Mexico - Northern Yucatan - October 2024 - Day 3 - Rio Lagartos

Yucatan Wren

We were at the Ejido San Salvador at 5.45am, pretty dedicated. We had been here the previous afternoon as soon as we arrived in the area, and whilst we had not seen a great deal we felt it had a lot of promise - after all the eBird pin had 276 species on it! The track heads directly east from the obvious bend in the main road and has scrubby vegetation on the southern side and a more watery landscape on the north. Our main target this morning was Yucatan Wren, a peninsula endemic, as well as Black-throated Bobwhite which has a slightly wider distribution albeit not by much. We were also looking for Mangrove Vireo and Mexican Sheartail. We found the first two of these with consumate ease, our first Yucatan Wren was right by the car and over the course of two hours we found eight! Like many neotropical Wrens this is a chunky beast with a loud call and is only really present on this coast. A bit further east along the track we came across our first Bobwhite, small blobs helpfully perching in low trees just the other side of the stone wall. Our full list from this walk is here and contained many highlights. Mexican Sheartail was another lifer in the same area with a single bird perched on a lone twig, and there were five Mangrove Vireo and two White-eyed Vireo, all of these on the northern side of the track which bordered the water. There were tons of small birds along this track, with Least Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Elaenia and Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet within feet of each other, a pair of Rose-throated Becard, Altimira and Orange Orioles, Red-winged Blackbird and Bronzed Cowbird. A smattering of Warblers included Grey-crowned Yellowthroat, Magnolia Warbler, two Parula and three Northern Waterthrush, and noisy pair of Laughing Falcons were sat in a taller tree out on the marsh to the north. In short it was a brilliant two hours. 

Black-throated Bobwhite

Northern Bearless-Tyrannulet

Mexican Sheartail

Yucatan Wren

We headed back to the hotel for breakfast just after 8am, popping into the cemetery briefly which is right by the crossroads. This was flooded around the outside of the walls, with at least half a dozen Least Sandpiper and two Roseate Spoonbill feeding in the shallow water. In the cemetery itself we found another Mexican Sheartail perched on one of the crosses, and a Yucatan Wren was in a small bush by the gate.

Breakfast was excellent, bread, eggs, beans and above all coffee! The Hotel San Felipe de Jesus is right on the edge of the lagoon and we were able to bird as we ate. Right outside the windows on the breakwater of the small harbour were many Sandwich Tern, Royal Tern, Laughing Gull and Double-crested Cormorant, and Flamingos fed in the shallow mangrove-bordered water on the far side of the lagoon. A Whimbrel flew past, as did a Roseate Spoonbill, and there were flights of Brown Pelican further out whilst Magnificent Frigatebirds wheeled with Vultures high over the lagoon. Life was good and breakfast took a long time.

So long that we did not arrive at Las Coloradas until late morning. After avoiding the guides/touts, all of whom maintained that we could not possibly visit the Salinas without their paid assistance, we parked up outside the visitor centre here and birded with the scope. Here too we were pressured into walking out with a guide, but we had no interest in being shown how salt was made and we could see everything we wanted from right where we were. Later on we walked around and into the village, finding our way to the vehicular access for the salt pans, and from here were able to see a lot further east into some pools which were far more birdy than the drier salt pans themselves. We counted around 40 Black-necked Stilt, a pair of American Avocet, Snowy Plover, Wilson's Phalarope, innumerable Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, hundreds of Least Sandpiper and Western Sandpiper, a bonus Caspian Tern in with hundeds of Royal and Sandwich Terns, and a handful of Mangrove Swallow. And as for the Flamingos.... An excellent site, and our trip list rose very quickly in no time at all.

Heading back west we stopped at the beach and walked to the shoreline. The beach is vast, as far as you can see in both directions. We added Grey and Semipalmated Plovers here, a smart Reddish Egret, and tried to give assistance to a Yellow-throated Vireo that had clearly just made the crossing and was in danger of dying. It may still have done exactly that, but we gave it some water and put it in such shade as there was to try and increase its chances. A little further on, where the road bends back down towards San Salvador we found our first Willet and American Oystercatchers, and a Lesser Black-backed Gull flew past, something of a rare bird here.

