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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips

@albicilla66.bsky.social
279 followers 210 following 512 posts

ecotourism consultant, destination maker, experience curator, birder, guider, wildlife-travel writer and the @WildlifeMag award winning blogger www.10000birds.com/author/dragan, ambassador for @SwarovskiOptik

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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
At dusk, we heard the roaring of #RedDeer in the #DeliblatoSands Reserve, then a younger vocal challenger to our right, followed by a thunderous response from the master stag, and yet another challenger to our left. Once complete darkness fell, the sound of clashing antlers echoed through the night!
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Possibly the hardest to find and the most elusive of local peckers, the #WhitebackedWoodpecker, a bird of undisturbed, primary forests with enough dead trees, both standing and fallen (the rarest kind) ▶️ www.10000birds.com/talking-of-w... Photo: WBW in #Djerdap NP 🌳 #Serbia by Øystein Størkersen
10000birds.com
Talking of woodpeckers…
This post is republished in our “From the Archives” series, featuring highlights of our vast back catalogue of more than 10,000 birding-related posts published over the last 15 years or so.
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
On that mid-September day I traversed the northern half of the #DeliblatoSands, near #Belgrade. Birds included WT Eagle, Middle, &LS Wood, RB Shrike, Marsh Tit, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Lesser, & Common Whitethroat, Nuthatch, Spotted Flycatcher, Redstart, Whinchat, Tree Pipit 🌳🔥🌳🔥 #DeliblatskaPeščara
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This summer I missed #birding my favourite hount–the #DeliblatoSands Reserve near #Belgrade, burning for over 50 days & more than a 1/3 (110+ km²) incinerated. During fires, changes to the Law on Planning &Construction were adopted, enabling the conversion of a burnt forest into a construction site!
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
#JužniKučaj is an area of deep forests, pastures & streams, 3hrs south of #Belgrade. #Birding in early September yielded Sparrowhawk, Red-backed Shrike, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Blackcap, Firecrest, Eurasian Treecreeper, Mistle Thrush, Robin, Whinchat, etc. #Kučajskeplanine 🌳 #birdwatch 🌳 #seetheunseen
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Updated & 64 more pages expanded, the 3rd edition of #Birds of #India features revised plates, text & maps. Without any doubt–the best field guide to the birds of the subcontinent, incl. #Pakistan #Nepal #Bangladesh #Bhutan #SriLanka #Maldives ▶️ 10000birds.com/birds-of-ind... 🐅 #birding #birdbooks
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Updated & 64 more pages expanded, this 3rd edition of #Birds of #India features revised color plates, text, & distribution maps. Without any doubt–the best field guide to the birds of the subcontinent, incl. #Pakistan #Nepal #Bangladesh #Bhutan #SriLanka #Maldives www.10000birds.com/birds-of-ind...
10000birds.com
Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp & Inskipp in its 3rd edition – what has changed?
The new, third edition of “Birds of India: Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives” by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp has 544 pages and in 246 colour plates…
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The latest available #Copernicus EMS map for August 24th shows 100 km2 of burned area (99,873 km2 to be exact), plus 15 more active forest fires in the mostly central part of the #DeliblatoSands special nature reserve, #Serbia, between #Deliblato on the W, and #Šušara and #Grebenac on the E.
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
🔥🔥🔥🔥 The state of my favourite #birding hount–the #DeliblatoSands NR, east of #Belgrade, on the 9th day (Aug 13) since the outbreak of the forest fire on Aug 5. The #wildfire is not yet extinguished. The yellow zone shows the burned scar covering about one fifth of the reserve. Source: Sentinel-2🔥🔥🔥
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
#Beljarica Reserve, 10km N of #Belgrade, is an exciting #birding spot, esp. in August, at the height of autumn migration: Turtle Dove, Snipe, Marsh, & Wood Sand, White Stork, Little Egret, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Black Wood, Golden Oriole, RB Shrike, Sand Martin, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Brown Hare..
