Spring Tour, May 2024

After the pick-up from Warsaw of all six tour participants we arrived to Białowieża Forest in the afternoon. We had a few hours of light so we decided to have some walk to stretch our legs to the Palace Park. We started to get some nice species right after closing the front doors of our accomodation – active nests of White Stork & Black Redstart were lying right next to our lodge in Białowieża town! We also soon saw first Red-backed Shrikes & heard Wrynecks and Barred Warblers. As we reached Palace Park a male Collared Flycatcher were singing beautifully exposed. Nearby River & Icterine Warblers were calling accompanied by Thrush Nightingales and Great Reed Warbler which gave us nice views. Continuing our walk we also had some good birds like Lesser Whitethroat, Serins, Pied Flycatchers & Common Rosefinches. That was pretty succesful as for the first three hours of birding and soon we headed for the dinner to plan our activities for the next day.

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We started early before breakfast on Day 2. We decided to begin with some warblers. Soon as we arrived to the forest edge Golden Orioles as well as River & Marsh Warblers were singing in the open. After visual observation of them by everyone we headed to the woodlands nearby. There suprisingly, Pygmy Owl didn’t show up, but instead we had good views of Wood Warblers, Green Sandpiper & Red–breasted Flycatcher (but, 2CY male). We still had som time before breakfast so we drove to the small midforest glade which is a good place to look for Bisons, and indeed we found three of them there.

After the morning meal we decided to try with woodpeckers. In the nesthole of Middle-spotted Woodpeckers adults were still feeding juvs & were coming with food wery regularly, Black Woodpecker was also drumming nearby & after some time we also found male White-backed Woodpecker. The bird was very active & we were lucky to observe it comfortably – such a nice bird & target for most of the group.

Around lunch time we also found a herd of 5 Bisons grazing the meadows in the full sun – not often you see them doing it. It was amazing to observe them like Buffalos on the african savannah, surrounded by flocks of Starlings imitating oxpeckers :) Nearby Lesser Spotted Eagle was hunting from the lone birch tree not far from us.

Yet the main part of the day was planned for the late afternoon & evening – a visit to the Great Snipe lek. During our walk to the point we already got some good species – singing Corn Crake & Savi’s Warbler followed by excellent views of Grasshopper Warblers & Whinchats. When the sun went down, the spectacle started. At least 7 Great Snipes were displaying intensively at the lek, also jumping & fighting from time to time. What’s more, Woodcocks were roding above our heads while a single Elk appeared right behind the lek. As we were leaving the lek Long-eared Owl came to the area & started to hunt above the displaying birds however they didn’t stop playing!

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Yesterday was a long day, but we still did some birding before breakfast on Day 3. We headed to look for Pygmy Owl. After checking a few spots around breeding site of a certain pair of owls, the male finally showed up & gave us some – rather scope, but good – views. Even a tour of Italians led by my befriended guide that drove nearby the site was lucky to glare at the owl which sat still for about an hour.

After that we visited some scrubland to look for the birds inhabiting bushes. There we had excellent views of both Icterine Warbler & Thrush Nightingale while Common Snipe was drumming above us.

In the midday we were planned to visit Three-toed Woodpecker nesthole. It was a 1,5km walk into the woodland, yet as usually in Białowieża Forest on the way there we already had some nice species – Firecrest & beautiful, fully-coloured male of Red-breasted Flycatcher. Near the nesthole adults were feeding intensively a group of pretty noisy juveniles which actually were just about to leave the hole. Black Stork cercled above us when we were watching the woodpeckers.

For the afternoon we were planned to do some lazy birding around Białowieża town as the rain was coming, but even before that we had a herd of 3 Bisons which were likely a part of the larger group we saw the previous day. When we stopped there two Wrynecks flushed from the side of the road, later showing us the nest they had in the neighbouring aple tree. Corn Bunting was also singing nearby.

Real-time meteo radars were showing a large rain coming ahead, but we used that little amount of time we had perfectly as in the town’s orchards we observed at least 3 Barred Warblers, including some fully-coloured adult males.

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Suprisingly, until Day 4 we didn’t have a visual observation of Black Woodpecker, so that was a plan for the early morning. On our walk to the site we had Tree Pipit & Woodlark and as soon as we arrived there a pair of Black Woodpeckers did flyover over the territory calling loudly & luckily stopping for the moment on the tree nearby. What a moment! They were so close that we were even able to hear their wingbeats in flight. Shortly after that, Nutcrackes started to call & after few minutes we located the bird on the top of the dead spruce. Not bad for two hours of birding!

