Winter waterbird census - January III.

[Saturday, January 21, 2012]

Earlier this week I was asked if I want to make some more fieldwork on SOS/BirdLife Slovakia's project of winter census of water birds. I was supposed to map 23 km long counting section of seepage channel between Horný Bar (in Slovak "horný" means "upper") and Hamuliakovo. The channel runs along the flume of River Danube. It is man-made and it was constructed as a part of waterwork Gabčíkovo (VD Gabčíkovo). The whole dam became an important site for wintering of water birds and it is also important migration stop-over for birds whose migratory paths are crossing the area of Central Europe.

Saturday was the only day this week that has no rain or snowfalls during the daylight, so I needed to wake up at 5:00 to catch my buses to get to the beginning of my counting section in proper time. The village of Horný Bar is apr. 60 km far from Bratislava but it took me 2 hours to get there. As a reward I had lot of sunshine in the morning. I have seen my first Gadwalls of this year. Numbers of observed water birds on the counting section: Mute Swan 68, Mallard 74, Gadwall 2, Wigeon 1, Tufted Duck 351, Pochard 15, Little Grebe 217, Great Cormorant 4, Coot 70, large Gull (Larus cachinnans/michahellis) 1. Here you can check the map of my counting section. 

After 6,5 hours of walking, observing and counting I finished in Hamuliakovo. I have got only few minutes to check the large water body of nearby dam (Hrušovská zdrž) because I wanted to catch my bus back to Bratislava. I did a brief scan with the spotting scope and I have spotted Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus). This bird is rare visitor of this site. Beside River Danube it was spotted also on River Váh. In last 3 winters there were not more than 3 birds spotted at once. And there is not any observation in January at all except one of ssp. Larus fuscus graellsii from January 2011 from Poltár that is 250 km away from this site. I observed 3 birds floating on the water surface - 2 adults and probably 1 juvenile of the same species. I was quickly checking it in the Collins' Bird Guide and my first impression was that it was ssp. intermedius according to the "darkness" of its black wings as it was not as black as it should be if it was ssp.fuscus. I have tried to make a photo, but the combination of my mobile phone and spotting scope didn't bring good result. I'm sure that it was Larus fuscus, but it would be great observation if that mentioned subspecies would be confirmed. I phoned to my friend who is skilled ornithologist to check the area. I hope he will find them and will give further informations about that 3 birds. List of  observed species during the day is in the bottom of the page.

start near Horný Bar

Danube near Kyselica ferry port

seepage channel near Báč

only image of Lesser Black-backed Gull

List of observed bird species:

Common Pheasant  (Phasianus colchicus)
Bean Goose  (Anser fabalis)
unidentified Goose  (Anser sp.)
Mute Swan  (Cygnus olor)
Gadwall  (Anas strepera)
Wigeon  (Anas penelope)
Mallard  (Anas platyrhynchos)
Pochard  (Aythya ferina)
Tufted Duck  (Aythya fuligula)
Common Goldeneye  (Bucephala clangula)
Goosander  (Mergus merganser)
Little Grebe  (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
Great Cormorant  (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Sparrowhawk  (Accipiter nisus)
Common Buzzard  (Buteo buteo)
Coot  (Fulica atra)
Black-headed Gull  (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Lesser Black-backed Gull  (Larus fuscus)
Feral Pigeon  (Columba livia f. domestica)
Collared Dove  (Streptopelia decaocto)
Hooded Crow  (Corvus cornix)
Great Tit  (Parus major)
Blackbird  (Turdus merula)
Fieldfare  (Turdus pilaris)
Robin  (Erithacus rubecula)
House Sparrow  (Passer domesticus)
Tree Sparrow  (Passer montanus)
Greenfinch  (Carduelis chloris)
Goldfinch  (Carduelis carduelis)
large Gull  (Larus cachinnans/michahellis)