Whitby is a quaint fishing port on the Yorkshire coast. I lived close by with my household within the early nineties – my youngest son was born a Yorkshireman. In keeping with Bram Stoker, it’s in Whitby that Depend Dracula landed in England. That’s the start of the top of that story, however I used to be standing initially of the start. I used to be in Comana, Romania – a city based by Vlad Tepes also called Vlad the Impaler, Depend Dracul himself (1431 – 1476).
I had travelled to Romania for a convention on sustainability. After my keynote speech had been delivered – some say to a standing ovation, others had been much less impressed – I had a day to discover the Romanian birdlife. The Danube Delta was too far-off, however the Neajlov Delta (also called Comana Pond) was proper across the nook. Touring by highway in Romania isn’t superfast so the 50 km from Bucharest took about an hour. Nonetheless, small value to pay for what is seemingly the second-largest delta within the nation. And that’s the place the story started.
Impaling is just not solely finished by Romanian medieval princes. There are six species of shrike in Romania. Isabelline Shrike, Masked Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Nice Grey Shrike, Pink-backed Shrike, and Lesser Grey Shrike. Of those, solely the latter three are widespread. Wouldn’t or not it’s improbable to see a shrike in Vlad’s nature reserve? That was my hope, however I additionally deliberate for at the very least one lifer – Pygmy Cormorant. With these two targets I might be both very glad, half glad or doubly disillusioned. I appreciated my odds.
With me had been my Romanian hosts Gabriela, Lacramioara and Daniel. None of them are birders which was clearly evidenced by their proposal to select me up at 10:00. Remarking simply as soon as that “the afternoon begins at 10:00” and seeing their appalled expressions I accepted my destiny and my hosts’ outstanding hospitality. Would you are taking somebody with some bizarre pastime out for an entire day? Beginning lengthy earlier than daybreak to go and see cash or stamps? I wouldn’t.
The Comana Pond space has a restaurant with a view of a boating lake, ziplines and different leisure. The lake could also be synthetic, but it surely had a coming and going of Pygmy Cormorants. Lifer within the bag nicely earlier than lunch. I used to be half glad! My Romanian hosts had been rapidly entering into chook pictures – a subject I don’t excel in. Early within the stroll that meant taking photos of calmly posing Mallard.
A Nice Egret was a nice shock as eBird claimed it was uncommon within the space. A number of oohs and aahs and I began to actually recognize my firm’s enthusiasm. These birds weren’t particular to me, however they had been very particular to them. Appreciation is like laughter, contagious. A very good feeling.
Eurasian Tree Sparrows, Chiffchaff and Sedge Warblers had been good finds, however the spotlight of the stroll got here with a turquoise-blue flash: Frequent Kingfisher. Whoever determined to place the phrase “widespread” within the identify of this flying jewel deserves to be handed over to Vlad for abstract punishment. What a tremendous chook it’s. Irrespective of what number of occasions you see them, it continues to be one among Europe’s most stunning creatures. Everybody had good views of the chook. It posed on a rush stem, it plunged within the water fishing, and it flew by a number of occasions. Smartphones had been used for filming with fairly first rate outcomes.
We celebrated with a hearty Romanian lunch within the Comana restaurant. We solely walked the paths within the backyard and a bit into the wilder areas of the park. There are additionally rougher paths and bicycle tracks into the swamp itself. I’ve not been in a position to discover these paths however perhaps subsequent time. If you recognize extra, please remark. What I did see was the impact of final summer season’s drought. Mudflats had been nonetheless uncovered and baked dry. Water has returned for the reason that summer season however not fully, and it appeared to me that there was fairly some injury to the vegetation. Nevertheless, the drought may even have served as a “reset” and issues could return greener and lusher in spring. In all probability worthwhile to test it out in March-April. Who is aware of?
In fact, we by no means noticed shrikes. I checked the eBird species checklist for the world afterwards and it turned out that just one Pink-backed Shrike had been noticed in the whole 12 months, again in July. With every part that we did see, the enthusiastic firm and the Kingfisher I’m not even half glad. No, I’m very glad, in any case, impaling is overrated…
Images credit: Woodchat Shrike by my good friend José Leal, Kingfisher by Prasan Shrestha at Wikimedia Commons.
