Birdingpals Trip Report

Two days Birding in Serbia, April 2007
by Dorothy Harper

I have been to Europe many times, but never on a birding trip, that is, an excursion with experts who know where to go and what to see. This time I was determined to change that, while I was in Belgrade in late April 2007. I was lucky enough to come across Dragan Simic while surfing the net. Dragan is one of Serbia’s top birders, and he agreed to take me out with him for 2 days. He brought along a young man named Marko Rakovic, who proved to be another excellent birder! How lucky for me! I was in good hands.
I was staying in Belgrade, so we had to stick to areas accessible from the city. We left at 8 AM each day, and returned after 7 PM. Long days, but very rewarding. Here is a resume of the tour:

Day 1
We took off from Zemun, a leafy and pleasant suburb of Belgrade. We made a circular journey, going west towards Obedska Bara Ramsar site, north towards Fruska Gora national park, then east towards Sakule village and fish farm, and finally south back into Belgrade. There are many fish farms in Serbia, usually part of the riparian habitats along the Sava and Danube rivers, as well as many smaller streams and rivers. These farms were formerly state-owned, and now have been bought by locals. They vary in the extent to which they offer habitat for birds (e.g. amount of reeds, riparian forests, etc.). We visited 2 farms today, Zivaca and Sakule. They were very productive, especially Sakule. We saw most of the expected species of waders; grey, purple, squacco and black-crowned night herons, great and little egret, black and white stork and a brief flash of a glossy ibis. Also present were great crested and little grebe, great and pygmy cormorant, and 7 species of duck. Ferruginous duck was a highlight for me. The wetland species were rounded out by common moorhen, common coot, common greenshank, common sandpiper, and the uncommon (to me) black-necked stilt, as well as northern lapwing, whiskered and black tern. White-tailed eagle made an appearance, two young birds clashing in the air, to my delight, and a western marsh harrier as well. All told, we had 34 species at this fish farm.Both Bojcinska forest and Obedska Bara wetland are forested habitats. We drove through these areas, and they proved mildly productive. Black kite and lesser-spotted eagle were highlights in Bojcinska forest. Obedska Bara is an IBA, and a protected bird sanctuary. It is an area on the Sava River, with many different habitats. Strangely, it is also populated by semi-feral domestic pigs. On that day it was not so productive of waders, etc., but a common cuckoo was heard, and Eurasian hoopoe, middle and great spotted woodpecker, European greenfinch and goldfinch were seen. Savi’s warbler, spotted flycatcher and marsh tit were heard.
The water level of the Sibac sewage lagoons was high at the time but green sandpiper, great egret, black-winged stilt, Caspian and common tern turned up, as well as common black-headed gull. Great reed-warbler and common whitethroat showed, and a blackcap was heard. Eurasian hobby, common kestrel and crested lark were also seen. The highlight however, was lots and lots of ruffs, a bird I had never seen before. Not in their fancy breeding dress today, but a lifer nonetheless. These lagoons are the result of a sugar factory nearby, which dumps its remains of processing into piles which compost.
After that, wandering around a small village and its surrounding fields yielded some nice birds, including common quail and pheasant, common stonechat, Eurasian linnet, red-backed shrike and Eurasian blackbird. We were there to check out the imperial eagles, but they didn’t appear.
Day 2
This day we headed east to Deliblato sands and neigbouring Labudovo okno Ramsar site. We first went through a forested area, from Cardak to Sumarak. There we saw some of the more common European birds, such as European turtle-dove, Eurasian hoopoe (I love hoopoes!), barn swallow, Northern house-martin, wood nuthatch, yellowhammer, chaffinch, European greenfinch and Eurasian blackbird. The tits were represented by long-tailed, great and marsh, some heard, some seen. I got none of those, but I did get a good look at a Eurasian jay. My colleagues heard Eurasian golden-oriole, wryneck and a woodlark. We heard the common chiffchaff, and I learned to recognise its song. A black-billed magpie was also seen.
Marko showed me the area in the Deliblato sands where he has been banding birds, and we did a little bit of banding, a first for me.
We went on to the Dubovac wetland. There we spotted many of the wetland birds from the previous day, plus a common kingfisher and large flocks of sand-martins preparing to nest in a loes bluff. Labudovo okno wetland yielded common redshank, wood sandpiper, Eurasian skylark and white wagtail.
Northern wheatear, tree and tawny pipit were also added to our list in the Mali Pesak and Hatarica pasturelands. During the journey we added some raptors, Eurasian hobby (which I missed for the second time), booted eagle (a great find for me!) and common buzzard. A common swift was also seen, as well as many other species.
Then back to Belgrade, where the bee-eaters had not yet arrived, alas.
We saw some of Serbia’s mammals during our 2-day journey. Marko was able to photograph a lovely tree frog (Hilla arborea) in the Bojcinska forest, and a roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) made an appearance there as well. Two red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were seen at Obedska Bara. European sousliks (Spermophilus cittelus or ground squirrel) were seen at Labudovo Okno and especially at the Hatarice, where one hare (Lepus europaeus) was seen too.
I have not written a formal birding report before, and I was not taking detailed notes, so I cannot give more information on the sites we visited. If you are interested, Dragan can pass those details along (birdingserbia@gmail.com). He also has the scientific names of the species we found. A good account of a longer birding trip, with descriptions of the topography and some cultural notes about Serbia can be found in Mike Unwin’s account of his 9-day birding trip in 2004 (www.anytimetours.co.uk). Dragan and Marko were most amiable and knowledgeable birders, and I enjoyed my time with them immensely. I would definitely recommend birding in Serbia, and I hope to go again sometime.
Dragan and Marko counted 101 species seen or heard in the 2 days. This is a very good count, since I was too late for most land and waterfowl migrants, and too early for some breeding species. By my calculations I saw 81 of those species, with 18 life species for me! 5 of them were also N. American species, but that leaves13 lifers, a record I cannot surpass for a long time I think! I had bee-eaters on my list of most wanted suspects; Dragan emailed me 2 or 3 days after I left, with news that they had arrived in the city. He has also sent me photos of glossy ibis and Dalmatian and white pelican, also missed by days.
Oh well, next time.
Dorothy Harper
Ontario, Canada
dharper(AT)xplornet.com