EZERETS LAKE – BOLATA – BOLGAREVO STEPPE
WEATHER: another lovely day, lots of susnshine, a cool wind. Top temp 22C
We had several species left to find during our last day's birding and we set out with enthusiasm and vigour at 6:30am. Paddyfield Warbler was high on the agenda and that is the first bird we went to look for. Dancho had some information about the whereabouts of a singing male and that is where we headed for.
A small lagoon behind the beach at Ezerets was where we found ourselves and although it was quite windy we had great success in finding the bird, it showed well for very short periods but everyone got to see it. During our visit we also saw Great Reed Warbler, Purple Heron, Grey Heron, Common Cuckoo, Red-backed Shrikes and a few other species.
this is a Back-of-Camera shot of the Paddyfield Warbler, courtesy of Paul Treen
Along the beach we noted Black-winged Stilts, Little-ringed Plover and a few Gulls. On the way back to the hotel for breakfast we found two Hawfinches feeding on the ground in a field alongside the track.
After breakfast we made a short walk along a track next to the hotel which led us to an area of scrub and then the cliffs. Very few birds were seen, Common Whitethroat, Golden Oriole, Be-eaters, a Hobby, Rooks (which are not common in Bulgaria) and we heard Common Nightingales. We then set out for the famous Kaliakra Headland, but we intended to visit the gorge near Balgarevo before we visited the headland.
It took over an hour to get there because we stopped a few times to watch various species, we saw Calandra Larks, Skylarks, more Rooks, Lesser Grey Shrikes, Black-eared Wheatears, Northern Lapwing, Bee-eaters, Rollers, Hoopoes and lots of Turtle Doves.
In the valley-gorge near Balgarevo, we spent a couple of hour in glorious sunshine enjoying some great birding and lots of butterfly watching. We started at the beach area where, out in the bay, we found two Black-throated Divers, Mediterranean Shags, Cormorants, a Squacco Heron and a couple of pods of Harbour Porpoise. On the cliffs we found at least two pairs of Pied Wheatears, we had great views of them.
Pied Wheatear in the gorge at Balgarevo
In the scrub we found Spotted Flycatchers, Olivaceous Warbler, Sedge Warbler and we heard Great Reed Warblers, Cetti's Warbler and Common Nightingale. We walked along a track from the beach leading into the gorge and Dancho then pulled out a couple of great species from nowhere. he heard a COMMON ROSEFINCH and a RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER at the same time. We opted to go for the Rosefinch which was a little way back along the track, the bird sang from the scrub on the hillside and Dancho found it within minutes. Famtastic, a great find and a beautiful little bird to boot!
a very distant Common Rosefinch, can you see it?
We went back to the RB Flycatcher tree and the bird had gone, moved on! Then two or three Hawfinches appeared, we got breif views of those before watching Common Buzzard, Short-toed Eagle and Common Kestrel.
Butterflies were out in good numbers, it was the skippers feeding on minerals in the gravel that we connected with the most. Yellow-banded and Large grizzled Skippers were out in good numbers and Sallow Skipper was also found. We saw our first Brimstone, also Clouded Yellow, Black-veined and Green-veined Whites, Wall Brown, Brown Argus, Common Blue and Queen-of-Spain Fritillary.
Yellow-banded Skippers with Large Grizzled Skipper
From the gorge we drove into the town of Balgarevo were we bought lunch, a late lunch, which we ate in the town square under the shade of chestnut trees, a coffee went down nicely too!
unidentifed Skipper
It was 3pm wen we arrived at the Steppe area just outside of town, we had a number of target species and it took Dancho a very short time to find them all. Our first walk produced Hoopoe, Golden Oriole, Tawny Pipit a distant Isabelline Wheatear, Short-toed Larks singing high in the sky and the to top them all we found a single Stone Curlew.
Tawny Pipit
A second walk on a separate part of the Steppe produced excellent close views of Calandra Larks, they we flying around us, singing on high and dashing about the heath. We also saw more Short-toed larks, Tawny Pipits, Isabelline Wheatears, Hoopoes and Bee-eaters.
Short-toed Lartk
Isabelline Wheatear
Our drive back to the hotel was also interesting, Dancho had one last species that he had keep under wraps, he led us to a farm just outside one of the villages where after a few minutes of waiting and searching he found a LAUGHING DOVE. This species is now breeding in Bulgaria, it has spread from Asia and Africa and is now established in several European Countries, Britain will soon be invaded I'm sure.
Laughing Dove, a new breeding species for Bulagrai
The journey along the coast-road back to Krapets was inetersing too, we found an area where over 80 Turtles Doves sat on the wires and the people in the second bus, mine, had the good the fortune of seeing agrey Partridge as it flew across the road right in front of us! Ha, probably the last new species of the trip!
We have seen 197 species and heard another five without seeing them, so 202 species were recorded during our trip which is a great total and better than most oter European Countries at this time of the year. Coem and join us for nest year's trip which begins on the 14th May 2026.
Tomorrow we head for Sofia Airport , an all-day journey with very little time for birding, my scope is packed!