Oology ;)

[Vlad Cioflec]

I visited Dobroudja again looking in the best damn sauomates habitats known to man, and found everything but a Blotched Snake. Not giving up yet, but quite close on doing so i tell you.

Cursed habitat :)

What i did find though was a Grass Snake climbed up the driest hill you will ever see in Romania, in the realm where only Large Whip Snakes and crazy herpers venture . A new locality data is still better than nothing i guess.

Injured Eastern Green Lizard

Balkan Wall Lizard

Confused Grass Snake

Best part of the trip was finding something i've never actually dreamed of encountering, a raptor nest! And not just your average every day Sparrowhawk or Kestrel, i mean Red Data Book stuff like Long-legged Buzzard, first recorded as a breeding bird in Romania in 1996!

Buteo rufinus clutch

Cheers!

[Ilian Velikov]

That nest is a nice find. Did you see the bird somewhere around?

Grass snakes are generally less tied to water than Dice snakes and although on the Balkans we associate them with water (it's common name in Bulgarian is 'Yellow-eared water snake") they could be quite terrestrial and don't have a problem being far away from water for a long time. In fact since we moved to the UK I've seen many Grass snakes and none of them were in or even near water.

[Vlad Cioflec]

Thanks for the info Ilian. I really can`t remember seeing a Grass Snake far from humidity of some sort, but since this observation and adding what you just said, the common Natrix earned my respect.
Regarding the Long-legged Buzzard, yes i did observe the mother, along with Lesser Spotted Eagles, Marsh Harrier, Red-footed Falcon, Booted Eagle and Short-toed Eagle. The herping is really hard on that particular hill, but the birdwatching sure makes up for that.