Fun in the park

[Vlad Cioflec]

Hi there,

I`m just gonna quickly tell you how by birding day went.

Well, being summer and very very hot, i had to get out at the crack of dawn, and since my local patch is open wasteland, i had to go somewhere with shade, so i chose a forested park close to home.

Park

Bird wise, i had two surprises. First i saw the vulnerable Levant Sparrowhawks for the first time in Bucharest. Not only that, they breed right here in my neighbourhood.

The other surprise was even bigger! I just couldn`t believe my eyes when i saw six Ring-necked Parakeets making a racket in the foliage.
Last year there was only a pair there, and i was pretty sure they wouldn`t make it through the tough winter. Well, not only that, but they sucesfully brought up chicks!

Psittacula krameri

I tried some herping as well. Flipping din`t help one bit. Most of the times i found nothing, sometimes ants.
Glad i found this guy though. Not much, i know, but hey, it was bigger than an ant.
He was`t as thrilled to see me, as he sprayed me with his foul smelling alien musk. Phew!

Cool bug

Well, one herp did turn up, and i never recall being so happy to see a Marsh Frog.

Pelophylax ridibundus

Cheers!
Vlad

[Peter Oefinger]

Cool - the Psittaculas seem to be a successful pan-European neozoic: from Bucharest to Amsterdam...

[Mario Schweiger]

Yes, even in Tyrol there is a successfull breeding colony!

Mario

[Ilian Velikov]

I first saw the parrots here in London and I was well surprised, but I didn't know we had them in the Balkans! If they have got as far as Bucharest I'm pretty sure they'll get to Bulgaria, as well !