After breakfast the plan for the day was to do birding around Siemianówka Reservoir and then return to Białowieża for a walk with ranger to the Strict Reserve of Białowieża National Park (UNESCO site).

The visit to the Reservoir was very fruitful. Not only we had some water birds like Whooper Swans, Wood Sandpipers or Whiskered & Black Terns, but also raptors (Greater Spotted Eagle & a flock of 7 White-tailed Eagles!) and nice songbirds like Bluethroat, Citrine Wagtails, Stonechats & Rosefinches.

Later in the afternoon we met Mateusz, a ranger of the National Park, and headed to the Strict Reserve for the educational lesson of forest ecology, experiencing how the European lowlands would have looked like centuries ago.

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We almost saw everything possible in the Forest until Day 5, so we gave up on early morning activity. It was a day of transfer so we started our jorney north after breakfast and planned our first stop on a small gravel pit where Bee-eaters decided to breed this year. We spotted a flock of dozen of birds along with Little-ringed Plover that also nested nearby.

Before the marshes a pretty important part of the programme was planned – a visit to Dojlidy Fishponds. The spot was very effective, we had Red-necked Grebes, Gadwalls, Garganeys, Shovelers, Savi’s Warbler, but the biggest highlight was probably a showy male of Little Crake & Red-necked Phalarope which is quite a decent rarity in Poland – even turned out to be the 1st record of this species in the country in 2024.

As we already were in Białystok I decided to giv a try for some old spot for Syrian Woodpecker in the city. Amazingly, the birds were still occupying the territory & soon we observed two individuals.

In the afternoon we arrived to our accomodation on Biebrza Marshes. A lovely, quiet lodge located on the edge of the village, surrounded by meadows & pond – a paradise to live in. Around the place we had Hoopoes, Icterine Warblers & also Golden Orioles calling constantly from the group of poplars.

Biebrza Marshes is considered as one of the most important breeding areas for Europe’s rarest songbird – Aquatic Warbler. Untypically, not like other warblers, they have crepuscular activity so on our first evenings on the marshes we decided to give the warbler a try. As we arrived to the spot a few birds were already singing, accompanied by Grasshopper Warbler & several drumming Common Snipes. Aquatic Warblers gave nice views during the sunset, but also hunting Montagu’s Harriers & Short-eared Owls stole our glances.

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The last full day of the tour we started on searching for Elks at the morning. Soon we found a female nearby the road crossing the swamps. It looked nice in the rising sun & also a flock of Common Cranes flew over our heads. We tried for the last time with Grey-headed Woodpecker in one site, but seemed like it became the only target species we missed during the tour. Nevertheless, while searching for it we had some new mammals for the tour – Raccoon Dog & Pine Marten.

After the „mammaly” early morning session we did an almost-whole-day loop around Southern Basin of Biebrza Marshes where we visited multiple viewing points overlooking the marshland. It was a complete different habitat than we had visited before so we added many new species to our tour list – this includes Common Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Goldeneye, Gulls (Little, Herring, Caspian, Common) or Yellow Wagtail.

A few good birds & also targets for some were observed on that birding session – Ortolan Bunting & White-winged Black Terns were definitely a highlight of the day.

In the evening we arrived to a lovely town of Tykocin, former Jewish town, with a lovely market square. There we had our final, also jointly declared the best, dinner of the tour, after which we headed for a last large activity of the tour – a night time beaver boat trip. As always, the trip lived up to our expectations & we observed at least 5 Beavers during it. We finished our last full day of the wonderful tour with a few local beers in the lodge, but also by the accident we found Spadefoot browsing the area nearby the accomodation!

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On Day 7 we did a little birding before heading to Warsaw where the tour was planned to finish in the afternoon. We visited two last sites overlooking the Marshes where we said goodbye to a lovely, swampy landscape. Black-tailed Godwits, a single Elk & finally Hooded Crow (a lifer for our participants from US) bid farewell to us.

Yet, some of us liked Poland’s wildlife so much that they began to consider returning…

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Below you can admire pictures made by tour participants, Anthony Capuano & Stefan Schauerte.