My village finches and sparrows

On holiday in Bulgaria, and on walks in my village I have come across several different types of finch and sparrow without really going out and searching. They are mostly commonplace there.

tree sparrow, village north of Varna

In summer I have seen flocks of Spanish sparrow in my village but in winter they have gone south - who knows they may be in Libya at the moment? certainly there are a lot more Spanish sparrow in Libya in winter (and in places where you don't see them in summer) and virtually none left in Bulgaria.

In winter I think I can say tree sparrow is the most abundant sparrow. Certainly the flocks are very mobile and give the impression of being everywhere.

a scene from my village

They are not particularly shy and close up pictures were relatively easy to take.

two more local tree sparrow

House sparrow are also abundant. The one below is special because it is my house sparrow in the sense it was photographed on my house.

house sparrow perched on my house

The most common finch is chaffinch. I was quite surprised the birds I saw were not part of large flocks but in ones and twos. Perhaps someone could tell me why this is. Are they local birds which have stayed put? Is it only migrant chaffinch that flock?

chaffinch in my village

I think its time to remind you that all these birds can be seen within 500 metres of my house within the village and on a walk to a friend's house. It's fairly effortless birding!

However I have cheated a bit with the goldfinch below. They were seen on my walks within the village but this photo comes from a longer walk to the next village.

local goldfinch

Unlike the chaffinch they were definitely flocking.

The final finch saw was not common place like the others. I managed to see just one greenfinch - perched on the apex of a tree.

local greenfinch

Tomorrow I'll post the third of three blogs on my village birds. There's quite an eclectic mix to come. 

The woodpeckers of my village

I arrived back in Benghazi this afternoon following my stay over Christmas and the New Year in Bulgaria. It's green and mild here. It must have rained a lot while I was away. I am looking forward to birding back in Libya this weekend. I expect more water birds than ever and perhaps a few more refugees from the European freeze.


I have got a couple of blogs on Libya lined up even before I go birding again but before then I want to share with you some birding I did in my village in Bulgaria. The next three blogs will be about my daily walks on three days to a friend's house in the my village. So all the birds I am blogging about are within 500 metres of my Bulgarian house. Let me assure you there were plenty!

greater spotted woodpecker, village north of Varna

The first woodpecker I heard pecking away was a greater spotted woodpecker. This is the same species as I saw on a previous (and longer) walk from village to the next one (and which I have already blogged about).

woodland within my village on a frosty day

Greater spotted woodpecker is not usually a bird found within settlements except if there are large parks or very big gardens so it just shows how open and rural my village is.

Syrian woodpecker, village north of Varna

Only 20 metres from the greater spotted woodpecker I heard, then saw a Syrian woodpecker. It was only after a couple of minutes watching it that I realised it was not the same species.

This bird is a bird of settlements - it likes gardens of all sizes and orchards.

I feel privileged to see both so close together. Over the next two days walks I also realised just how high the density of woodpeckers in my village is.

At the moment they are very easy to see without leaves on the trees. Both species is not shy at the moment either. They both seem to be pre-occupied with findingh grubs and eating. 

Who knows where Libyan cranes come from?

Common crane are not uncommon in winter in Libya contrary to almost all bird guides which don't show them in Libya on their maps. 


The UN winter wetland counts often find 100 - 200 birds - usually on the Bay of Sirt (sometimes called Bay of Sidra). However they have seen them inland at Houn too. I, of course, saw 4 birds deep in the desert on a government farm.


But do we know where they have come from?  They winter much further west in Morocco and eastward all across the southern Mediterranean. I had assumed that Libyan birds would not come from the western populations in Finland but from those further east. 

common crane at Jalu in the middle of the Sahara on a farm

Then I came across this information (see below) on the web written by Petri Suorsa on behalf of Satellite crane 2010. Its about a Finnish crane called Renttima which has had a tracking device fitted. It spent part of last winter in Libya. I have to warn you that other Finnish birds didn't come to Libya!

Renttimä-crane

Renttimä is an adult Eurasian crane that was captured by Matti Tolvanen and fitted with a satellite transmitter by Matti Suopajärvi in Savukoski –municipality, Finland in the spring of 2008. The location data of Renttimä has so far proved that Finnish cranes are able to overwinter in the Balkans, more precisely at Slano Kopovo, N-Serbia and at Jelas Polje, Croatia. More importantly the same individual crane may drastically alter its between-year migration tactics as shown by Renttimä who revealed a new overwintering area for Finnish cranes from N-Libya by the S shore of the Gulf of Sirdra in 2009-2010. Further, in the spring of 2010 the crane returned via the Adriatic flyway and stopped over in Montenegro which is a new staging area for Finish cranes. The transmitter of Renttimä should have ¼ of the transmission hours left. We should thus be able to monitor a good deal of the third forthcoming migration season 2010-2011. If you want more information try http://www.satelliittikurjet.fi/2010_kurjet_engl.html

It looks like crane movements are quite complicated. We cannot assume western populations end up at the western end of the wintering range. I hope I don't have to wait long for more information.

Jens Hering about to unlock more southern secrets

More and more is rapidly becoming known about Libyan birds. The growth in local birders especially working for the EGA (Environment General Authority), birding from bird watchers like me and a few foreign ornithologists has been significant in the past three or four years.


One of the most important contributions has been from German Jens Hering. See my blog's tab on research for a flavour of what he has achieved.

Jens Hering with Zeiss optics

Jens is currently in Libya again (for two weeks) and is mostly visiting the south.  A map below shows some of the places he is visiting. These are Ghadamis. Jaghbub, as Sarir, Kufra and Uweinat.

I am very excited about what he might find and I understand he is armed with very advanced optics.

Jens realised before I did that the government project farms in the desert (and in the north) have altered the landscape of wintering birds and some migrations. 

Jens latest locations in blue

I know Jens publishes through scientific journals so we may have to wait a few months before we know his results. I will find that wait difficult!