Yellow-throated Vireo

Back on the main road towards the crossroads we drove in an open gate that led to a small holding and a minor quarry of some description. The entrance is just opposite the Rancho El Paraiso.  A guy was doing something with a bulldozer and completely ignored us, so we parked up and had a look around. We found another Mexican Sheartail here, Vermillion Flycatcher, a Killdeer and two Orange Orioles. It felt good for Nightjars with a lot of open ground so we decided to come back at dusk and try our luck.

Brown Pelican

Double-crested Cormorant

Royal Tern

We had a late lunch in Rio Lagartos itself and then went birding on the western side of town where there are some accessible shallow pools. This was an excellent spot, and at the end of a short dead end track where some houses were being constructed we found five Short-billed Dowitcher, a Spotted Sandpiper, seven Marbled Godwit and six Willet. Our wader list was going great guns today! In the marshy vegetation we tried for Clapper Rail and were amazed to find three quietly moving around mostly invisibly. 

Late afternoon we found ourselves back on the Camino San Felipe looking for Canivet's Emerald but only finding Cinammon Hummingbird. Green Heron were common, and a Melodious Blackbird was with an Orange Oriole north of road. The dump near here was full of Black Vultures. At dusk we returned to the Rancho El Paraiso but found the previously open track now closed off with a roll of barbed wire fencing. Gutted! We parked outside and birded from the main road but this put paid to our plans of looking for Yucatan Poorwill. We did get another two Lesser Nighthawk, and as per the previous day there were several large flights of ducks heading off to roost on the water as the sun set.

Birding takes you to all the best places

Back at the hotel we arranged with the owner to stay an extra night which was no problem at all, the birding had been so good that we wanted another shot at it the next morning and given we had done so well already there was no need to travel further west. I think that when I had been researching the trip that the chances of things like Black-throated Bobwhite had been much higher the nearer to Celestun you got, but we had already seen this and our other main targets we could modify our plans. Dinner was an excellent piece of salmon washed down by some local beers. It had been a rather good day, this area is really good.

Mexico - Northern Yucatan - October 2024 - Day 2 - Akumal, Coba, and San Felipe

The day started extremely badly when we were stopped in the dark by two policemen in a large 4x4 on the main road south out of Playa del Carmen. They invented a speeding ticket and said they would have to take my driving licence to Cancun. We could see where this was heading.... Using the translation service on his telephone I enquired as to whether there would be a way of settling this immediately. Some silly amount of pesos came back as the answer, so we rooted around and pulled together whatever it was that we had but that was in no way close to the total demanded. This seemed to satisfy them however and they took it, said the ticket was cancelled, and to get back on the road. Vamos! Go! On this last point they were most insistent, they clearly didn't want any further interaction with us or to be seen having stopped our car. Fine fine, off we went. But we were pissed off, poorer, and a little unnerved by the experience. I suppose we were an easy target and this is a regular play by these two particular cops, but it left a bad taste in the mouth. They had cleaned us out so we no longer had any money to even buy water. We resolved not to drive in the dark again if we could help it.

We nonetheless arrived at our destination before dawn, the Camino Akumal a Uxuxubi which leads to a popular cenote. We simply picked a random spot close to the eBird pin and started birding - the theory was the same as always in the Yucatan, get yourself into the jungle as this is where the best birds are. Roads and tracks that cut through the forest to attractions or Mayan sites are the easist way to accomplish this. 

We birded from pre-dawn to around half past seven once it was light, recording 33 species. Laughing Falcon and Collared Forest-Falcon were heard and seen along just a few hundred metres of the road, as well as four Pygmy Ferruginous Owl, two Gartered Trogon, a Black-headed Trogon and three Lesson's Motmot. Bright-rumped Attila was a good find and a new bird, and five Yucatan Jay and six noisy Brown Jay flew over. You can see the full list of birds seen via the link above, but suffice it to say it was superb. 

We stocked up on money once back on the main road, and then drove west out of Tulum to Coba which has some impressive ruins and two large lagoons. We first spent some time looking at the lagoon, finding our first Limpkin and Great Blue Heron, but the real target here was Ruddy Crake. We expected to find it in the reeds of the main lagoon but actually it was in a muddy strip filled with litter on the opposite side of the road between the Cocodrilo and Xaibe restaurants. There were also two Jacana here and a pair of Yellow-winged Tanager in a bare tree on the far side.

