Date: 01-11-2015

B&B Partner hosts exotic visitor!

Written by: Paul Goriup, regarding partner: Branta Birding Lodge

On October 18, during a routine bird survey around Lake Durankulak (just 300 m from Branta Birding Lodge – www.birdinglodge.com), Pavel Simeonov was stunned to discover an adult Pallas’s Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus proregulus) foraging in a patch of woodland at the western end of the lake. Not only did it he have great views of this south Siberian vagrant, it also afforded him a rare opportunity to take some excellent photos. These delightful little warblers occur sporadically in Western Europe after strong autumnal easterly winds blow them off-course, and this was no exception: the bird appeared after an extended period of stormy weather from the east. As far as we know, this is only the third record of the species in Bulgaria.

Amazingly, on 7 October 2015 another Pallas’s Leaf Warbler was caught at the Chituc Ringing Camp in Romania (just 10 days before this sighting), about 130 km north of Durankulak, and several others were reported from the UK on 17 and 18 October as well.