Whitby is a quaint fishing port on the Yorkshire coast. I lived close by with my household within the early nineties – my youngest son was born a Yorkshireman. In keeping with Bram Stoker, it’s in Whitby that Depend Dracula landed in England. That’s the start of the tip of that story, however I used to be standing in the beginning of the start. I used to be in Comana, Romania – a city based by Vlad Tepes also called Vlad the Impaler, Depend Dracul himself (1431 – 1476).
I had travelled to Romania for a convention on sustainability. After my keynote speech had been delivered – some say to a standing ovation, others have been much less impressed – I had a day to discover the Romanian birdlife. The Danube Delta was too distant, however the Neajlov Delta (also called Comana Pond) was proper across the nook. Touring by highway in Romania isn’t superfast so the 50 km from Bucharest took about an hour. Nonetheless, small value to pay for what is seemingly the second-largest delta within the nation. And that’s the place the story started.
Impaling isn’t solely accomplished by Romanian medieval princes. There are six species of shrike in Romania. Isabelline Shrike, Masked Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Nice Grey Shrike, Pink-backed Shrike, and Lesser Grey Shrike. Of those, solely the latter three are widespread. Wouldn’t or not it’s improbable to see a shrike in Vlad’s nature reserve? That was my hope, however I additionally deliberate for a minimum of one lifer – Pygmy Cormorant. With these two objectives I’d be both very glad, half glad or doubly disillusioned. I favored my odds.
With me have been my Romanian hosts Gabriela, Lacramioara and Daniel. None of them are birders which was clearly evidenced by their proposal to choose me up at 10:00. Remarking simply as soon as that “the afternoon begins at 10:00” and seeing their appalled expressions I accepted my destiny and my hosts’ exceptional hospitality. Would you are taking somebody with some bizarre pastime out for a complete day? Beginning lengthy earlier than daybreak to go and see cash or stamps? I wouldn’t.
The Comana Pond space has a restaurant with a view of a boating lake, ziplines and different leisure. The lake could also be synthetic, nevertheless it had a coming and going of Pygmy Cormorants. Lifer within the bag effectively earlier than lunch. I used to be half glad! My Romanian hosts have been shortly entering into chicken images – a discipline I don’t excel in. Early within the stroll that meant taking photos of calmly posing Mallard.
A Nice Egret was a pleasing shock as eBird claimed it was uncommon within the space. Plenty of oohs and aahs and I began to actually recognize my firm’s enthusiasm. These birds weren’t particular to me, however they have been very particular to them. Appreciation is like laughter, contagious. A great feeling.
Eurasian Tree Sparrows, Chiffchaff and Sedge Warblers have been good finds, however the spotlight of the stroll got here with a turquoise-blue flash: Widespread Kingfisher. Whoever determined to place the phrase “widespread” within the title of this flying jewel deserves to be handed over to Vlad for abstract punishment. What a tremendous chicken it’s. Regardless of what number of occasions you see them, it continues to be certainly one of Europe’s most stunning creatures. Everybody had good views of the chicken. It posed on a rush stem, it plunged within the water fishing, and it flew by a number of occasions. Smartphones have been used for filming with fairly respectable outcomes.
We celebrated with a hearty Romanian lunch within the Comana restaurant. We solely walked the paths within the backyard and a bit into the wilder areas of the park. There are additionally rougher paths and bicycle tracks into the swamp itself. I’ve not been capable of discover these paths however possibly subsequent time. If you recognize extra, please remark. What I did see was the consequences of final summer time’s drought. Mudflats have been nonetheless uncovered and baked dry. Water has returned because the summer time however not utterly, and it appeared to me that there was fairly some injury to the vegetation. Nonetheless, the drought may even have served as a “reset” and issues might return greener and lusher in spring. In all probability worthwhile to test it out in March-April. Who is aware of?
In fact, we by no means noticed shrikes. I checked the eBird species checklist for the world afterwards and it turned out that just one Pink-backed Shrike had been noticed in your entire 12 months, again in July. With all the things that we did see, the enthusiastic firm and the Kingfisher I’m not even half glad. No, I’m very glad, in any case, impaling is overrated…
Pictures credit: Woodchat Shrike by my buddy José Leal, Kingfisher by Prasan Shrestha at Wikimedia Commons.
Autor Peter