Grey-headed Tanager

We paid the small entrance fee for the ruins and walked in. The done thing here is to take a bicycle tour in a guided tricycle but this wouldn't be very good for birding! As with most Mayan ruins it was both fascinating as well as very birdy even at 11am. The long straight entrance track was probably the best bit, the forest each side of the wide road being very active. Tawny-winged and Ivory-billed Woodcreeper were good finds, and there were loads of Swainson's Thrush hopping around the understorey. There were two Gartered Trogon and two Black-headed Trogon, plus a Keel-billed Toucan. They're the kind of exotic neotropical birds that feel rare but in fact are really common. In some of the damper areas we found Northern Waterthrush, and a Louisiana Waterthrush was seen on one of the pyramids. Tanagers were represented by Rose-throated, Summer and Grey-headed. Near one of the pyramids an Ocellated Turkey was sat in the shade - I had not thought we would see this species here, indeed this was one of the species that had caused us to drive all the way down to Calakmul last time. It was the only one we saw though, whereas further south there had been large numbers. Anyway, I can thoroughly recommend Coba. It was not busy at all, and we found loads of birds.

Black-headed Trogon

Swainson's Thrush

Ocellated Turkey

By now it was the heat of the day and activity had declined noticeably as we left the site and returned to our oven-like car. We had a quick spot of lunch next to the water and then headed northwest towards Valladolid and Tizimin. After Tizimin it is a straight road to Rio Lagartos, and with Hurricane Milton having gone through only a couple of days previously we were a little worried as to what it would be like. As it happened it was absolutely fine, but actual news had been hard to come by so we just didn't know. We made one stop on the way up at a wetland area but didn't really give it the time it deserved as we wanted to get to the coast, and so added it to the itinerary on our way back.

Just before you reach Rio Lagartos there is a crossroads, with roads heading east and west along the southern sides of the inland lagoons. To the west is the Camino San Felipo, to the east the Ejido San Salvador. We decided to go east to where the road bends up to Los Coloradas and by continuing straight you are on an unpaved track to a ranch. Here we started adding water birds to our trip list, with Tricoloured Heron, Green Heron, Spotted Sandpiper and American Flamingo. Further along the main road we came across Belted Kingfisher, our first Black-bellied Whistling Duck, and a Peregrine shot across the sky.

As dusk fell we relocated to the Camino San Felipe as this was the direction of accomodation. This was nothing short of sensational. As it got darker thousands of waterfowl came overhead, heading for the lagoons to roost for the night. There were in the region of 1500 Blue-winged Teal, 250 Cattle Egret, hundreds of Great-tailed Grackle and more Black-bellied Whistling Duck. A family of Russet-naped Wood-Rail ran across the road, two adults and four chicks. Of note this was my 1001st species of the year. As it got darker two Lesser Nighthawk came out to hunt for insects over the marsh on the south side of the road. There was a bit of traffic, people heading back to Rio Lagartos and to San Felipe, and after one of these cars passed we heard a thump. Looking in the road we saw the prone shape of a bird and it was with great sadness that we picked up an injured Boat-billed Heron, its eyes still open. Its neck was broken, there was nothing we could do, and its eyes dimmed before us as we lait it in the grass. Such a shame, a fantastic bird.

Boat-billed Heron

Russet-naped Wood-Rail

Once fully dark we drove the short distance west to San Felipe, and quickly found our hotel on the water's edge. Of Hurricane Milton there was barely any sign whatsover. A few downed palm fronds and a few large puddles. We had a great dinner of fresh lobster and a couple of beers before retiring for the night, it had been a great day and we felt that having reached the coast (which had really been the point of this trip all along) we were really getting into gear.

Mexico - Northern Yucatan - October 2024 - Day 1 - Cozumel Island

Having bought our ferry tickets the evening before we were able to do a bit of birding in the  park and on the beach next to the pier as we waited for it to depart to Cozumel where we hoped to connect with endemics. At the time of travel there were three endemics, although one, the Cozumel Thrasher, may have disappeared, or be so low in numbers that nobody sees it. We knew we wouldn't see this, but we were hopeful of finding the Hummingbird, Cozumel Emerald, and the fawn-coloured Cozumel Vireo. Shortly after we got back to the UK House Wren underwent a huge split and the bird on Cozumel was elevated to species. Unfortunately we didn't see one!

