Rosy Starlings Short Break

Recently a new colony of Rose-coloured Starlings has been discovered in the largest surviving area of virgin steppe in Bulgaria, some 10 minutes drive from Branta Birding Lodge. The 70-m high cliffs of the North Bulgaria Black Sea coast is now the breeding home to around 4,000 pairs of this delightful long distance migrant from Asia.

In June and July you can also see, Pygmy Cormorant, the desmaresti sub-species of Shag, Glossy Ibis, Purple and Squacco Herons, Little Bittern, Ferruginous Duck, Bee-eater, Roller, Hoopoe, Red-backed and Lesser Grey Shrikes, Penduline and Bearded Tits, Balkan Wagtail, Tawny Pipit, Calandra and Short-toed Larks, birds of prey (including Red-footed Falcon, Long-legged and Honey Buzzards, Levant Sparrowhawk, Booted and Lesser Spotted Eagles), Little Crake, Moustached, Marsh, Savi’s, Olive-tree, Olivaceous and Barred Warblers, Red-Rumped Swallow, Alpine Swift, Syrian Woodpecker and other unusual passerines like Rose-coloured Starling, Pied, Isabelline and Black-eared Wheatears, Ortolan, Black-headed and Corn Buntings, thousands of waders including Collared Pratincole, Stone Curlew, Black-winged Stilt, Kentish Plover, Marsh, Curlew and Broad-billed Sandpipers, Temminck’s Stint, Gull-billed, Caspian, Little, Sandwich and the three species of Marsh Terns, Pontic and Mediterranean Gulls, Yelkouan Shearwater, etc.