White-tailed Eagle census on Danube

Last Saturday of January is a date, when annual census of wintering White-tailed Eagles on Slovak section of Danube is taking place. I was one of few tens of volunteers who decided to spent 5 hours on the assigned observation point somewhere between Devín and Štúrovo. After previous years' censuses that I spent further down the stream of Danube below Bratislava, this year I was assigned to the point in the outskirts of Petržalka. It is less than 1,5 km from the nearest blocks of flats and less than 1km away from the sewage plant. 

It was snowing in the morning. Clouds were grey and low. Not the best conditions for birdwatching. Despite the fact, one of the first observed birds was a Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis). In following 1,5 hour I observed its several flyovers.

High voltage powerlines, distant chimneys of the Slovnaft oil refinery, mounds of gravel. One would say that nothing special could be seen here.

The skies were slowly clearing. On the surface of Danube were flocks of Tufted Ducks (Aythya fuligula), Common Goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula) and few Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) were diving for fish. 

Several Geese (Anser sp.) flocks were flying in the heights. Danube is an amazing highway for migrating birds.

It is a highway for cargo ships as well.

Tufties and Goldeneyes were flushed several time by the passing ships.

Four Great Egrets (Ardea alba) flew over. Another highlights were 3 Goosanders (Mergus merganser) and distant calling Raven (Corvus corax).

Beside Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) I spotted also some soaring Common Gulls (Larus canus). 

While waiting for White-tailed Eagles I observed few other birds of prey species - Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo), Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus).

 

After almost 4 hours of waiting there was finally a White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla). It was flying towards my observation point.

 

Beautiful adult White-tailed Eagle with glowing white wedge-shaped tail started to soar over my head. In a while another White-tailed Eagle appeared. It was a brown-tailed juvenile. They were soaring together for a few minutes and were slowly flying away from me. After 10 minutes it was all over.

 

 

Finally time for writing down some precious data. Juvenile White-tailed Eagle showed itself again in 5 minutes and in a couple of minutes was gone from my sight. (Red arrow shows my observation point)

Bratislava offers plenty of possibilities for birdwatching. One can choose walk in the city parks or around urban lakes. But there is an amazing fact that Danube is a super highway for migrating birds and species such as White-tailed Eagle, Kingfisher, Goosander or Great Egret could be spotted so close to the center of the Slovak capital.

New flat, new (old) patch

Just a week ago I moved to another flat in Bratislava. Now it's in Dlhé Diely. It gives me an opportunity to have walks in the forests over Karlova Ves and Dúbravka, that I visited regularly during my stay in Dúbravka. Today's short walk brought new bird to my yearlist. Black Woodpecker became 74th species in my yearlist. Beside it I found Middle Spotted Woodpecker, few Great Spotted Woodpeckers, pair of Treecreepers or Common Buzzard. After a year in the city center it is great feeling I can reach the forest in less than 10 minutes of walk.

Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)

Birds of prey in urban areas of Bratislava 2013

I realized that I regularly observe Sparrowhawks, Kestrels and sometimes other birds of prey as I walk just down the streets of Bratislava. I will try to make a list of these observations and adding updates from time to time. May be I'll have interesting set of data in the end of the year. I will mention only those observations in which birds were observed in (or flying over) urban areas or in very close distance to urbanized areas.
Check the map:

• Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) - yellow pin
• Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) - light blue pin
• Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) - red pin
• Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) - deep pink pin
• Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) - purple pin
• Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) - green pin

View Birds of prey in Bratislava 2013 in a larger map

January 4
   Kestrel (c 8:15, Eurovea, BA I, flyover)
January 6
   Sparrowhawk (c 15:30, sport river harbor, BA II, flyover)
January 10
   Sparrowhawk (c 11:00, Ružinovská, BA II sitting on aerial)
January 14
   Sparrowhawk (14:05, Miletičova market, BA II flyover)
January 16
   Sparrowhawk (8:15, Sasinkova, BA I, flyover)
January 19
   Hen Harrier (morning, Devínska Nová Ves, BA IV, flying down the river, brown bird)
   Goshawk (afternoon, Devín castle, BA V, flyover)
January 23
   Common Buzzard (13:05, Rusovská cesta, BA V, flyover)
January 27
   Peregrine Falcon (11:18, flyover from Hviezdoslavovo nám. over Danube to Incheba tower with caught Feral Pigeon, BA I, BA V)
   Sparrowhawk (12:20, garden of presidential palace, BA I, flyover)
   Kestrel (16:00, Most SNP bridge, BA I, flyover)
January 31
   Sparrowhawk (c 12:00, Devínska Nová Ves - Na mýte, BA IV, flyover)

