Spring Bird Photography Tour in Bulgaria

Black-headed Bunting by Mladen Vasilev

A 14-day bird photography tour in Bulgaria, providing excellent opportunities to take pictures of colourful and attractive European birds, such as the Egyptian, Griffon and Cinereous Vultures, Eurasian Spoonbill, Black-crowned Night Heron, Black-winged Stilt, European Roller, European Bee-eater, Common Cuckoo, European Turtle Dove, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Wallcreeper, Red-backed Shrike, Eurasian Penduline Tit, Eurasian Golden Oriole, Cirl Bunting, Black-headed Bunting and many others.

 

This tour covers 5 different regions in Bulgaria – the Danube Valley, the Eastern Balkan Range, the Sakar Hills and the Eastern and Western Rhodopes, plus Lake Kerkini in Greece. We photograph from fixed (permanent) hides, tent hides, boats and vehicles. We usually shoot early in the morning and late in the afternoon to get the best possible light for photography, and make transfers to different areas in the midday hours.

 

30 May

Arrival in Sofia and transfer north-east (for about 3 hours) to the Danube area, where we will be staying for two nights in the town of Belene.

During the rest of the day we will have a photo-session from a fixed tower hide targeting mainly the European Bee-eater and European Roller. There we will have a good chance to photograph the Little Owl too.

 

31 May

Morning and afternoon sessions from the same Bee-eater and Roller photography hide.

 

01 June

Morning session either from the fixed tower hide or using tent hides to photograph other species such as Eurasian Hoopoe (if there is a suitable nest site) and Black-headed Bunting.

We then make a 3-hour mid-day transfer east to the Eastern Balkan Mountains, near the town of Shumen. Here we have a setting of several permanent hides for photographing a wide variety of forest and farmland birds, including the Common Cuckoo, European Turtle Dove, European Green Woodpecker, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Syrian Woodpecker, Eurasian Wryneck, Eurasian Golden Oriole, Red-backed Shrike, Hawfinch, Sombre Tit, etc. We will have an afternoon session here and will stay in this area for two nights.

 

02 June

A full day of woodland and farmland bird photography from the permanent hides.

If there is a suitable site in the area for photographing the Eurasian Hoopoe we will also visit this.

 

03 June

We will have another morning session targeting the forest birds.

Then we will drive south for a couple of hours to the Sakar Hills. Here we usually get very good flight shots of Eastern Imperial Eagles and Long-legged Buzzards hunting on the Souslik colonies in the area. Various passerines can be photographed here, including the Olive-tree Warbler, Cirl Bunting, Black-headed Bunting, Woodchat Shrike, Isabelline Wheatear. We spend the night either in the town of Elhovo or in Topolovgrad.

 

04 June

After the morning session in the Sakar Hills, we will make a one and a half hour transfer further south-west – to our next destination, the Eastern Rhodopes, where we will stay for three nights.

 

05 June & 06 June

Two full days in the Eastern Rhodopes.

On one or both days we will use our permanent hide to photograph Griffon Vulture, Eurasian Black Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Black Kite, White-tailed Eagle and Common Raven feeding on carcasses. In addition to vulture and raptor hide photography, we can also set up tent hides on the local river banks where, depending on the water level, we have a good chance of photographing feeding Black Storks.

Other target birds for photography in this area will be Masked Shrike, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler, Cirl Bunting.

 

07 June

After the morning session in the Eastern Rhodopes, we will travel to the Western Rhodopes, passing through many picturesque and scenic areas. We will stay in the Trigrad area where our main target will be the Wallcreeper. The chances of photographing Wallcreepers there will depend on the location of their nest in the Trigrad gorge.

Accommodation in the Trigrad area for two nights.

 

08 June

A full day in the Western Rhodopes. Apart from the Wallcreeper, here we will try to photograph other attractive birds like the White-throated Dipper, Firecrest and Goldcrest, Crested Tit, Willow Tit, Marsh Tit, Black Redstart.

 

09 June

Transfer to Lake Kerkini in northern Greece for about 4 hours. Arrive in the early afternoon and photograph in the late afternoon. Stay in the area for three nights.

 

10 June & 11 June

Two days of bird photography at Lake Kerkini and surrounding areas.

There will be a great variety of water birds that we will be able to photograph both from the shore and by boat to reach the breeding colonies of cormorants, herons, egrets, spoonbills, etc.

During these two days we will also visit various other habitats around the lake, looking for the Levant Sparrowhawk, Little Owl, European Roller, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Red-rumped Swallow, Blue Rock Thrush, Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Eastern Subalpine Warbler, Olive-tree Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler, Woodchat Shrike, Masked Shrike, Black-headed Bunting, etc.

 

12 June

Transfer (3 hours) to Sofia Airport, where the tour ends. If we have time, we can visit the mountains south of Sofia, where we have good opportunities to photograph the Spotted Nutcracker and other high mountain birds.

 

This tour itinerary can be changed on the spot depending on the weather conditions and the success in photographing the target birds of the tour participants.

On this tour we will visit colorful meadows, sand dunes and shrub habitats, which are full of flowers, butterflies, reptiles and other wildlife, providing opportunities for enjoyable macro-photography too.

 

Spring bird photography tour to BulgariaEuropean Bee-eaters, photo by Dimiter Georgiev ©Neophron Tours

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