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The state of my favourite #birding hount–the #DeliblatoSands NR, east of #Belgrade, on the 6th day since the outbreak of the Great Fire on August 5. The red zone shows the burned area covering about one sixth of the reserve. The #wildfire is not yet extinguished. Source: NASA FIRMS & Sentinel-2🔥🌳🔥🌳🔥
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
R.I.P. Bill Oddie 1941-2026
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Late July #birding #Beljarica, #Belgrade, a spacious flood retention basin of seasonally inundated riparian forests: Garganey, BW Stilts, Common, Green & Wood Sandpipers, Pygmy Cormorant, Squacco Heron, WT Eagle, Little Owl, Bee-eaters, Sand Martins, half a dozen Brown Hares 🌳 #birdingadventures
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
One volume, 370 pages and 1,100 species: what their names stand for, both common and scientific? The Vanishing Mew Gull is a comprehensive dictionary of bird names of the Western Palaearctic, as well as their history ▶️ www.10000birds.com/the-vanishin... 🐦 #PelagicPublishing 🦜 #birdbooks 🦚 #birding
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Offering affordable European charm, #Belgrade is an excellent base for weekend #birding breaks: 1hr from Europe’s largest inland sand dunes & 3 Ramsar sites 2hr from 2 mountainous national parks 3hr from the nearest #GriffonVulture colony ▶️ www.10000birds.com/belgrade-are... #GlobalBirdfair #Serbia
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
June #birding the #NorthernPindos National Park in #Greece: a lot of Brown Bear scat on the road (!), Pallid Swift, ST Eagle, Lanner Falcon, RB Shrike, Coal Tit, Shore Lark, ST Treecreeper, RR Swallow, Northern Wheatear, Grey Wagtail, Tawny Pipit, Cirl Bunting.. #ValiaCalda #Pindos #Vikos #Zagori
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
June #birding the #AcheronDelta, aka #Ammoudia marshes in #Epirus, northwest #Greece: Dalmatian Pelican, Pygmy Cormorant, Spoonbill, Spotted Redshank, Bee-eater, LG Shrike, Crested Lark, E. Olivaceous Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, RR Swallow… ▶️ www.birdingplaces.eu/en/birdingpl...
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
June #birding the #Kalamas Delta in #Epirus, northwest #Greece: Kentish Plover, Common Redshank, Little Tern, Glossy Ibis, Dalmatian Pelican, Lesser Grey & Woodchat Shrike, Zitting Cisticola, E. Olivaceous Warbler, RR Swallow, Cetti's Warbler, Spanish Sparrow ▶️ www.birdingplaces.eu/en/birdingpl...
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Offering affordable European charm, #Belgrade is an excellent base for weekend #birding breaks: 1hr from Europe’s largest inland sand dunes & 3 Ramsar sites 2hr from 2 mountainous national parks 3hr from the nearest #GriffonVulture colony ▶️ www.10000birds.com/belgrade-are... #GlobalBirdfair #Serbia
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Mid-summer morning in the Balkans, early enough to create an illusion of a coolness, umm, almost. I am #birding in the #CarskaBara NR, & a cloud of dust closely follows me like a rider on a pale horse ▶️ www.10000birds.com/birding-with... #onewithnature #GlobalBirdfair #Belgrade #BeloBlato #Serbia
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Offering affordable European charm, #Belgrade is an excellent base for weekend #birding breaks: 1hr from Europe’s largest inland sand dunes & 3 Ramsar sites 2hr from 2 mountainous national parks 3hr from the nearest #GriffonVulture colony ▶️ www.10000birds.com/belgrade-are... #Serbia #GlobalBirdfair
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
#KučajBeljanica NP is an area of limestone cliffs, forests, meadows, pastures & streams, 2hrs S of #Belgrade. #Birding in May yielded Honey-buzzard, Tawny Owl, Wryneck, GH, & Black Wood, Coal Tit, Collared, & RB Flycatcher, Hawfinch, Roe Deer, Red Fox #JužniKučaj 🌳 #Kučajskeplanine 🌲 #onewithnature
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Mid-May #birding #DeliblatoSands sandy steppe & black locust and pine woodland, 1h E of #Belgrade: Turtle Dove, Honey-buzzard, Little Owl, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Roller, RB, and LG Shrike, Woodlark, Skylark, Crested Lark, Tawny Pipit, Golden Jackal, etc. #gobirding 🌳 #birdsuniteourworld 🌳 #seetheunseen
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Early May #birding #Beljarica, #Belgrade, a spacious flood retention basin of seasonally inundated riparian forests: Ferruginous Duck, Pygmy Cormorant, Wood Sand, WT Eagle, Bee-eater, Black Wood, Golden Oriole, RB Shrike, Penduline Tit, Great Reed Warbler, and 3 Brown Hares #birdsuniteourworld
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
#Djerdap NP extends over mtns 2h from #Belgrade, through which the Danube hollows the Djerdap Gorge. Yesterday, the park yielded Middle, Lesser, Black, & GH Wood, Alpine Swift, Woodlark, ST Treecreeper, Collared Fly, Wheatear, Rock, Cirl, & Ortolan Bunting #birding #seetheunseen #birdsuniteourworld
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Mid-April #birding the #ObedskaBara NR, 1h W of #Belgrade, &its seasonally inundated oak forests with ash &elm. The flood of a week ago (the water was 1m above the track) has just receded: Collared Fly 30, Hoopoe, Wryneck, GH Wood 3, Wood Warbler, ST Treecreeper, Nightingale (my first of the season)
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
#Birding #Birders
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
#Birding by Car: A car also doubles as a good hide—many species will not respond to it. They are especially suitable for open terrains and larger birds. Drive slowly, ideally 30 to 40 km/h (20 to 25 mi/h), and ignore the honking lunatics overtaking you! ▶️ www.10000birds.com/how-to-bird-...
