News, Three-toed Woodpecker recorded on our birding tour.

24.05.2011

Three-toed Woodpecker recorded on our birding tour.

Three-toed Woodpecker recorded on our birding tour.

Three-toed Woodpecker is one of the most difficult to find species in Bulgaria. Photo by Dobromir Domuschiev.

Last week I have lead a party of American birders with a quite specific wish list of species to be seen. Along with some more common for the European birder species, we have managed to record quite a good number of Bulgarian specialties too. The highlight was the Three-toed Woodpecker which is one of the rarest and most difficult to find species in Bulgaria with less than 100 pairs here, moreover occupying areas that require reasonable fitness to be reached.

Other top species were Rock Partridge, Semi-collared Flycatcher, White-Backed Woodpecker, Scops Owl (three birds, including a pair that has mated about 12 meters in front of us), Dalmatian and White pelicans, Pygmy Cormorant etc.

We have also missed some species, to start with the most elusive one – the Hazel Grouse, although we gave it a good try, visiting three different, excellent areas; also the Olive-three Warbler (which obviously wasn’t arrived yet) and the Spotted Crake.