I made up for a quiet January with a fairly intensive series of trips over the last few days; my first free weekend of the year was happily joined by another few days without too much work, so I took full advantage of the time.
Nonetheless, the first trip on Friday was actually a bit of a damp squib. I had planned to take the bus up to Bankov at about 6.30, hoping to be home before my first class at 11.00, but when I woke up it was very foggy out and I decided to stay at home. At around 8.30, my student called me to say they couldn’t come to the lesson, so I changed my mind and caught the 9.00 bus up the hill, regardless of the possible bad conditions. As we climbed up the short road to the top, I realised that the fog was in fact hanging low over the city and that the forest would have been under entirely clear skies had I gone at my planned time…
There was actually not much about in the forest; my only photos from the whole trip were these hawfinch.
I spent a long time checking the tawny owl area but I didn’t see any sign of them, no flash on the trees, no pellets on the ground. I still can’t work out where the pair nested as the fir trees are just too thick for good views.
No Ural owls either, but I saw a lesser spotted woodpecker drumming and I could hear black woodpeckers calling in the distance. I could also hear a stock dove calling from the power lines.
On Saturday morning, I took the tram to Barca.
I spent some time wandering around the suburb, checking out some possible locations for long-eared owl roosts, but I had no luck. I did spot a sparrowhawk and a pair of kestrels, all hanging out near the school; it was a cold and dull day, so my camera struggled to get anything half decent.
I made my way to the fields hoping to see a rough-legged buzzard, and I was not disappointed; one flew past me almost immediately, heading low and fast towards the airport.
I wasn’t completely happy with the photo, so I made my way across the fields for another look. There were far, far more common buzzards, maybe about eight of them in total.
Another buzzard passed close to me and perched in a tree just as the sun came out; I really thought it was a rough-legged, but I think it is the same pale common buzzard that gave me a fright last November.
As I reached the top of the field, the rough-legged buzzard gave me another flypast, but I don’t think there is much difference between these photos and the earlier shot.
As I was walking back towards the park, I heard a strange sheep-like sound; I spun around looking for the source, and only when it was almost too late did I realise it was coming from above me: what I assume was a Caspian gull flying high towards the north.
On Sunday I finally paid a visit to the forest in Budimír, something I have been promising to do for a long time. My first port of call was the tawny owl roost at the edge of the forest; while I didn’t see the bird, there were signs of activity around the roost tree, so I am optimistic that she is doing OK.
I headed up to check out the goshawk area and was able to find three possible nest sites within a 100 metre radius, so I am feeling more confident about monitoring the nest more effectively this spring.
As I was in the area, the shrilling of great tits told me that something was approaching, and I saw the female goshawk gliding across the trees into the area. She flew about 50 metres from me, flaring to land on a perch, staying there for only a few seconds before she noticed I was there and promptly disappearing. While I am always impressed by my city sightings of goshawks, I forget just how big and bulky they are; seen against the sky, they look almost dainty, but passing against the trees this one looked like a monster…
I could hear some jays in the distance absolutely losing their shit, so I knew that the goshawk had perched somewhere nearby. As I came into a clearing, I saw that she was deigning to give me a good look at her, the direct sunlight notwithstanding.
After lessening her load, she took off and headed towards the city. I can’t describe how excited I am at the prospect of spending more time with goshawks this spring…
As I approached the Crematorium and the idling bus that was going to take me back to the city, I heard a call that I didn’t recognise; I tried to track down the bird but came up blank. As a last resort I tried the BirdNET app which stated it was “almost certain” it was a red crossbill, a suggestion that was also corroborated by the Merlin BirdID app.
Having listened to other recordings, I am sure that this was what I heard, so it was a pity that I couldn’t stay for longer; there are a lot of pines and firs near the Crematorium and in the nearby forest at Ťahanovce, so I should probably check it out again soon.
I continued my birding when I got back to the city with a very rewarding walk along the Hornád. The first thing I saw was a pair of (I think) Caspian gulls which were circling high over the river before later lazily flying up and down its course.
I am always hoping that gulls will start to colonize Košice, and there is a chance that this visit was a first step in that process. Gulls have been slowly heading eastwards over the last few years, and I think it is only a question of time until they take up residence here.
I also saw a flight of mergansers following the line of the river; I have heard that there are more of them about this year than in previous winters.
And I also got another close encounter with a kingfisher as it watched the cold water intently.
I had a later start to my work on Monday morning so I went out again, this time to Rači Potok and Baňa Bankov. I spotted the water rail again, a real stroke of luck given that most of the stream is no longer frozen. I also saw two lesser spotted woodpeckers drumming and a fight between three green woodpeckers.
I wanted to check the younger forest above the mine for possible goshawk nest areas because I had heard goshawks calling there last autumn and possibly also seen a pair of juveniles sparring.
The forest was quite difficult to access because the bulldozers have been at work again here. The mud in the picture was like quicksand; it just swallowed my foot whole, and I had to take a bit of a detour to avoid it.
Once I got into the forest proper, it was like I had entered another world.
It seems even more abandoned than before, and while I couldn’t find any nests, I don’t think I covered the whole site and plan to go back again soon. There were no goshawks about, but I did see a sparrowhawk making a half-hearted pass at some fieldfare from out of the sun.
Tuesday morning was also work-free until 10.00, so I decided to bring my birding marathon to an end with a visit to Červený Breh and its surroundings.
I had a real treat at the top of the hill; a single common redpoll hanging around with a fieldfare and a couple of greenfinch.
This is my first real sighting of one since 2018, so it was the perfect end to my extended weekend. As a postscript, however, I did find a probable goshawk kill (interestingly, a nearby jay was mimicking both goshawk and buzzard calls…) and also saw another goshawk while walking Polly at lunchtime.
So things are warming up on all fronts, and I’m already getting overly excited for spring…
Košice Patch Birding 