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Mid-April #birding #DeliblatoSands Reserve, 1hr east of #Belgrade – 380km2 of forest (40%), scrub (30%) and grassland (20%) in the largest inland dune system of Europe: my first Common Cuckoo, Barn Swallow, Lesser Whitethroat and Tree Pipit of the season, Common Raven, Eurasian Skylark, Corn Bunting
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
#Birding #Beljarica the first day of spring, the only time of the year Ring Ouzel and Common Hoopoe can be observed side by side in #Belgrade, together with Common Goldeneye (a northern species that started breeding only a few years ago), Sparrowhawk, WT Eagle, Black Wood, Mistle Thrush...
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
In March 2026, #Baranda reedbeds disappeared in flames. Only one Moustached Warbler remained singing from a surviving tussock of reeds. The locals claim that reeds are being burned preparing the terrain for investment More ▶️ www.birdingplaces.eu/en/birdingpl... #Serbia 🌳 #HandsoffNature 🌳 #birding
birdingplaces.eu
Baranda Salt Marshes | Birdingplaces
Baranda is the centrepiece of a fish-farm triangle that offers probably the best wetland birding near Belgrade..
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
The #STBalance is a lightweight (1,300 g), image-stabilised scope that allows for shake-free handheld observation. Yes, leave the tripod, the bulkiest and the heftiest piece of equipment – at home. ▶️ www.10000birds.com/the-image-st... 🦅 #seetheunseen #swarovskioptik #birding #onewithnature
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
March and Barcelona filled with sunlight and full of parakeets. Despite the sun, I have spent days in a darkened Museu Blau with an interesting natural history collection (the question was – how many of those specimens have I seen in the wild) ▶️ www.10000birds.com/homage-to-ca... 🐦 #birding
10000birds.com
Homage to Catalonia
This post is republished in our “From the Archives” series, featuring highlights of our vast back catalogue of more than 10,000 birding-related posts published over the last 15 years or so.
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
I went birding… and to admire trees! Mostly glorious White Poplars. I don’t really think of myself as a tree-hugger, but if I were religious, I’d worship trees! Birds included Brambling, Mistle Thrush, Woodlark, Marsh Tit, Black Woodpecker, WT Eagle, Sparrowhawk, etc. #Birding #Beljarica #Belgrade
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
#Birding #Uganda: 1060 sp., timing Dec-Feb & Jul-Sep. Queen Elizabeth NP is one of the very few areas with 600+ sp. For montane forest sp. – Bwindi NP with 350, for lowland forest sp. – Kibale NP with 375, for Guinea-Congo forest sp. Semuliki NP with 440 sp. More ▶️ www.10000birds.com/our-dream-bi...
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
I tested the new #SwarovskiOptik 14-35x50, a #spottingscope with an integrated gyroscope. The #STBalance is a lightweight, compact, image-stabilised scope that allows handheld observation without a tripod ▶️ www.10000birds.com/the-image-st... 🦅 #seetheunseen #swarovskioptik #birding #onewithnature
10000birds.com
The Image Stabilising Swarovski ST Balance 14-35×50 Spotting Scope
I tested the new Swarovski ST Balance 14-35×50, a spotting scope using an integrated gyroscope that measure movement over a thousand times per second to instantly adjust the lens position and…
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
The other day, I visited the #ObedskaBara Wetland. While the area I am visiting can end up under several feet of water, I am focusing on the swamp forest of mostly common oak. No waterbirds, only woodpeckers and songbirds. ▶️ www.10000birds.com/our-favorite... #Birding #seetheunseen #Belgrade
10000birds.com
Our Favorite Birding Locations (Collaborative Post Part 1)
This is a collaborative post in two parts. In this, the first one, our writers share their all-time favourite birding destination – a place to which they have actually been. In the second one…
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
February #birding the seasonally inundated oak, poplar and willow forests of the #ObedskaBara NR in the Sava River floodplain, 1 hr west of #Belgrade: Hen Harrier, Middle Spotted, Gray-headed, and Black Woodpecker, Treecreeper and Short-toed Treecreeper... 🌳 #goBirding #seetheunseen #mywildlife
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Late January #birding #Beljarica, #Belgrade, a spacious flood retention basin of seasonally inundated riparian forests, observed fresh Beaver teeth marks and a White-tailed Eagle incubating its recently laid eggs, Merlin in a hunt, Water, & Meadow Pipit, heard a mourning call of Black Woodpecker🌳🌳🌳
