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| White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos by Martin Senič |
On Sunday me and a couple of friends spent the day in the extensive forests of the Snežnik plateau. Despite the fact we didn't see the (hoped for) Brown Bear
Ursus arctos, we were lucky to find two
WHITE-BACKED WOODPECKERS Dendrocopos leucotos (ssp.
lilfordi). The first was a quite collaborative female which allowed good views (the best I've ever had of a White-backed). My friend also managed to obtain some good shots (above and below) when the bird was on the trees above our heads. Hours later we heard a second individual on a different location. It's always thrilling to have a close encounter with one of Slovenia's rarest breeding birds.
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| Female White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos by Martin Senič |
In the early afternoon we were quite surprised when we flushed a
WALLCREEPER Tichodroma muraria from a very small rocky face by the forest road. This was most probably a bird on migration that stopped in the area for a short time; nevertheless the encounter was very exciting as it was totally unexpected.
During the day we visited some amazing parts of the Snežnik forests, including some old beech woodlands and spruce-covered Karstic dolines where common mountain birds were present (all tit species, Crossbills
Loxia curvirostra, Siskins
Carduelis spinus, Ravens
Corvus corax ect.).
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| Autumn colours in the forest - Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus |
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| Mixed forest with Norway Spruce Picea abies and Beech Fagus sylvatica |
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| A Silver Fir Abies alba in mountain beech forest |
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| A look towards Croatia - forests as far as the eye can see |
Apart from a good movement of Meadow Pipits
Anthus pratensis overhead, there were also large flocks of Chaffinches
Fringilla coelebs on the move, with several
Bramblings Fringilla montifringilla mixed among them.
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| Brambling Fringilla montifringilla |
On the mammal front the highlight were the footprints (and droppings) of a massive Brown Bear
Ursus arctos. In the evening we also saw Red Deer
Cervus elaphus (4), Roe Deer
Capreolus capreolus (3) and Brown Hare
Lepus europaeus (1).
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| Brown Bear's footprints |
Last week I also re-visited the site of the Karstic
URAL OWLS Strix uralensis and in the evening the pair appeared in front of me once again! They showed brilliantly for some 15 minutes or so, before it became dark enough for them to "disappear" in the beech trees where they were perched. A noisy Black Woodpecker
Dryocopus martius kept mobbing them all the time, while a distant
Grey-headed Woodpecker Picus canus was calling. Magic moments.