Funny Pigeons....

So, back to the ferry. There are a number of different companies all operating a slightly different schedule, and they go very frequently with the trip taking about 45 minutes. In the park were Great-tailed Grackle and a few Collared Dove, a Great Kiskadee, a Tropical Mockingbird and two Tropical Kingbird. A small number of Northern Rough-winged Swallow flitted south with a single Barn Swallow. Most of the activity was on the beach and over the sea, with a few Magnificent Frigatebird flying over and also sat on the pier, plenty of Brown Pelican, four Least Tern and six Royal Tern. There were also a lot of Laughing Gulls on the pier. White Ibis, Snowy Egret and Great White Egret also flew over, and there were Sanderling and Turnstone on the beach. 

The crossing itself was virtually bird free, with birds only reappearing as we arrived into San Miguel. Having picked up our wreck of hire car a blocks away from the pier we drove a short distance to an eBird hotspot in town that had seemed good for Hummingbirds including Cozumel Emerald. Whilst we found a few Green-breasted Mango, mostly these were just flying very rapidly from one flowering plant to another and we didn't see anything perched for longer than a nano-second.

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Our next stop was Parque Corazon, also allegedly good for Cozumel Emerald. Could we find one? No we could not! There were lots of Black Catbird and Yucatan Woodpeckers on the short loop here, but the best bird was easily a single Western Spindalis about a quarter of the way along anticlockwise. This is a Carribbean species, and Cozumel is the only place in Mexico where it occurs. I'd hoped we might see this as it was a world lifers, but to have it fall so easily and quickly was rather a surprise. Warblers were represented by Ovenbird, American Redstart, Northern Parula and Yellow Warbler.

By now it was gone midday, where does the time go? We stopped for a quick lunch and then birded the Planetarium. No Hummers once again, but it was decently birdy for the middle of the day. Our first Yucatan Vireo of the trip was here, with Vaux's Swift, Black-and-White Warbler, Magnolia Warbler and a Yellow-faced Grassquit.

Heading further south we drove along the coast to the village of El Cedral. Bizarrely there is an entrance fee, perhaps as this is a spot from where you can take quad bike tours and visit cenotes and caves. It's a good way to get ino the jungle, and the fee was minimal in the grand scheme of things. And we finally found Cozumel Emerald here visiting some nectar feeders on the south side of the village. These were in the garden of a resident American who knew his birds a bit and knew why were here. He stayed in his garden, and we stayed on the street, but it was all very friendly. The trip list here grew significantly, with Tennessee Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Clay-coloured Thrush and Bananaquit. There was another Western Spindalis in the village.

Cozumel Emerald

Ruddy Ground Dove

Groove-billed Ani

Yellow Warbler

With the clock ticking we headed back to San Miguel for one last go at Cozumel Vireo at a spot on the southern side of the town quite near the Planetarium. Thankfully we found one in some trees on a track behind some houses, and what a lovely bird it is. Excellent view ensued, and even some photographs, perhaps the first decent ones of the day. We also found Yellow-throated Warbler here, Summer Tanager, Eastern Wood Pewee and Ruddy Ground Dove, and in some pools no bigger than large puddles a Solitary Sandpiper and a Least Sandpiper. With our spirits buoyed considerably by the Vireo, and feeling that we had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat we drove back into town, handed our car back, and caught the next ferry back to Playa del Carmen. We had seen exactly 50 species on the island. By now Parque Fundadores was buzzing with activity, families and groups of young people out eating, drinking and dancing. I treated myself to a daiquiri at a nearby bar and reflected on a very positive day with both the primary targets seen.

Cozumel Vireo

Solitary Sandpiper

Mexico - Northern Yucatan - October 2024 - Itinerary and logistics

Northern Yucatan Peninsula, 10th - 15th October 2024

Fancy a bit of winter sunshine and some easy neotropical birding? Mexico has the answer. This is what I said last time of a trip in January 2023, and I found the same thing to be true last October. On that trip the original plan had to been to drive a large clockwise circle from Cancun to Calakmul via Chetamul and then back via Merida and Rio Lagartos. In the event we decided we did not have quite enough time and returned from Calakmul the way we had come. But Mick and I pledged there and then that we would be back to bird the northern half of the peninsula as soon as we could make it work. 

