Hi, Vlad. Thanks for sharing your observations during the year. What kind of the parrot is that one? 

Nice photos,Vlad! I love your favourite Sand lizard shot! The habitat in the background reminds me of the village where my grandma lives, near the Danube! :) 

Dear Ilian and Boris, thanks for your input, much appreciated.

The parrots in the picture are Rose-ringed Parakeets (Psittacula krameri).

I am happy to say that i found out this summer that they are actually breeding in Bucharest, which is a first for the whole country!

Goes to show you that herping and birding go very well together.

What were your 2010 highlights?
 

Birds, which I saw this year for the first time (in my homeland - Slovakia) were: Gavia immer, Branta leucopsis, Osprey, Aythya nyroca, Clangula hyemalis, Larus minutus, Sylvia nisoria, Pelecanus crispus, Chlidonias leucopterus, Limosa lapponica, Calidris canutus, Tringa erythropus, Calidris minuta, Calidris temminckii, Larus fuscus and Larus marinus. I was also very pleased with seeing 12 ex. of Panurus biarmucus, one Podiceps grisegena, 3 ex. Ficedula hypoleuca, 1 Chlidonias hybridus (all 4 species only 2nd time in my life), Gavia stellata, Rallus, 42 ex. Numenius arquata, 2 Lyrurus tetrix,...
And in Croatia, island Krk, I saw 3 lifers - Monticola solitaria, Oenanthe hispanica and Anthus campestris. And a big pleasure was made me there also by several Nightjars, one Otus, two Circaetus, several Emberiza cirlus and Sylvia cantillans.

Herps: In Slovakia I managed to see this year all our 5 snakes and together 10 from our 12 species of reptiles (I didn´t see only Ablepharus and Emys orb., which are restricted in our country to very few southern small places, where I´ve never been; autochtonic population of Emys lives even only on one little place in whole SK) Note: 12 species, if O count Anguis f. fragilis and A. f. colchicus as subspecies. Because there is no unambiguous morphological feature between them.
And in island Krk I had one lifer - E. quatuorlineata. Unfortunately it was slithering (even slowly!) behind very thicky and thorny shrub and I couldn´t neither photograph, nor catch it.

Amphibians in SK: I was very pleased e.g. by tadpoles of Pelobates fuscus (lifer), many B. bombina, two young Hyla arborea in central Slovakia (about 500 m a. see) and many juveniles of Triturus (cristatus) dobrogicus. 

Well Boris,

Since you mentioned all your non herp lifers, i`m gonna do the same, since it has been such a productive year for me as well:

1 Cygnus columbianus
2 Branta ruficolis
3 Mergus albellus
4 Calidris minuta
5 Burhinus oedicnemus
6 Motacila citreola (my favorite one)
7 Locustella luscinoides
8 Sylvia nisoria
9 Regullus ignicapilla
10 Ficedula albicollis
11 Emberizia melanocephala
12 Phylloscopus sibilatrix
13 Haematopus ostralegus
14 Phylloscopus trochillus
15 Podiceps girsegena
16 Crex crex
17 Oxyura leucocephala

New mammals:
- Nyctereutes procyonoides
- Pipistrellus kuhlii
- Orictolagus cuniculus
- Cervus elaphus

Definitely one of my best years!
And still hoping for a Merganser till Christhmas :)