February 3
   Kestrel (12:00, SAV, BA I, flyover)
   Sparrowhawk (14:20, Ondrejský cintorín/cemetery/ - Ulica 29.augusta, BA I, flyover)
February 7
   Peregrine Falcon (14:48, Sad Janka Kráľa public park, BA V, flyover)
   Sparrowhawk (16:20, Štúrova, flyover)
February 11
   Sparrowhawk (c 13:00, Medická záhrada public garden, BA I, flyover)
February 14
   Kestrel (16:33, Stein old brewery, BA I, sitting on a chimney)
February 15
   Sparrowhawk (c 15:21, Koceľova, BA II, flyover)
February 16
   Sparrowhawk (c 12:30, Malé Pálenisko, BA II, roosting on tree)
February 17
   Sparrowhawk (14:40, ČOV Vlčie hrdlo, BA II, flyover)
   Sparrowhawk (16:35, Mariánska, BA I, flyover)
February 23
   Sparrowhawk (13:56, Moskovská, BA I, flyover)
   Sparrowhawk (14:39, Strážnická, BA I, flyover)
   Kestrel (14:38, Strážnická, BA I, flyover)
   Peregrine Falcon (16:14, Hlavné námestie, BA I, flyover)
February 28
   Kestrel (13:04, Štefanovičova, BA I, soaring over area)

March 3
   Sparrowhawk (17:00, Devínska Nová Ves - Na mýte, BA IV, flyover)
March 5
   Buteo sp. Buzzard (15:45 - 15:48, flying over Danube from port southwards, BA II, possible Buteo rufinus!)
March 7
   Kestrel (11:05, Čajkovského, BA I, flyover)
   Kestrel (11:13, Kýčerského, BA I, soaring over area, possibly the same bird in both occasions)
March 8
   Kestrel (16:55, Panská, BA I, flyover)
   Kestrel (17:13-17:15, 17:39-17:50, Stein old brewery, BA I, perching on aerial and chimney)
March 9
   Sparrowhawk (c 17:20, Malé Pálenisko, BA II, flyover)
March 10
   3 Kestrels (13:00-16:00, Devín castle rock, BA IV, flying around and perching on castle rock)
   Common Buzzard (15:30, Devín, BA IV, soaring over village)
   Kestrel (17:00, Panská, BA I, flyover)
March 11
   Kestrel (14:38, Stein old brewery, BA I, flyover)
March 13
   Kestrel (14:08, Americké námestie, BA I, soaring)
March 17
   Sparrowhawk (16:14, Krížna, BA I, flyover)
March 19
   Kestrel (17:52, Stein old brewery, BA I, perching on aerial)
March 29
   Kestrel (12:35-12:52, Stein old brewery, BA I, perching on aerial and roof)
March 30
   Kestrel (12:00, Legionárska, BA I, flyover)

April 1
   Sparrowhawk (c14:00, Rusovce, BA V, flyover)
April 7
   Kestrel (16:10, Hodžovo námestie, BA I, flyover)
April 8
   Kestrel (9:59, Krížna, BA I, flyover)
   Kestrel (18:30 - 18:31, Stein old brewery, BA I, 3 birds flyover, 2 of them soaring a while later)

Walk in the fields

Day started with great observation of flock of 150+ Waxwings. Some of them were roosting on the TV aerial on the opposite roof.

Waxwings (Bombycilla garrulus)

I decided to make a walk across the fields between Rožňava and Jovice. I hoped to spot some uncommon Rough-legged Buzzard. There were only the Common ones and some other birds. Let's check it.

fields between Rožňava and Jovice

Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus) from behind

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)

Magpie (Pica pica)

snowy blanket all over

Bulrush (Typha sp.)

