Dragan's Birding Travel Tips

Homage to Catalonia This post is republished in our “From the Archives” series, featuring highlights of our vast back catalogue of more than 10,000 birding-related posts published over the last 15 years or so.

March and Barcelona filled with sunlight and full of parakeets. Despite the sun, I have spent days in a darkened Museu Blau with an interesting natural history collection (the question was – how many of those specimens have I seen in the wild)
▶️ www.10000birds.com/homage-to-ca...

🐦 #birding

I went birding… and to admire trees! Mostly glorious White Poplars. I don’t really think of myself as a tree-hugger, but if I were religious, I’d worship trees!

Birds included Brambling, Mistle Thrush, Woodlark, Marsh Tit, Black Woodpecker, WT Eagle, Sparrowhawk, etc.

#Birding #Beljarica #Belgrade

#Birding #Uganda: 1060 sp., timing Dec-Feb & Jul-Sep. Queen Elizabeth NP is one of the very few areas with 600+ sp. For montane forest sp. – Bwindi NP with 350, for lowland forest sp. – Kibale NP with 375, for Guinea-Congo forest sp. Semuliki NP with 440 sp.
More ▶️ www.10000birds.com/our-dream-bi...

The Image Stabilising Swarovski ST Balance 14-35×50 Spotting Scope I tested the new Swarovski ST Balance 14-35×50, a spotting scope using an integrated gyroscope that measure movement over a thousand times per second to instantly adjust the lens position and…

I tested the new #SwarovskiOptik 14-35x50, a #spottingscope with an integrated gyroscope. The #STBalance is a lightweight, compact, image-stabilised scope that allows handheld observation without a tripod

▶️ www.10000birds.com/the-image-st...

🦅 #seetheunseen #swarovskioptik #birding #onewithnature

Our Favorite Birding Locations (Collaborative Post Part 1) This is a collaborative post in two parts. In this, the first one, our writers share their all-time favourite birding destination – a place to which they have actually been. In the second one…

The other day, I visited the #ObedskaBara Wetland. While the area I am visiting can end up under several feet of water, I am focusing on the swamp forest of mostly common oak. No waterbirds, only woodpeckers and songbirds.
▶️ www.10000birds.com/our-favorite...

#Birding #seetheunseen #Belgrade

February #birding the seasonally inundated oak, poplar and willow forests of the #ObedskaBara NR in the Sava River floodplain, 1 hr west of #Belgrade: Hen Harrier, Middle Spotted, Gray-headed, and Black Woodpecker, Treecreeper and Short-toed Treecreeper...

🌳 #goBirding #seetheunseen #mywildlife

Late January #birding #Beljarica, #Belgrade, a spacious flood retention basin of seasonally inundated riparian forests, observed fresh Beaver teeth marks and a White-tailed Eagle incubating its recently laid eggs, Merlin in a hunt, Water, & Meadow Pipit, heard a mourning call of Black Woodpecker🌳🌳🌳

#Habitats of #Europe by Forbes, Campbell & Morris includes Europe’s 56 major habitats, clustered by biomes: conifer forests, deserts, broadleaf woodlands, savannas, grasslands & steppes, Mediterranean shrublands, tundras, freshwater, etc.
▶️ www.10000birds.com/habitats-of-...

#BirdBook 🌳 #birding 🌳

Habitats of Europe When I started to bird around my home city, my whole attention was focused on species. Once I became familiar with most of those that allowed me to observe them, my focus switched to bird families…

Recently published #Habitats of #Europe by Forbes, Campbell & Morris includes Europe’s 56 major habitats, and covers all of continental Europe, east to the Urals and Türkiye, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.
▶️ www.10000birds.com/habitats-of-...

#FieldGuide #PUPNature #BirdBooks #BookReview

#Birding #DeliblatoSands steppe, sandy & agricultural landscapes, as well as black locust, black pine, & Scots pine woodland, E of #Belgrade: GG Shrike, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, Meadow Pipit, Brambling, Linnet, Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer

🌳 #birdsuniteourworld 🌲 #onewithnature

Counting my favourite section of the #Danube, #LabudovoOkno Reserve, downriver from #Belgrade. The temperature stayed below 0C all day, but inside the cocoon of a car, still not too chill
▶️ www.10000birds.com/the-european...

📷birds by M. Mares
#fortheloveofnature 🌳 #goBirding 🌳 #birdsuniteourworld

The 1st frozen #Beljarica Foreland #birding in 2026: Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier, WT Eagle, Black Woodpecker, Fieldfare, Meadow Pipit, Water Pipit, Brambling, Reed Bunting… Cold, yet quite productive 2 hours

#Belgrade 🦅 #gobirding 🦆🦢 #birdsuniteourworld 🦆🦢 #seetheunseen 🦅 #SwarovskiOptik

#Birding #DubovackiRit reserve within the #LabudovoOkno Ramsar section of the #Danube downriver from #Belgrade: hundreds of Greylag and Greater White-fronted Geese, Wigeon, Pintail, Goldeneye, Great Egret, Marsh Harrier, WT Eagle

#gobirding 🌳 #birdsuniteourworld 🌲 #onewithnature 🌳 #seetheunseen

Wrong photo - not Zemun

Find the best #birding in #Belgrade @ the Dorćol Quay (📷) and the Zemun Quay, overlooking the #Danube. These days, look out for Black-throated Diver (2), Velvet Scoter (3), Red-necked Grebe (3)
▶️ 10000birds.com/december-bir...

🌳 #goBirding 🌳 #birdsuniteourworld 🌳 #seetheunseen 🌳 #fortheloveofnature

#Kikinda is not the only place in #Serbia with #LongEaredOwl roosts. It is estimated that some 30,000 LEOs in 450 roosts overwinter in the country. Most hold a few dozen owls, while several hold hundreds!