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
#Habitats of #Europe by Forbes, Campbell & Morris includes Europe’s 56 major habitats, clustered by biomes: conifer forests, deserts, broadleaf woodlands, savannas, grasslands & steppes, Mediterranean shrublands, tundras, freshwater, etc. ▶️ www.10000birds.com/habitats-of-... #BirdBook 🌳 #birding 🌳
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Recently published #Habitats of #Europe by Forbes, Campbell & Morris includes Europe’s 56 major habitats, and covers all of continental Europe, east to the Urals and Türkiye, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. ▶️ www.10000birds.com/habitats-of-... #FieldGuide #PUPNature #BirdBooks #BookReview
10000birds.com
Habitats of Europe
When I started to bird around my home city, my whole attention was focused on species. Once I became familiar with most of those that allowed me to observe them, my focus switched to bird families…
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
#Birding #DeliblatoSands steppe, sandy & agricultural landscapes, as well as black locust, black pine, & Scots pine woodland, E of #Belgrade: GG Shrike, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, Meadow Pipit, Brambling, Linnet, Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer 🌳 #birdsuniteourworld 🌲 #onewithnature
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Counting my favourite section of the #Danube, #LabudovoOkno Reserve, downriver from #Belgrade. The temperature stayed below 0C all day, but inside the cocoon of a car, still not too chill ▶️ www.10000birds.com/the-european... 📷birds by M. Mares #fortheloveofnature 🌳 #goBirding 🌳 #birdsuniteourworld
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
The 1st frozen #Beljarica Foreland #birding in 2026: Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier, WT Eagle, Black Woodpecker, Fieldfare, Meadow Pipit, Water Pipit, Brambling, Reed Bunting… Cold, yet quite productive 2 hours #Belgrade 🦅 #gobirding 🦆🦢 #birdsuniteourworld 🦆🦢 #seetheunseen 🦅 #SwarovskiOptik
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
#Birding #DubovackiRit reserve within the #LabudovoOkno Ramsar section of the #Danube downriver from #Belgrade: hundreds of Greylag and Greater White-fronted Geese, Wigeon, Pintail, Goldeneye, Great Egret, Marsh Harrier, WT Eagle #gobirding 🌳 #birdsuniteourworld 🌲 #onewithnature 🌳 #seetheunseen
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
Find the best #birding in #Belgrade @ the Dorćol Quay (📷) and the Zemun Quay, overlooking the #Danube. These days, look out for Black-throated Diver (2), Velvet Scoter (3), Red-necked Grebe (3) ▶️ 10000birds.com/december-bir... 🌳 #goBirding 🌳 #birdsuniteourworld 🌳 #seetheunseen 🌳 #fortheloveofnature
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
#Kikinda is not the only place in #Serbia with #LongEaredOwl roosts. It is estimated that some 30,000 LEOs in 450 roosts overwinter in the country. Most hold a few dozen owls, while several hold hundreds! ▶️ 10000birds.com/the-701-long... 🌳 #Belgrade 🌳 #birdsuniteourworld 🌳 #seetheunseen 🌳 #birding
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
By the 3rd edition of #Birdwatching in Northern #Greece, the coverage has expanded to encompass the entire continental Greece. Smaller areas may be depicted on 3 maps, while the larger areas are depicted on 10 to 15… ▶️ 10000birds.com/birdwatching... #birdbooks #birding #birdbook
10000birds.com
Birdwatching in Northern Greece by Steve Mills: Third Edition
If you’ve birded in Spain, possibly more than once, and are considering another Mediterranean country to quench your thirst, look to the east. Steve Dudley, a bird guide and author of the Lesvos…
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Dragan's Birding Travel Tips @albicilla66.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
#SwarovskiOptik #NLPure 14x52 is a beast, great for larger but distant raptors and waterbirds, also for small, yet closer pipits, and for open habitats, grasslands, lakes, marshes, cliffs, mountain-tops, shore-to-sea watching ▶️ 10000birds.com/testing-the-... #birding 🦉 #seetheunseen 🦋 #binoculars 🦌
10000birds.com
Testing the new NL 14x52s by Swarovski
When the new NL 10x and 14×52 mm binoculars were announced by Swarovski Optik, even though I find this series a bit oversized for my tastes, I was still curious about the 10s. I mean…
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