I have to confess that I am not having a particularly productive spring; despite the promising start to the season, perhaps the biggest disappointment is the fact that I have been unable to find any tawny owl or pygmy owl nests in Bankov.
It is certainly not for the want of trying; I have spent countless hours in the forest here but I have turned up absolutely nothing. The only marginal success was one evening a couple of weeks back where a Ural owl was seen hunting on the meadow below Kamenný hrb.
Otherwise nothing… The trail cam failed to pick up any activity at the presumed pygmy owl nest and I have neither heard nor seen any pygmies since the last post.
The only sightings of note were a golden eagle drifting over the forest, the first time I have seen one in the area.
However, there were some very exciting mammal finds in the area after I moved the trailcam to a nearby water hole. At first, there were regular sightings; wild boar, roe deer, red deer. The video shows how the boar got stuck in the mud, and all the red deer captures suggested that they were capable of seeing the camera in action.
However the real surprise was this:
A young male wolf; while I suspected that they might be in the area, I never thought that I would see one on the railcam…
Also very cool was this Aesculapian snake:
I have had a little more birding success around Budimír. As with Bankov, I haven’t been able to find tawny owl young, but I am sure they are hiding in the deeper parts of the forest. Interestingly, the trail cam is totally unable to detect tawny owls, even from fairly close. When I went to check the camera one morning, I could actually see the tawny perched openly on the roost, but the trail cam picked up nothing.
Similarly, when a great tit set off the camera, the shot actually shows the owl but again didn’t trigger.
I moved the camera even closer to the roost site, but still no success. However, I did get a few more encounters with the tawny over the course of the month.
The biggest excitement in Budimír has been confirmation of the goshawk nest. I check the area every week and usually see nothing, but on one occasion I saw the female leaving the nest in response to a distant call from the male. And on another visit, the tip of the female’s tail was visible atop the nest.
With luck, I should be able to see fledglings in the next few weeks.
Another welcome surprise has been the semi-regular sightings of honey buzzards over the forest. In the first encounter, one flew very close over my head, but my camera chose the worst moment to stop working; I couldn’t get it to turn on, and when it finally started to work, the honey buzzard was already flying away.
The following week, two pairs were circling over the forest; the photo is a screenshot from the video:
This is an extremely exciting find; is there even a possibility they will breed in the area? I will try to keep my eyes peeled. Honey buzzards are also a new species for my old patch, bringing the total to 146 species.
I also had a very nice view of white-backed woodpeckers last week, two males who were sparring all over the place.
This week I also saw a female and heard drumming, so it looks promising too.
The common buzzard was a little more visible on the nest, but I’m still waiting for the youngsters.
Around Košice, I saw a few wrynecks in Anička, singing loudly. I love the tongue in the video.
I paid one visit to the old patch of Rači Potok, but it was very dispiriting; so few birds, lots of fallen trees… The only highlight was a marsh harrier over the meadow.
Marsh harriers were also seen around the airport, many of them quartering in the area.
There were also a lot of red-backed shrikes in the area too; they are everywhere at the moment, this photo is from Budimír.
There is also a white stork nest near the airport in Šebestovce that I wasn’t aware of, maybe the closest one to the city?
And at the Krematorium, I possibly saw a crossbill while waiting for the bus; a big red flash moving from one spruce to another, I don’t think it could have been anything else.
I went back to search again a few days later; no crossbill, but maybe something even more interesting: a pair of crested tits. They were very obliging and I got some great photos of them, maybe my best ever of this very frustrating species.
So, apologies for a somewhat lacklustre update, hopefully my luck will pick up in the coming weeks…
Košice Patch Birding 