Private Day Birding Tour to the North of Varna

from Varna or any of the nearby resorts. We drive north to Coastal Dobroudzha - the northernmost part of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, locked between the Romanian – Bulgarian border and cape Kaliakra. Here the green plain gradually rolls on towards the coastal sand dunes and beaches. Two old riverbeds cut the lowland. Their former estuaries are occupied by the lakes of Durankulak and Shabla. In winter hundreds of thousands of wild geese, among which almost the whole population of the globally threatened Red-breasted Goose, choose this area as their wintering grounds.

Over 80 bird species breed in the region of the lakes, the most interesting of them being the Western Marsh Harrier, the Collared Pratincole, the Ferruginous Duck, the Red-footed Falcon. The two lakes are one of the few places in Europe where the Paddyfield Warbler, a typical Asian species, can be seen.

a and at Cape Kaliakra the sea cliff towers up to 70 m. Here are the last remnants of the Great Steppe, formerly occupying the bigger part of Dobr0udzha. The kaleidoscopic hues of the wild peonies, irises and adonises in spring, the silver-greentints of the absinthe and thristles in summer and the light movements of the feather-grass in autumn, gracefully sweeping among the remnants of the ancient fortress of Kaliakra, create the special appeal of this area. Cape Kaliakra is one of the few places in Europe hosting the Rose-colored Starling, the Pied Wheatear and all five lark species, typical for the Balkan Peninsula. The Stone Curlew, the Lesser Grey Shrike and the Isabelline Wheatear find refuge in steppe vegetation, while the coastal cliffs are animated by the European Shags (ssp. desmarestii).