded brief distant views of an adult White-tailed Eagle. We had six fly-by Sandwich Terns and a Common Tern before we paused as a group of schoolchildren was walking by. After the last of them had passed, we sat on the rocks to scan the lagoon.
There were many Coots here along with other waterfowl including Mute Swan, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Goldeneye, Goosander, and Scaup. Great Crested and Little Grebes were present, Herring and Black-headed Gulls were lolling on the wall, and a Great Black-backed Gull was floating in the channel. A rather scary-looking Mi-24 HIND helicopter flew over as we were enjoying all the birds here.
Continuing along the wall, we flushed two Common Sandpipers and were accompanied by a several White Wagtails. Just before reaching the end of the wall, we ran into the girls again. “See anything?” I enquired. “Yes, a White-tailed Eagle was sitting in front of us,” was the reply. “Is it still there?” I asked hopefully. Of course, the answer was no (isn’t it always?). At least a dozen Penduline Tits in the reedbed here, though, made up for the absence of the eagle.
We turned toward the shore and walked through the grassy dunes, seeing two Yellow Wagtails and few Wheatears before arriving on the beach. We walked east along the shore toward the head of the trail that runs back through the reserve, passing two Knots, seven Dunlins, and five Ringed Plovers along the way. White Wagtails were scattered along the beach and Wheatears were in abundance (at one point we had eleven in view at once). A group of 25 Great Crested Grebes was floating offshore.
After finding the trailhead, we turned south and walked through the woods, coming across a Mistle Thrush and soon after a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that gave great views as it fed low and close – an excellent end to the birding portion of the day.
September 8 – Mewia Lacha Revisited
This morning we made the walk to Mewia Lacha again, seeing mixed flocks of tits and a Goldcrest in the woods and flushing four unidentified larks in the grassy dunes on our way to the shore.
The mix of birds was similar to that on the 6th, but today we also had two Little Stints, a few Common and Sandwich Terns, and 16 Little Gulls. I spent a good bit of time scanning the large distant sand island and sea, but despite a north wind and my best efforts, I couldn’t add any new species to the trip list.
We returned to Swibno, showered, and spent the remainder of the day in the lovely old center of Gdansk, where the only bird of note was a Swift.
September 9 – Rewa River Mouth (Almost) and Bielawskiego Blota
We left Swibno at 0530 this morning and arrived in Rewa just before 0700 after taking backroads from Reda through Kazimierz (where we happened upon a covey of Grey Partridges). It was our goal to walk to the mouth of the Reda River, which appeared to be achievable by walking west along the shore from the village.
Soon after beginning our walk, it became clear that this locale (part of the Bay of Puck) was extremely popular with birds. There were many hundreds of waterfowl in the shallow waters between Rewa and the river mouth. The mix was about the same as at Ptasi Raj, but the numbers were orders of magnitude larger (and it was only the first week of September). Many gulls and Cormorants could be seen on the point that we assumed was the mouth of the Reda.
As we walked along the shore toward the river mouth, we saw a Marsh Harrier in the large reedbed to our left, had five Little Gulls fly past, and encountered a number of Wheatears and a Reed Bunting. We had some waders here, too, with Ruff, Knot, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, and Little Stint, and we found the first and only Turnstone of the trip.
We reached the reedbed near the mouth of the river and began walking through, encountering a rather tame Red Deer along the way. The trail became more and more ambiguous, however, and neither one of us wanted to spend the rest of the day lost in the reeds, so we turned around.
On the walk back to Rewa we made a short detour to some ash pits (which I had read were good for birds) near some blue pipes. These were bone-dry, however, and we found nothing around here but Starlings and Skylarks. (I’m still not sure if we were at the wrong pits and I still have no idea how to reach the mouth of the Reda River!)
Upon reaching Rewa, we opted out of walking the long sandspit from the village and instead left the area, driving back to the main road at Rumia and proceeding north towards Wladyslawowo.
We exited the road at Swarzewo, a village on the Bay of Puck, and stopped when we reached the shore of the Bay of Puck. From here we could see hundreds and hundreds of Coots, but there was very little of anything else. A juvenile Sparrowhawk put on a show, though, in a nearby field. Shortly after beginning our drive northward on the back road towards Wladyslawowo, we found a small covey of Grey Partridges.
