Late March. Primeval forests of NE Poland

The arrival of spring is always a busy time for me. And so it is now…

Recently I have been doing rare woodpecker survey (commissioned by the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection) in Knyszyn Forest close to Białystok. The monitoring is focused on proving an evidence of White-backed and Three-toed Woodpeckers. First control of the research area that takes place in the end of March is rather dedicated to former which activity peaks a bit earlier than the latter. Despite the circumstances I have observed both species on a few plots. Of course, as it happens quite often, there were also days with a full list of forest species of Woodpeckers (White-backed, Grey-headed, Three-Toed, Black, Middle-spotted, Lesser-spotted, Greater-spotted). New species arrived to the region as well, f.e. Green Sandpipers, Firecrests, Snipes and Woodcocks, Woodlarks. While walking through the forest I flushed a a few Hazel Grouse, several Nutcrackers were also calling from dense spruces. On the mid-forest clearings Cranes are occuping their territories, I broke my record when I heard 5 pairs displaying at the same time- amazing experience!

I also did a small guiding for polish birders that came to Białowieża Forest last weekend on annual meeting of nature-lovers organized by PTOP (Polish Society for Birds Protection). Taking advantage of a calm night we had a sighting of Pygmy Owl at dusk and heard at least two Tawny Owls, Tengmalm’s Owl and Long-eared Owl. During casual daylight trip we completed a full list of forest Woodpeckers and once more we encountered a male of Pygmy Owl. Red deers (which we saw about 20 in total) shed their antlers at this time of the year and I found one „horn”, not very far from the forest track. In the evening we found two Bisons leisurely feeding on forest edge. That was a nice end of the day…