Golden Orioles join the other summer visitors

Wednesday was a miserable cool and drizzly day here. The drizzle relented briefly in the afternoon so I decided to  take advantage of the lull in the worst of the weather. I set out from my house south and west of the village. The Klimentovo- Albena valley which I blogged about last time runs north east so this area  held the prospect of being different.

golden oriole near Klimentovo,Varna

I was trying without success to take photos of the flock of tree pipit which according to Collins guide could only be on passage. I also missed out on capturing (photographically) another blackcap when I heard the sound of a more exotic summer visitor. There were loud squawking noises which sounded more like Africa than a wet spring day in Bulgaria. It was two male golden oriole communicating. They were so easy to track (but very wary) with loud noises and their bright colour!  Nice to see them back.

tawny pipit

I have seen a few tawny pipit locally this spring. This one was very well behaved. He allowed me close access and when I get this close normally my camera can produce good things. I am really pleased with this photo.

Spanish sparrow

This blog is only about summer visitors. Above is another summer visitor I saw. It was (and still is) the first Spanish sparrow I have seen locally this spring. Two things are surprising. First, he was alone and second he looked like he had been in a war. I think things have been tough for many migrants this spring in eastern Europe with the cold temperatures (in stark contrast to western Europe by the way).

local nightingale

The final picture is of a local nightingale. Their sounds are everywhere but they only rarely show themselves. Many people make the mistake of looking high in the trees for them but in my experience they are often found one or two metres off the ground. This was certainly the case with this one.

The weather looks better today. I think I'll go birding.