A good excuse to go back and head west to Rio Lagartos and Chichen-Itza, and possibly spend a day on Cozumel for the endemics on the way back.

It took us a year and a half, but this trip report is the result of that decision. There are a suite of different species up on the northern coast, including a small number of endemics, and of course Cozumel island has three (now four, but perhaps one of the original three is gone) endemics as well. Our original plan had been to do Cozumel on the final day, but before we left we decided to go immediately and thus take ferries out of any mucked-up transport equations that could risk our return flight. We had also planned to go a lot further west than Rio Lagartos, including to Progreso and Celestun, but in the event we saw most if not all of our targets at the first stop and decided against the extra driving.

Logistics

• A six day trip in mid October.

• Flights: from Gatwick to Cancun on British Airways. Outbound it is an early afternoon flight that gets you there early evening. Early enough that you can get a sensible distance away from Cancun and still have dinner. The return flight left at 6pm and landed in London in the morning. 

• Car Hire: Avis as part of a package. Can't remember the model, but a regular car rather than a 4x4 which is not necessary in this area. We also hired a car on Cozumel which was a total rip-off in local terms but wasn't too bad through a western lens. It did the job. It is recommened to go as a foot passenger rather than take your mainland hire car, which may in any event not be allowed.

• Driving: No hassle other than one encounter with corrupt policeman whilst driving in the dark near Playa del Carmem. They invented a speeding ticket and took all our money.
• Weather: We travelled during the Atlantic hurricane season which we stupidly did not consider at the time of booking. A day before we arrived in Cancun Hurricane Milton skirted along the top of the Yucatan before heading towards Florida. This made for a very anxious few days given our plans, mercifully however it stayed slightly offshore. On the west coast, Celestun was evacuated due to flooding. This had been in our original plans but we never ended up going that far across for other reasons. By the time we got up to Rio Lagartos two days afterwards the weather was lovely with almost no signs of a storm of this magnitude. But I would think twice before going to this area again at this time of year, especially as hurricanes are increasing in both frequency and intensity. 

• Accommodation: We booked the first three nights in advance and then played it by ear. The first two nights were the Hotel Real del Mayab at Playa del Carmen, very close to the Cozumel catamaran, and which had parking for our car. Night three was up at the Hotel San Felipe de Jesus near Rio Lagartos , and where we ended up staying two nights rather than just one. From there on we made it up using booking.com.

• Food: Very straightforward. Cheap and mostly very good, we ate at our hotel at San Felipe which was excellent, simply superb fish. We also visited our favourite truck stop near Tulum for another round of vegetable tacos.
• Optics: This time I brought a scope for birding on the coast, and was glad I did. It's not necessary if you are only contemplating forest birding.

• Literature: The Birds of Mexico and Adjacent Areas, 3rd Edition, E P Edwards & E M Butler (Corrie Herring Books), and of course the incomparable eBird which gave us loads of good information about where to go.

Itinerary
Day 0: Arrived in Cancun early evening and drove south to a hotel in Playa del Carmen chosen specifically for its location close to the Cozumel catamaran departure pier. It also had parking for the car. We booked our ferry tickets with Xcaret in a mall near the pier that evening.
Day 1: Cozumel. We caught the first Xcaret sailing of the day and arranged a car at the Playa del Carmen pier whilst waiting for it. In retrospect we should have waited for more options on the other side. All day on Cozumel birding based on gen as to where to find the endemics. It was really difficult but we just about scraped through! A car is pretty essential on the island if you are birding different locations and we only found the Cozumel Emerald some distance away from the main town. Early evening catamaran back (it takes under an hour) and then back to the same hotel for a second night.
Day 2: Early morning start on the Camino Akumal, delayed by a brush with some policemen who recognised us as an easy target. From there inland to Coba archaeological site. All morning at Coba. After lunch by the Laguna the heat of the day was spent driving north to Rio Lagartos via Tizimin. We arrived in time for some excellent birding along the Camino San Felipe. Overnight on the coast at San Felipe.
Day 3: All day birding around Rio Lagartos, including the salt pans at Las Coloradas. The birding up here was so good that we decided to stay a futher night at the hotel so we could repeat it again the following morning.
Day 4: Morning around Rio Lagartos. Mid-morning we moved south to Xocen close to Valladolid to bird several promising looking tracks found via eBird. Evening drive to Tulum, booking a hotel en route.
Day 5: Early morning at the brand new Quintana Roo airport south of Tulum, like Mayan ruins another way to get into the jungle - gigantic roads have been drilled in and even those right next to the airport had tons of birds.  Mid-morning we then birded the village at Muyil, however the ruins were closed whilst renovations to the entrance took place. We did sneak into the boardwalk behind the ruins which you can access from the lagoon but it wasn't very productive. Hotel for the night was the magnificent Wakax Hacienda, by some margin the most expensive night of the trip, but it had huge grounds, an amazing bird list, and we we could leave for the airport directly. We birded this for most of the afternoon and then had an excellent dinner.