▶️ 10000birds.com/the-701-long...

🌳 #Belgrade 🌳 #birdsuniteourworld 🌳 #seetheunseen 🌳 #birding

Birdwatching in Northern Greece by Steve Mills: Third Edition If you’ve birded in Spain, possibly more than once, and are considering another Mediterranean country to quench your thirst, look to the east. Steve Dudley, a bird guide and author of the Lesvos…

By the 3rd edition of #Birdwatching in Northern #Greece, the coverage has expanded to encompass the entire continental Greece. Smaller areas may be depicted on 3 maps, while the larger areas are depicted on 10 to 15…

▶️ 10000birds.com/birdwatching...

#birdbooks #birding #birdbook

Testing the new NL 14x52s by Swarovski When the new NL 10x and 14×52 mm binoculars were announced by Swarovski Optik, even though I find this series a bit oversized for my tastes, I was still curious about the 10s. I mean…

#SwarovskiOptik #NLPure 14x52 is a beast, great for larger but distant raptors and waterbirds, also for small, yet closer pipits, and for open habitats, grasslands, lakes, marshes, cliffs, mountain-tops, shore-to-sea watching
▶️ 10000birds.com/testing-the-...

#birding 🦉 #seetheunseen 🦋 #binoculars 🦌

Chilly early December #birding grasslands and woodlands of #DeliblatoSands Reserve, 1 hr east of #Belgrade, #Serbia: Little Owl, Great Grey Shrike, Marsh Tit, Goldcrest, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, Black Redstart, Common Linnet, Yellowhammer 🌲

🌳 #birdsuniteourworld 🌲 #onewithnature 🌳 #seetheunseen 🌲

#SwarovskiOptik's #NLPure optic review: 10x32s are slim in the middle & comfortable to use, and when you raise your fingers, well balanced NLs happily rest against your thumbs, not falling to either side!
▶️ 10000birds.com/binoculars-r...

#birding 🦉 #onewithnature 🦌 #seetheunseen 🦋 #binoculars 🌷

Our Favorite Bird Books of 2025 Thank the birding goddesses for books! In a year full of natural and human challenges, books have been a source of comfort, insight, and inspiration. Here are our Favorite Titles of 2025…

Dragan recommends Guide to the Birds of #CocosIsland /Guia de las aves de la #IsladelCoco by Arias & Montoya. It may technically be a book, but in reality, it is a treasure island map leading you to a certain spot in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of #CostaRica
www.10000birds.com/our-favorite...

#Birding #Beljarica, #Belgrade, a spacious flood retention basin of seasonally inundated riparian forests of willow and poplar, had a great observation of Black Woodpeckers, Great White Egret, 📷 White-tailed Eagle, Mistle Thrush, Meadow Pipit, Water Pipit, Hawfinch

🌳 #ForlandLeveObaleDunava NR 🌳

With a Dec-Mar dry season, #Inirida, #Colombia offers the transition #birding zone between the true Amazon forest, and the grasslands and white sand forests of the Guianan shield and the #Orinoco Basin. With 550 recorded sp., expect 200sp/week. Single-base: #Inírida.

#ManakinNatureTours

Hilty’s Birds of Colombia field guide review Birds of Colombia (Lynx and BirdLife International Field Guides) by Steven L. Hilty “Sadly, a few specimens, salvaged from these shipments, were so rare that they have never been found in the wild”…

#Colombia 🇨🇴 is one of those countries my dreams are made of, and Hilty’s "#Birds of Colombia" is a stunning book with beautiful artwork, authoritative, if concise texts and easy to navigate maps. Highly recommended!
▶️ 10000birds.com/hiltys-birds...

#birding
#lynxnaturebooks
#birdbooks
#fieldguides

CiROCCO Serbia Use Case - Deliblato Sands YouTube video by CiROCCO EU Project

Those wild landscapes that I know, love and study: #birding #DeliblatoSands Reserve, 1hr east of #Belgrade

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM0e...

Late November #birding #DeliblatoSands Reserve, 1hr east of #Belgrade, #Serbia – 350 km2 of forest (40%), scrub (30%) and grassland (20%) in the largest inland dune system of Europe: Lesser Spotted, and Syrian Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, Meadow Pipit, Hawfinch, Common Linnet, European Serin

Had my first Hume's Warbler the other day... ✌️

#Birding the islands of #SaoTomeandPrincipe 180sp, 65sp/8days incl. all 27 #endemics — more endemics/km2 than anywhere on 🌍; key areas on #SaoTome: Monte Carmo & Lagoa Amelia; on #Principe: Bela Vista above Santo Antonio, 📷 #RocaSundy Hotel & S. forests, Ilhas Tinhosas for seabirds; Jun–Aug Dec–Jan🌴

#Birding #Egypt 480 birds, 150 breeding in the country, 160sp/2weeks: Cairo — Painted Snipe, Senegal Coucal; Hurghada — White-eyed Gull, White-cheeked Tern; Luxor — Nile Valley Sunbird, Aswan — Green-backed Heron; Sinai specialties found nowhere else — Sinai Rosefinch, Palestine Sunbird; Dec to Jan🌴

#Birding #Morocco 510sp, 210 breeding in the country, 190sp/12days; regions: Atlas mountains #Ouarzazate (📷 #HôtelLeFintOuarzazate) and #BoumaleneDades; Sahara Erfoud temporary lake of #Merzouga & dunes of #ErgChebbi (📷 #MerzougaDesertGlamping); Agadir coast Souss & Massa estuaries; late Apr-May🌴🌴