Birdwatching at Devínska Nová Ves

Surroundings of Devínska Nová Ves, Bratislava is great birdwatching site in every season of the year. Man can spent here one hour or whole day. Spring should be already here, but gloves, cap and snow blanket were saying that winter doesn't want to retreat. Despite this I observed my first White Storks of the year. Luckily one of them is local and already on the nest waiting for its partner. I took a walk across the bridge to Austria and back. Later I met my colleague and went to check slopes of Devínska Kobyla for first spring flowers but we need to wait few more days as they are still under snow, very unusual for this time of year. I made a few photos:

male Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)

one of  three Teals (Anas crecca)

Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) on Morava River

my first White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) of the year, check Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) under the nest

European Hares (Lepus europaeus) preparing for box fight

Sandberg - breeding site of Bee-eaters (Merops apiaster); first birds should arrive in a month

List of observed bird species:

Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
unidentified Goose (Anser sp.)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Garganey (Anas querquedula)
Teal (Anas crecca)
White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Red Kite (Milvus milvus)
Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)
Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Coot (Fulica atra)
Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
large Gull (Larus cachinnans/michahellis)
Feral Pigeon (Columba livia f. domestica)
Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus)
Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)
Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius)
Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis)
Common Magpie (Pica pica)
Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix)
Great Tit (Parus major)
Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Common Skylark (Alauda arvensis)
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)
Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)
Nuthatch (Sitta europaea)
Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)
Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)
Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)
Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)
Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)
Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)

First Barn Swallow of the year

This year I was the lucky one. Very probably I made first record of a Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) in Slovakia this year. Nice reward for the time spent outside in the field. This great observation was accompanied with other yearlist ticks: heard my first Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita); there was one Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) in flock of White Wagtails; nice flock of 6 Whooper Swans (Cygnus cygnus) was silenty floating on a dead river-arm of River Morava; 3 Redshanks (Tringa totanus) made short stop on the bank and 3 Garganeys (Anas querquedula) were in the flock of 40+ Teals (Anas crecca).

Barn Swallow catching insects low over the flooded meadow:

Flock of 6 Whooper Swans:

Two male Garganeys out of three observed:

Great Cormorant in courtship plumage is a beautiful bird:

List of recorded species during the walk:

Common Pheasant   (Phasianus colchicus)
Greylag Goose   (Anser anser)
White-fronted Goose   (Anser albifrons)
Mute Swan   (Cygnus olor)
Whooper Swan   (Cygnus cygnus)
Mallard   (Anas platyrhynchos)
Garganey   (Anas querquedula)
Teal   (Anas crecca)
Grey Heron   (Ardea cinerea)
Great Egret   (Egretta alba)
Great Cormorant   (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Red Kite   (Milvus milvus)
Marsh Harrier   (Circus aeruginosus)
Hen Harrier   (Circus cyaneus)
Sparrowhawk   (Accipiter nisus)
Common Buzzard   (Buteo buteo)
Eastern Imperial Eagle   (Aquila heliaca)
Coot   (Fulica atra)
Lapwing   (Vanellus vanellus)
Common Redshank   (Tringa totanus)
Black-headed Gull   (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
large Gull   (Larus cachinnans/michahellis)
Wood Pigeon   (Columba palumbus)
Great Spotted Woodpecker   (Dendrocopos major)
Black Woodpecker   (Dryocopus martius)
Green Woodpecker   (Picus viridis)
Hooded Crow   (Corvus cornix)
Raven   (Corvus corax)
Great Tit   (Parus major)
Blue Tit   (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Barn Swallow   (Hirundo rustica)
Chiffchaff   (Phylloscopus collybita)
Common Starling   (Sturnus vulgaris)
Blackbird   (Turdus merula)
Fieldfare   (Turdus pilaris)
Song Thrush   (Turdus philomelos)
Robin   (Erithacus rubecula)
Black Redstart   (Phoenicurus ochruros)
European Stonechat   (Saxicola rubicola)
House Sparrow   (Passer domesticus)
Tree Sparrow   (Passer montanus)
Yellow Wagtail   (Motacilla flava)
White Wagtail   (Motacilla alba)
Chaffinch   (Fringilla coelebs)
Greenfinch   (Carduelis chloris)
Goldfinch   (Carduelis carduelis)
Yellowhammer   (Emberiza citrinella)
Reed Bunting   (Emberiza schoeniclus)

Waxwing galore continues

Three days ago I have spotted my first ever flock of Waxwings. We estimated total of 100 birds. Day later it was around 250 birds and today after careful counting of dots on a photo their number have arisen to 700 birds. As we visited site yesterday we found Black-throated Diver on Danube. I took the spotting scope and wanted to make some video of it but it was gone. There was only one Great Cormorant left.

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

I turned back to the parking place near Arena theatre, the site of Waxwings presence in last days. It was again beautiful time as I observed them more than hour. I tried to make some photos and videos again. I have only smartphone so I'm combining it with the optics of the spotting scope. Here are the results - photos were cropped with little bit enhance of brightness and contrast.

Detailed videos are made the same "digiscoping" way.

List of observed birds this afternoon:
Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Common Gull (Larus canus)
Feral Pigeon (Columba livia f. domestica)
Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
Middle Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos medius)
Jackdaw (Coloelus monedula)
Rook (Corvus frugilegus)
Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix)
Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus)
Great Tit (Parus major)
Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Nuthatch (Sitta europaea)
Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Redwing (Turdus iliacus)
Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus)
Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)

Early Spring Floods on Morava River - pt. 1

[Saturday, March 3, 2012]

There was very fine forecast for the weekend, so I decided to try get up early and catch my morning train. I wanted to visit on of my favourite sites near Morava river. Morava creates borderline between Slovakia and Austria. This interesting area of well preserved floodplains is part of IBA Morava. There is a bunch of images so I will split this photoreport into two parts.

 

 Five minutes before arrival of my train on Bratislava-Lamač train station.

 

Just 20 minutes later I got off the train in Devínske Jazero. Finally new train - day has fine start.

View on meadows called Hoferské lúky. That tree line in the background shows Morava river banks. I love these early mornings here. You know that you have full day ahead and you are already "in action".

Here is the real end of the city. Northernmost settlement of Bratislava ends with "Old Bicycle Buffet" - popular point of interest for cyclists. Later in afternoon I've met already few of them.

Great sighting of Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) illuminated in the morning sun.

In this place river Malina pours into Morava.

Just compare it to conditions that were exactly 3 weeks earlier. River Malina was completely frozen and Morava was full of floating ice

Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) are resident here.

But Wood Pigeons (Columba palumbus) are here just few days...

...and Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) as well.

 I was counting with obstacles in form of high water so I put on my gum-boots. There were only 5cm of height of my boots left but my feet remained dry.

Meadows were flooded. Now you know why they are called floodplains.

Water was slowly creeping on. Here can river overflow onto the meadows more than 3km away from its usual river-basin.

Oxbow lakes are getting fresh water. I spotted few Mute Swans (Cygnus olor), male Wigeon (Anas penelope) and tens of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos).

White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) was perching on the tree. Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) was perching nearby but it flew away just a moment before this shot.

Hundreds of Greylag Geese (Anser anser) and White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons) were landing nearby.

This was the end of my walk this way. The water level was too high beyond this line.

I turned back, wade 30 metres again and decided to continue my walk along Malina river. The rest of the day you can find in part 2.