Day 6: All morning birding Wakax with a break for breakfast. We were then able to freshen up, pack, and drive up to Cancun for mid-afternoon to catch our early evening flight. Overnight to London and straight to work.

Fife Horizons

When I am up in Scotland I have a choice of rooms in which to stay. My preference is for the one with the window that overlooks some of the bird feeders, but also the empty weedy field adjacent to the house. From here I can also see the hillside above, a patchwork of agricultural fields with woodland on the crest. If I set up my scope (which now lives in Fife, I just don't use it in London) it's possible to see a fair way, and depending on the light many of the birds end up being identifiable.

I am here at the moment, and earlier today I managed to add two new species to the garden list, even though the birds in question were nowhere near the garden. From the garden is the critical distinction here. The first was before I started work this morning. I was scanning one of the fields on the hillside when I found some lumps in the short grass. Partridges! They were extremely distant, but there are only two kinds of Partridge in Fife, and one is a lot rarer than the other and it is not the one you think! Given the differences in plumage, and in particular head colouration, it is also straightforward to separate them at a considerable distance. Grey Partridge! A covey of eleven birds hunkered down, every so often one would stand up and have a look around, the head clearly being lighter and a bit orangy. And I could even see that the breast was two-toned, darker below even if I couldn't see the spot.

Just before my first after lunch meeting started I had another scan. On the far crest of the hill a small group of birds were sat in a small twiggy bush. Was it my imagination or did one of them look yellow? They flew a bit closer, still miles away in relative terms, first sitting on some tree tops,and then going back and perching on wires. This was a much better view, and even at this distance some of them were definitely yellow! And structurally they seemed perfect for Buntings as well when side on. Yellowhammer are very common around here, but they don't come to gardens and so were not on my list. I had no qualms about adding them.

I realise all this is highly tenuous but I am sure that most birders who maintain garden lists also all engage in these kinds of shenanigans. If you don't then your garden lists will be limited to the fifteen species that actually do visit gardens. The photo above is the view I have been talking about. The Grey Partridges were in the most central green bit, the Yellowhammers on the horizon over towards the right hand side, landing in the obvious treeline on the horizon before dropping onto some wires that are not really visible here. So my Fife garden list has risen to 71, not bad for a garden that I don't live in. I think Curlew is the most obvious missing species, there are tons of them around here so I fully expect to get that at some point. Ditto Lapwing. It is nice to have boring things to be excited about.

First Fife trip of 2025

I'm up in Fife for the first time this year. I was supposed to come on Friday but Storm Eowyn had other ideas. I changed my trip to Thursday instead, but this got cancelled too. OK then, I'll just go on Saturday....

Despite a truncated day I managed to visit Letham Pools on Saturday afternoon with my Mum. Nothing new, but a pleasant 45 minutes having a good old scan while she went for a walk in the village and made some new friends. A couple of Stonechat, four Red-legged Partridge, and a remarkable six Raven was the best of it. If I keep coming I'll keep finding new birds - I think I am on 96 for the site now after something like 45 visits. Tantalisingly close to a nice round number. The site isn't as good as previously though, the farmer has given up trying to drain it and as such there is no mud any more. And no mud means no waders. After that we had a quick stop at Birnie and Gaddon lochs for a Great White Egret. This was on Gaddon, the southern lake, and may or may not be the Angle Park bird that I found all the way back in September. This was the first of a veritable influx, so many birds that it was actually impossible to say how many there were. Most moved on but a few lingered. 

