Search for Waxwings - Redwing found

Waxwings occupy streets of Bratislava 8 weeks in row. My friend asked me to try to check wider centre of Bratislava to estimate number of wintering Waxwings. I decided to search in old town, Sad Janka Kráľa public park, castle hill,garden and squares behind presidential palace. My total number was 362 Waxwings. According to my friend's count and one other birder's we estimate their number around 4500 individuals in Bratislava area. We were shocked when we reached 1000 in December. Again two weeks ago when we counted 2000+ birds and today's count is simply breath-taking. I can't believe that I have seen my first ever Waxwings only two month ago and now I'm part of the team that tries to monitor them during the whole time of their stay in the city.

(In following days were photos from this count revised and one other birder's observation was added. Total number stands on 5112 Waxwings.)

But one can't forget also other birds. Yearlist tick Peregrine Falcon with caught Feral Pigeon. Fieldfares made my highest count today(800+). And in the flock of c700 Fieldfares and c100 Waxwings I have also found one Redwing (another yearlist tick). It was second time this winter that I spotted 4 different Turdus sp. thrushes in few minutes(Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, Redwing).

Here are some photos from today:

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) always counts

hybrid Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix) x Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)

Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix)

Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus)

Fieldfares (Turdus pilaris)

lonely Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) in Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) flock

my first Redwing (Turdus iliacus) of the year

Fieldfare in the snow

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