I thought that nothing could beat today's Waxwings but I was wrong. To be honest it was an "owlsome" mistake...

somebody is roosting on the chimney...

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco)

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) from another angle

Hike In Small Carpathians

[Saturday, March 10, 2012]

I had a call from my friend that he arranged a hike on Saturday with two other girls. I decided to join them even it meant for me an ugly waking up at 4:30 AM. It was probably the only bad thing of the day. Day started with observation of falling star on still dark sky while I was waiting for my tram. When I met my friends the sun had already risen up. We jumped on another tram and made a ride to Rača, part of Bratislava under eastern slopes of Small Carpathians (Malé Karpaty in slovak). We decided to cross the mountain from east to west walking through the typical beech forests. Rado just wanted to see some holes or small caves that are along the tourist route. I was just checking the forest to find something interesting to show to the others. They didn't know almost nothing about birds so even the common ones were pretty interesting. They were satisfied with Greenfinches, Nuthatches, Chaffinches or Tits. These birds we heard all the way. I resolved to show them at least one Woodpecker, but I was only partially succesful. Almost every time when we stopped to focus some bird in the spotting scope it flew away in a second. I don't remeber such a badluck. But never mind. Weather was pleasant, sky almost blue, we enjoyed our day outside. At least we had great observations of Robin, Common Buzzards, Hawfinch and pair of Blue Tits. I wanted to check old quarry for the presence of Wallcreeper but there wasn't enough time for accurate observation so I adapted to the rest of the group and moved along. While having lunch I spotted Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis) in the grass. After tea session we moved to the forests again. Roads were little bit muddy. We decided to visit Pajštún castle that lies over Borinka. By the way we spotted several snowdrops.  Interesting day ended in Marianka with unbelievable beautiful sunset over the lowlands on Slovak-Austrian border.

To resume the day I need to say that all our route went through IBA Malé Karpaty. Our hike was 25km long. I saw my first Grey Wagtails (Motacilla cinerea) and Ravens (Corvus corax) of this year and got suspicion of  Saker Falcon but I was unable to make good ID. 

 5:26 AM, day starts before sunrise

 typical signs on marked tourist trails in Slovakia

memorial from late 19th century

Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

the same Robin, but now in motion and singing 

we filled our bottles in spring called "Zbojnička"

 Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

 three Buzzards were hunting over this open area

small slade with a creek that is only few hundreds meters long

 bell tower in Medené Hámre

Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) - the only bird that stayed on its spot more than few seconds (if I don't count soaring Buzzards and that one singing Robin)

 Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis)

 we had also tea time

typical look of beech forest before spring

 one of several areas with conifers in mainly beech forested Small Carpathians

 view northwards - in the background is Záhorská nížina lowland

vast beech forests

 entrance to Pajštún castle

 mascarons over its entrance

ruins of the castle

sunset over Marianka

When I was writing this I realized that I didn't make pictures on several places of our hike so please forgive me that the photo report is a little bit incomplete or it appears little bit inconsistent.

List of observed bird species during the hike:
Common Buzzard    (Buteo buteo)
Feral Pigeon    (Columba livia f. domestica)
Wood Pigeon    (Columba palumbus)
Collared Dove    (Streptopelia decaocto)
Great Spotted Woodpecker    (Dendrocopos major)
Jay    (Garrulus glandarius)
Common Magpie    (Pica pica)
Hooded Crow    (Corvus cornix)
Raven    (Corvus corax)
Great Tit    (Parus major)
Blue Tit    (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Nuthatch    (Sitta europaea)
Common Starling    (Sturnus vulgaris)
Blackbird    (Turdus merula)
Fieldfare    (Turdus pilaris)
Song Thrush    (Turdus philomelos)
Robin    (Erithacus rubecula)
House Sparrow    (Passer domesticus)
Grey Wagtail    (Motacilla cinerea)
Chaffinch    (Fringilla coelebs)
Greenfinch    (Carduelis chloris)
Goldfinch    (Carduelis carduelis)
Hawfinch    (Coccothraustes coccothraustes)
unidentified Goose    (Anser sp.)
unidentified Falcon - Peregrine or Saker but I was not able to ID it