А delightful birding tour focusing on the spectacular autumn migration of hundreds of thousand of birds of prey, pelicans, storks and passerines along the Black Sea Flyway, known as the Via Pontica.

Day 1

The tour starts from Bourgas or Varna at 14.00 h in the afternoon at the latest. The tour participants will be picked up either from Bourgas or Varna Airport, as they are kindly requested to arrive there until 14.00 h (2 p.m.), or at their accommodation place within the two cities, if they arrive earlier. Drive north to the area of the coastal town of Kavarna (70 km north of Varna), where we will spend three nights.

In the next two days we will explore Coastal Dobrudzha. This is the northernmost part of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The relief is flat, gently rolling towards the coastal sand dunes and wetlands. Cape Kaliakra is the southern limit of this geographical area. The sea cliff there rises up to 70 m. Here are the last remnants of the Great Steppe, which once covered most of the region.

Day 2

This day is dedicated to the region of Cape Kaliakra with its cliffs, arid areas and steppes.

On the dry, open steppe-land we will find Calandra Lark, Greater Short-toed Lark, Eurasian Stone Curlew and a range of migrants, including European Bee-eaters, European Rollers, various species of pipits, wheatears, shrikes and buntings. The shrubs will produce Red-breasted Flycatchers, Common Redstarts and a wide variety of warblers. In the first half of September Pied Wheatears and Alpine Swifts can still be seen around the cliffs. Various migratory birds of prey pass overhead all the time, Short-toed Eagles, Booted Eagles, Levant Sparrowhawks, Montagu’s Harriers and Pallid Harriers being some of the specialties. The first migrating Red-footed Falcons are likely to be seen in mid-September too. Some residents such as the Long-legged Buzzard and Eurasian Eagle Owl will also be around. In the sea we will see the Mediterranean race of the European Shag (ssp.desmarestii) and various migratory seabirds.

Day 3

On this day we will visit the coastal lakes of Shabla and Durankulak, where a large number of birds are likely to be present, including Pygmy Cormorant, Little Bittern, Ferruginous Duck, Glossy Ibis, Marsh Harrier, Caspian Tern, Whiskered Tern, etc. In the shallow waters we can expect to see various shorebirds such as the Broad-billed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Temminck’s Stint, Marsh Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Kentish Plover, etc..

We will spend the morning birdwatching on Durankulak Lake and the adjacent coast for seabirds, waterfowl and other migrants. In the afternoon we will explore the nearby Shabla Lakes for more waterfowl and migrants.

Day 4

Drive to the southern Black Sea coast with stops in the Kamchia forests and sand dunes and in the Eastern Balkan Mountain. There we will observe the migration of birds of prey and a variety of forest birds (including Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Grey-headed Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker, Sombre Tit, Hawfinch, Short-toed Treecreeper, Cirl Bunting).

Before the check-in we will also visit Pomorie Lake, which is one of the best sites for waders and shorebirds at this time of the year.

Accommodation in the Sarafovo residential area of Bourgas for four nights.

Day 5, 6 & 7

The Bourgas wetlands: Mandra Lake, Atanasovsko Lake and Bourgas Lake, which form one of the richest bird areas in Europe. One of the main attractions of the Bourgas wetlands is the huge flocks of Dalmatian and Great White Pelicans, which stop there for long periods during their migration.

The number of soaring birds that follow the Black Sea coastal flyway in autumn is also spectacular – large numbers of White Storks and Black Storks, European Honey Buzzards, Booted Eagles, Short-toed Eagles, Lesser Spotted Eagles, Black Kites, Montagu’s Harriers, Levant Sparrowhawks, etc. fly overhead.

Other birds that can be seen in the wetlands of Bourgas are Purple Heron, Squacco Heron, Little Crake, Black-winged Stilt, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Temminck’s Stint, Marsh Sandpiper, Kentish Plover, Red-necked Phalarope, Slender-billed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Little Gull, Gull-billed Tern, White-winged Tern, Black Tern and Whiskered Tern and many other migratory waders and waterfowl. Rarities such as the Terek Sandpiper have been regularly recorded in recent years.

While in this area we will also spend some of the mornings observing the migration of birds of prey at observation points in the Dyulinski Pass in the Eastern Balkans (north of Bourgas).

Day 8 

Departure from Varna or Bourgas Airport.
Depending on the time of departure and which airport you need to be at – we can visit any location in the Bourgas and/or Varna area.