Our petrol stop in Wladyslawowo yielded 12 Little Gulls, and we were soon on our way to visit the lighthouse in Rozewie, where we had two Ravens and a Common Buzzard circling over the light.
By the middle of the afternoon, we were in the area of Bielawskiego Blota (Bielawa Moors), where I hoped we would find some Cranes. We found the road that skirted the southern border of the reserve, driving through a lovely pastoral landscape, and soon heard their unmistakable calls. We stopped the car and began seeing small flocks here and there in the sky, some 80 birds in all. From our viewing place we also saw Linnet, Red-backed Shrike, Wheatear, Yellowhammer, and Fieldfare.
At this point we decided to drive on to our lodgings in the seaside town of Leba.
September 10 – Slowinski National Park
Today we decided to visit the Slowinski National Park, and I had the idea to take the back road from Skorzyno to Kluki. We drove from Leba to Glowcyzyce, where we got off the main road and proceeded northward to Skorzyno. After Skorzyno, the road was a concrete tile affair, passing through some lovely countryside. One stop along the road between Skorzyno and the Pustynka River yielded Fieldfare, Meadow Pipit, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Willow Warbler, Raven, Whinchat, Blackcap, and two families of Red-backed Shrikes.
After this stop, we eventually reached the southern border of the national park and arrived at a rather dilapidated bridge over the Pustynka River.
I could spend a few paragraphs describing the events of the next couple of hours, but in the interest of brevity I will just say that things went rather downhill after crossing said span. The road between this bridge (if you make it over) and the village of Kluki is unpassable by motor vehicle, period, unless the vehicle your motor is in is a tractor. If you should ever have the chance to drive from Skorzyno to the Slowinski National Park, do yourself a favor and stop before the bridge over the Pustynka River.
Ahem.
We passed through the village of Smoldzino for some traditionally greasy Polish food, visited the lighthouse at Czolpino (as well as ascended it for a view over the whole of the national park), and eventually arrived in Kluki the smart way. There wasn’t much bird-wise between the village of Kluki and the lake of Jezioro Lebsko, however, save a small field full of Meadow Pipits (and a couple of Wheatears) and a Marsh Harrier over the reedbed.
We left the national park and proceeded to the main road back towards Leba, along which, not far from the turn after Glowczyce, we had 17 Golden Plovers in a newly-plowed field. A nice end to the day.
September 11 – Slowinski National Park and Leba
This was our last full day in Poland, and as we were scheduled to leave at 0300 the following morning, we decided to spend just the morning out exploring.
It was back into the Slowinski National Park at first light, though this time from the village of Gac, southwest of Leba. We had visited several large reedbeds during our trip without seeing one Bearded Tit, and the idea this morning was to walk from Gac to the reedbed adjacent to Jezioro Lebsko. We did just that, but never saw any Bearded Tits, our only consolation being a Great Grey Shrike in the sedge meadows between Gac and the reedbed. On the road back to Leba via Zarnowska, we made a stop in the woods that brought us a nice mixed flock of tits including three Crested Tits, two Treecreepers, and two Goldcrests.
After reaching Leba, we went to the shore near the marina, as this area of beach held very few people. A couple of Crested Tits were in the pines near the beach along with a Treecreeper, and there was a mixed flock of gulls and terns not far from the mouth of the Leba River, with Great Black-backed, Baltic, Herring, Common, and Black-headed Gulls along with two Common and seven Sandwich Terns.
Conclusion
This was a thoroughly enjoyable trip, one that I would like to make again (if for no other reason then to find the mouth of the Reda River) though at a different time of year. We missed a few species that I had hoped for, such as Oystercatcher and Bearded Tit, and still others that went inexplicably unfound, such as Osprey, Caspian Tern, Redshank, and Black-tailed Godwit, but we still, however, found 97 species during just over five days in the country.
In addition, and perhaps most importantly, my girlfriend fell in love with Dunlins, so maybe she will become a birder yet.
