Bulgaria ~ May '19

This trip was from Sofia airport on Thursday 16th and back on Sunday 19th with the original plan of some alpine birding around Maljovista but the weather put pay to that, so we followed the better weather conditions and started towards the Plains and Steppe around Pazardzdik ..

Black-headed Bunting

Red-backed Shrike


Hotel for the night was Villa Santa Maria at Batak overlooking the lake with great views at sunrise 

We then drove up towards Dospat highest point at only 1,600m but finding Ring Ouzel, Firecrest and Crested Tit, back to the hotel for breakfast ..

Firecrest

Firecrest

Firecrest

Crag Martin


Aldomirvtsi Marsh and Dragoman Marsh were other locations which produced some good birding ..

Stonechat

Black-headed Bunting

Great Reed Warbler

Red-backed Shrike

Black-headed Wagtail 

Black-headed Wagtail

Stonechat

Savi's Warbler

Savi's Warbler


And Sunday morning was from a hide with Traventuria this is there link ..

Sofia bird Hide

Tree Sparrow

Sombre Tit

Tree Sparrow

Tree Sparrow

Tree Sparrow

Tree Sparrow


Due to the recent rain there was plenty of water about for drinking so we only had 4 species come in to the pool hide but this has the potential to be good but with a limited light window due to its orientation facing south ..

This trip was a month later than last year and the bird photography was a lot more difficult probably due to this .. 

Cape May, New Jersey ~ U.S.A - Apr '19

So the plan was to have an evening session birding but a small flight delay from Houston to Philadelphia put pay to that ..

We tried a few locations around the Cape but it was relatively slow going, from first light till mid-afternoon on the 29th April before heading back to the airport ..

 American Robin

 Killdeer

 Killdeer

 American Robin

 Chipping Sparrow

 Northern Mockingbird

 American Oystercatcher

 American Oystercatcher

 Carolina Chickadee

 Prairie Warbler

Song Sparrow

Birding and bird photography is so much more enjoyable abroad than it is in the U.K just need to do more of it ...

Texas, United States - Apr '19

A trip to Texas to coincide with the warbler migration was the main aim the Falls that you read of didn't happen but a steady arrival was still great ..

Flew out with BA on the 24th April to meet up with Jono at the Hotel in Houston ..

Early start on the 25th for a 90 minute drive for High Island.

We tried Boy Scout Woods, Sabine Woods, Anahuac Refuge and the Bolivar Peninsula ..

 Common Yellowthroat

 Kentucky Warbler

 White-eyed Vireo

 Magnolia Warbler

 Northern Waterthrush

 Yellow Warbler

 Chestnut-sided Warbler

 Scarlet Tanager

 American Redstart

 Black-and-White Warbler

 Hooded Warbler

An early start for Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge this is a fantastic site and a must see location ..

 Great-tailed Grackle

 Orchard Oriole ~ female

 Orchard Oriole ~ male

 Fulvous Whistling-Duck

 Least Bittern

 Alligator

 Cattle Egret

 Least Bittern

 Red-winged Blackbird

 Seaside Sparrow

 Western Meadowlark

 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

 Golden-winged Warbler

 Common Nighthawk

 American Robin

 Great-tailed Grackle ~ female ?

 Royal Tern

 Forster's Tern

 Great Crested Flycatcher

 Wood Thrush

 Swainson's Thrush

 Wood Thrush

 Brown Thrasher

 Great-tailed Grackle

 Purple Gallinule

 Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

 Red-winged Blackbird ~ Female

 Blue-winged Teal

 Tri-coloured Heron

 Red-winged Blackbird

 Tri-coloured Heron

 Least Bittern

 Sora

 King Rail

 Black-billed Cuckoo

Went to see these range restricted and endangered cranes which are one of the rarest North American birds ...

 Whooping Crane

Out on to the Boliver Peninsula trying The Flats and Rollover Pass

 Laughing Gull

 Royal Tern

 Least Tern

 Forster's Tern

 Brown Pelican

 Least Tern

 Snowy Plover

 Royal Tern

 Snowy Egret

 Semi-palmated Plover

 Semi-palmated Plover

 Least Tern

 Least Sandpiper

 Caspian Tern

 Snowy Plover

 Wilson's Plover

 Laughing Gull

Boy Scout Wood again late afternoon ..

 Grey Catbird

 Grey Catbird

Then a 2 hour drive back to Houston ready for a early start to find Red-cockaded Woodpecker another rare and range restricted bird ..

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

Then it was back to Houston Airport for a flight to Philadelphia ..