My jaunt in the hills in Samovodene. (1 Viewer)

Ron Seymour said:

Hi Chris
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I have just written a message to you but the system did allow me to send it. Annoying! Just wanted to echo andyb39 comments - well done Chris, I am very envious. Crikey you are seeing some great birds! I will send this now and let you know what I have been getting up to here.

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Hi Ron,

No need to apologise, I've been pretty busy myself! Thanks, I do seem to be havinga bit of a 'purple patch' and Today finished the trip off perfectly!
A lovely male Masked Shrike before breakfast (located by our guide's colleague yesterday) then off to Levka to see the Lesser Kestrel colony with a bonus Eastern Imperial Eagle just down the road!
Look forward to hearing what your recent walks have produced when you have time!

Best regards,

Chris

Scridifer said:

Hi Andrew and many thanks! Could be Pencho, I didn't hear anybody refer to it by name! It's the one that has no fear of humans and is kept under surveillance by the park rangers for its (and peoples!) safety! Our ranger was Ivan and our guide Vlado from Neophron.
Vlado tried desperately hard for both Pygmy and Tengmalm's but although we heard three of the latter we didn't see any! Every cloud has a silver lining though as it was before breakfast the last day on our final search for owls that the Three-toed showed up!

Chris

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Yes, Pencho is the name of the tame one, which Ivan also showed to us. He is bold and aggressive - he came incredibly close to us and was alternating between displaying and lunging viciously at us, Ivan having to hold him back with a stick. There's another cock in the area whose name escapes me, but he's named after a female researcher he knocked over!

To get an idea of how fearless and oblivious to danger the cocks can be when they're in heat, check out this video clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v45rTayXtzk

Strange about the owls. We didn't hear any Tengmalm's at all, and only heard a distant Pygmy once. It's possible that the cold snap in March affected them.

So was the TTW near the hut? If so that's yet another location for them.

Amazing clip Andrew! Yes his behaviour is incredible, we had Ivan and a volunteer Dani holding him back with sticks for both of our photo sessions - at one time he actually jumped onto her back!
The other bird has disappeared, possibly to poachers, hence either Ivan or Dani now being with Pencho constantly! Speaking to Ivan's wife Eli at one time there were four birds in the area like it!

We were a tad late for the owls, they do start breeding earlier than most!

The TTW was perhaps a mile or so back down the track that leads to the chalet.

Chris

Scridifer said:

Hi Ken,
Apologies for the late reply, was incommunuicado in a mountain chalet at 6,500ft in the Rila Mountains for a couple of days!
I would say reasonably common around us and into the eastern Rhodopes.Nos Emona is a good site for them, also Sardinian and any time now Olive-tree.

All the best,

Chris

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Cheers Chris :t:

Hi Chris
Thank you for your last post. That Pencho has definitely got attitude - 'come on if you think you're hard enough'!! Not good to hear about the possible fate of the other male though.
To bring you up to date with my sightings, on the 28th when I saw the Barred Warbler and a Lesser Grey on the hill walk, I took a short stroll down a lane not more than 50 metres from our house and two Lesser Greys flew out of a tree and onto power lines giving me very good views. I did the hill walk again on the last day of April and almost immediately saw two Turtle Doves, the first of the year. The Barred Warbler was still present although after good views initially it became elusive, typical of my experiences of first winter's in Norfolk! There was no sign of the Woodchat and the number of Red-backs had become depleted. I did get an all too brief view of a Short-toed Eagle further on - the first eagle of the year and I hope not the last. I managed to see 27 species and heard a further five.
I had a lovely Kingfisher flying down our local stream on the 29th April. I was standing on a small bridge over the stream on our local 'lane' and it took me completely by surprise because I had just about given up hope of seeing one here - so another first for Bulgaria. To conclude we heard a Scops Owl from our verandah around 2245 on 1st May. I would love to see one.
Best wishes Chris

Ron

Hi Ron,

Attitude in spades, he was relentless! They limit the sessions with him to an hour or so to conserve his strength!
Good to hear your walks continue to be productive, I'm still waiting for my first Lesser Grey (although I narrowly missed one at the game reserve lodge)! I'm pleased to hear about the Kingfisher, it's always nice to add to your 'Country List'! I've been quite fortunate with eagles this year, only really need Lesser Spotted for 'The Set'!
Funnily enough I heard my first Scops Owl of the year on the 1st (or more accurately about 01.30am on the 2nd) right outside my room at the lodge! A mixed blessing as were were getting up at 04.30am to be in the hide before dawn! A bird I've often heard but never seen! It was there the following night too, but despite trying a bit of tape-luring I still couldn't see it!

All the best,

Chris