[balkantrek]

Hi Guy!

I own a house in a tiny hamlet high up in a remote part of Bulgaria's Rhodope Mountains. It is situated at the edge of the "Trigrad-Mursalitsa" Important Bird Area about which I will post more on the forum in future threads.

A few days ago I had a look through the list of birds I saw last year either in my garden or from my garden (birds flying over the house or perched on trees just outside its boundaries). Its not a large list, just 39 species, but not too bad for a garden perched in the mountains at an altitude of about 1200 metres. It is interesting to read about the typical "garden birds" of other forum members dotted around the globe, so I hope that some of you may be interested to see the species that I typically see around me:

Black Redstart
Common Redstart (including ssp. samamisicus)
Robin
Nightingale
Blackbird
Black Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Spotted Flycatcher
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Willow Tit
Bullfinch
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Linnet
Serin
Common Buzzard
Honey Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Kestrel
Scops Owl
Tawny Owl
Cuckoo
Grey Wagtail
Pallid Swift
House Martin
Barn Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
Jay
Magpie
Nutcracker
Raven
European Nightjar
Red-backed Shrike
Tree Sparrow
Wren
Yellow Bunting

And my hopes for 2007: Short-toed Eagle, White-backed Woodpecker, Cirl Bunting, Rock Bunting and Sombre Tit...all of which I have seen elsewhere in the village a short distance from my home.