There are trees down all over the place, this central part of Scotland got a real battering. The ones on roads have been cleared away to allow vehicles to pass, but everywhere I've been birding the last two days has required some kind of clambering or minor detour. At Birnie and Gaddon the entrance track just past the little bridge is completely blocked, and I'd imagine this is the case almost everywhere. Damage at Chateau L deux was limited thankfully.

Today I started down at Leven, scoping the sea for Ducks. There have been a couple of Surf Scoter here but I couldn't find them, the sea was pretty choppy and stirred up after Eowyn. Lots of Velvet Scoter though, Long-tailed Ducks, Red-breasted Merganser, and eight Scaup. From there I carried on around Largo Bay to Balbuthie which is just above Kilconquhar. Some White-fronted Geese have been hanging around with the Pink-feet here, and a good old scan found three, probably four, but on the point of confirming something spooked them and they all relocated to the middle of the field. This was a Fife tick, and feeling quite satisfied and rather than start again I went to Ruddon's Point.

A female Merlin was a nice surprise at the Cocklemill Burn, and a handful of Twite were around the second bridge. Even more surprising was a hunt in full flow, a pack of hounds and a load of riders on horseback, even a bit of bugling. I had no idea this even happened in Fife, I thought it was an exclusively English pursuit and that Fife wasn't posh enough. Needless to say I am not a fan. They did put up a load of Grey Partridge though, and hundreds of Wood Pigeon. Of Foxes there were no sign. Good!

At Ruddon's Point itself I scanned westwards from the high ground. The sea seemed a lot calmer from here, and I could easily pick out half a dozen Red-throated Divers and a single Black-throated Diver. One Slavonian Grebe was about halfway out, and I had good views of the Velvet Scoters. It's great up here, and this particular site is one of the best. On a calm day it can be magnificent, Largo Bay like a skating rink.

The only downer was that a Tundra Bean Goose spent the day on Wanstead Flats. This is a rare bird nationally, in London even more so, so to miss one on the patch is particularly gutting. Hopefully it sees no need to leave the lovely Greylag it is hanging around with.

The Balkans - September 2024 - Trip List

Here's the customary trip list, sorted by country. 102 species in all, with four more added in Finland. As I said in earlier posts Spring would be the time to go, the trouble is you want to be everywhere in spring....

Dubrovnik coast

The Balkans - September 2024 - Day 3 - Montenegro - Croatia and home, via Finland....

Our AirBnB on the coast was perfectly situated for Cadmos Marsh and we arrived at 7am to thick mist. We had seen this atmospheric effect from the Rock Partridge view point a few days earlier, and now we were in it! It would likely be driveable but we left the car near a farm on the southern side and walked in, turning left along a wooded ditch. It was teeming with birds, would that we had more time available as looking at the map later we never even got to the marsh itself as we spent so long enjoying the ditch!

Spotted Flycatchers were everywhere, and we also found Pied Flycatcher, Redstart, a Grey Wagtail, and Eastern Olivaceous Warbler. I didn't manage a photo - in fact photographically speaking the trip was a disaster, hopeless from start to finish for anything with feathers. The landscapes on the other hand were sublime. Of note however was the constant stream of Yellow Wagtails overhead. We soon discovered where they were coming from. Rounding the ditch and crossing it we came across an expanse of grassy meadow with a few bushes - it was carpeted with Wagtails. From close to us to the far distance. Every now and again a small number would get up and continue their journey south, but were presumably then replaced by others dropping in as we had heard loads a couple of days earlier just a few miles up the road. We also heard Quail again here which struck us as very late. Indeed we were contacted by the eBird reviewer when we got home who had the same view, and said that it could have been a hunter's lure which had not occured to us. We will never know.

The Wagtail field

It was soon time to retrace our steps and get to the airport. It had been a fun expedition. I would happily go back in the spring, this particular site as well as the area just over the Bosnian border would be excellent.