Happy herping!
Vlad 

Cygnus columbianus, Branta ruficolis, Motacila citreola, Oxyura leucocephala and Emberiza melanocephala I´ve never seen yet, so I am a bit jealous :-) And Regullus ignicapillus I´ve only heard (very difficult to see this little bird living high in spruces without using of record of its voice - which I lack...). I am very surprised by Oxyura - where did you see it, if I may ask? Somewhere in Danube delta? Because it is very endangered species, which is in Europe rapidly declining, you probably know. Valuable observation.
I am surprised, that untill this year you haven´t seen deer. Deer is one of the most common mammals in Slovakia, especially in our mountains. In January I observed a herd of cca 115 animals - directly in the wood, not on the fields, where bigger herds of deers can be seen more often during winter. Are deers in Romania really so rare?
Also both Mergus merganser and albellus are common in SK during winter and Ficedula albicollis, Phylloscopus sibilatrix and Phylloscopus trochillus belong to our most common breeders, so many reasons to visit our country :-)
So, we both have zoologicaly very successful year, as I can see.
My mammal lifers were this year beaver (swimmed to 1.5 meter from me! Very profound experience), mole/Talpa europea (till April 2010 I saw always only dead ones) and moufflons.
As many animals as possible in next year wishes
Boris 

Boris,

I`m kinda jealous of your Clangula hyemalis and espcially that Larus minutus! I keep missing this one in it`s breeding quarters...

Oxyura was not found in the Delta or the Black Sea Region, but on the very same lake as that favorite Sand Lizard shot, which is kinda close to Bucharest.

Cervus elaphus is rare in my neck of the woods. It`s also included in the Red Data Book... :(

So let`s all go out and enjoy the european wildlife while it still lasts!

I wish you many new species in the year to come, and maybe one or two till Santa comes. :)

Vlad




 

Vlad, thanks for answers and wish. Just today I saw 3 ex. of Melanitta fusca in one small pool directly in Bratislava (thanks other slovakian birdwatchers). Only 2nd time in my life this species and first time good conditions by observation (first time was very far), so I am really happy about that. So I continue in this very successful year till its end (Christmas respectively), as you wished me! :-)
I wish you the same. 

Tsss... Those are not really special birds, compared to what just landed in a garden in Belgium ;-))) => Turdus atrogularis !

It was even on the news... =>
http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/regio/westvlaanderen/101209_zwartkeel_loppem



 

Jeroen, occurence of Gavia immer in Slovakia is really very rare. Only 3 or 4 times since we have credible sources (19th century). But I saw this loon only thanks other our birders. And may be some birders know about occurence of Ural species Prunella atrogularis in SK this autumn (but I was not by that). http://www.birding.sk/index.php?option=com_observations&id=25121&view=observation&filterPosition=35&Itemid=37&lang=sk 

Jeroen: I forgot to ask you: In your garden??? 

A Black Throated Thrush caused a mass twitch in a garden near me a few years ago, it had a taste for mince pies!

Nice report, makes a change from poxy american jerseys 

Sorry, Carl, but I don´t understand your last sentence. What does it mean? My English is not so advanced... 

It was relating to the recent spam on the site selling jerseys. Poxy is slang in English for rubbish, not good and i guess it derives from when people used to get smallpox and were probably described as being poxy.

Heres a couple of shots for the birders out there, the rarest bird i've seen this year (ever probably)i think they have increased from about 20 to 300 individuals, they are Californian Condors taken at Navajo Bridge Arizona and look like flying turkeys.

I was just fooling around, Boris.

> In your garden???
Fortunately not. I wouldn't want to have all those busses full of birders in my living room :-D. 

Hi Vlad,

What I like best about your report are the pictures on witch you see an urban setting on the background. Like the one of your Eastern Spadefoot and the Terrapins.

Greetings,

Bart 

Carl: Thanks. I didn´t understand mostly the word "jersey" (I know only Jersey - state and city in USA), but I already understand the meaning of that sentence.
Jeroen: Me too. Fortunately twitching is only in Slovakia at the start and busses full of twitchers don´t threaten us (at least so far/till now :-). 

@Bart:

Urban settings provide very cool herping opportunities, and i like to show just that.

Sometimes hitting the local dump or abandoned mine will deliver far more species in a few minutes than walking in a nature reserve for a day, as i`m sure you know.

Lots of stuff to flip, and not to mention the traps. I`ve rescued 18 species from manholes so far, some of them lifers. :)

So yeah, i`ll take herping in a ghost town over a national park any day!

-Vlad-