The flight to Helsinki took three hours - quite disappointing really as Helsinki is still over three hours from London! But it was either that or lose two days of holiday. I suppose we could have cancelled but where is the fun in that. I put all my optics in my small bag and gave the bigger one to Finnair all the way through to London so that I wouldn't have to bother with it during the stopover. We had five hours to play with, not quite enough in my view to get all the way into Helsinki and poke around Viikki Bay which was a shame. Instead we took a train from the airport a few stops west to Vantaankoski which seemed to be the best option to get us at least close to some woodland and fields, and spent around an hour and a half birding between two of the stations. This was actually better than I expected, with lots of Fieldfare, Siskin, Goldcrest, lots of Starling, and a surprise and cold-looking Wheatear. Time was not on our side though, and in any event the Finnair lounge at Helsinki is excellent and I wanted to have a late lunch before we flew, so after exhausting the meagre birding possibilities here - 18 species - we got on the next passing train and went back. It was one those annoying days which you essentially have to chalk up as rather a waste of time, but Finland was at least a new country for Mick and to get there is normally very expensive whereas for us it had been free, kind-of.

So, a fun long weekend away with two new countries, 15 new birds towards my world year listing effort, and a brand new bird with Rock Partridge. Montenegro in particular is spectacular, a return is definitely on the cards.

The Balkans - September 2024 - Day 2 - Montenegro - coast and mountains

Wood Warblers were singing on the Kotor Fort Trail as we headed off early morning, and people were already starting their hikes. We were going elsewhere though, aiming for Tivat on the other side of the hill, where there are some salt pans and pools at Solila Nature Reserve. This was easily the best place we went birding over the weekend, and as we walked up and down the bunds we picked up various waders and other birds. There were not huge numbers of anything, but certainly a lot more diversity than anywhere else. Common Snipe, Common Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Redshank, Ruff and Black-winged Stilt were all seen, and of note were at least six Kingfishers. Passerines were well represented by Cetti's Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Whinchat, Wheatear, Garden Warbler, Yellow Wagtail, Tawny Pipit and Yellowhammer.

Zitting Cisticola

As we had started so early we felt we had time to carry on further around the coast and then inland to Virpazar on Lake Skadar close to the Albanian border. This was also extremely birdy, with immense numbers of Pygmy Cormorants in the shallow reedy water that formed an extensive part of the lake's southern shore. I think you can take boat trips here, but we decided to view the lake from two key points - firstly a vantage point high up above Virpazar, and then also from the obvious road bridge a little further north and from where you can see into the western arm of the lake. By now we were of course well into our eBird listing, and careful scoping picked up two Dalmatian Pelicans, three Marsh Harriers, three Black-necked Grebes, four Squacco Herons, and five prized Magpies! We also then birded a small river just over the bridge, you take a track to the right shortly after the houses run out, and runs parallel to a ditch before hitting the river. We added Greenfinch and Goldfinch here in the woods by the water, as well as the by now common Tree Pipit, Wood Warbler, and more Kingfishers.

Lake Skadar, looking towards the bridge from Virpazar

Wood Warbler

From here we headed into Lovcen National Park (small entrance fee at a booth), aiming for the highest peak where there is a mausoleum built into the rock honouring Petar II Petrovic-Njegos, otherwise known as Njegos, a former leader (both religious and political) of Montenegro. He was also a poet and philosopher, so quite the CV. Regrettably we didn't visit, but the place was absolutely heaving with day-trippers doing exactly this. So much so that there was no point trying to bird the area (which has a Gosney stamp of approval) and we were forced to move on - further along the road we picked up Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Marsh Tit, Green Woodpecker and Firecrest.

Treecreeper

Kotor from Lovcen

Red-backed Shrike

We left the National Park via the western road which leads down towards Kotor and Tivat. It is quite the drive, with a series of incredible hairpin bends as you descend down to the town. We were thus quite close to Solila once again, and with no better ideas we returned to bird it again. I don't think we picked up anything new, and quite a few of the morning's waders had disappeared. The day had been spent driving a large loop, but we needed to get back to Croatia to be in position for a bit of early morning birding before our flight. We drove up through Tivat to the Lepetane-Kamenari ferry which saved driving around the water, and then took the coast road up to Dubrovnik, crossing the border at Debel Brijeg. We had managed 88 species in Montenegro.

Solila NR