Elegant White-winged Terns dot eastern Poland’s marshes Photo: Stuart Elsom
In recent years Poland has become a popular destination for birdwatchers especially from other parts of Europe. The undoubted main attractions have been the ancient, primeval forest at Bialowieza and the marshes at Biebrza, famous as the breeding grounds of Great Snipe and Aquatic Warbler.
While these areas are indeed very special and rewarding, the country as a whole has much more to offer, as we hope to demonstrate with this new itinerary. Beginning in the extreme southeast of the country, where Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland meet, we’ll travel slowly north following the former Soviet border, taking in habitats that range from mountains and the majestic beech forest of the Carpathian uplands to lower altitude, mixed woodlands and steppe grasslands, before visiting the rich mosaic of habitats that make up the Bialowieza National Park. The tour finishes with a visit to the Biebrza marshes where we should see one of Europe’s rarest birds, the Great Snipe.
This tour is another in our new series of collaborations between leaders from Europe and North America, giving WINGS and Sunbird participants the opportunity to bird with the best from both continents.
Day 1: Our tour begins with a morning flight from London to Warsaw. We’ll then drive south to the town of Przemysl among the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Night in Przemysl.
Day 2: This beautiful area is designated a Landscape Park, consisting of wooded hills and valleys providing us with a scenic start to our birdwatching. Although the birdwatching around the hotel will whet our appetite our first stop in the morning will be in the aptly named Eagle Valley where we hope to see Lesser Spotted and Golden Eagles and hopefully Corncrake, Black Stork and River Warbler. In the afternoon, we’ll drive deep into the mountains close to the southern border of Poland to Bieszczadzki National Park. This impressive area is by far the best place to search for Ural Owl, and since we will spend two nights in our hotel we’ll have ample time to search for specific birds. Night in Bieszczadzki.
Day 3: We’ll spend the whole day in and around Bieszczadzki exploring the impressive beech woodland. Here we stand a chance of seeing Hazel Grouse, as well as other woodland species such as White-backed, Syrian and Grey-headed Woodpeckers, Nutcracker and perhaps more upland species such as Ring Ouzel. In the evening we’ll again have the opportunity of searching for owls. Night in Bieszczadzki.
Day 4: Today we must leave the mountains and head north, visiting several excellent birding locations on the way including the first of many fishponds, home to nesting Red-necked and Black-necked Grebes, migrant waders, Marsh Harrier, White-winged Black, Whiskered and Black Terns, Marsh and Great Reed Warblers and hopefully the impressive White-tailed Eagle. Night in Zamosc.
Day 5: This morning we’ll visit an area of open grassland to look for Spotted Suslik and perhaps some more fishponds before returning, after lunch, to the 16th century town of Zamosc to admire its fine buildings. Moving on, our destination is Chelm where we’ll spend the late afternoon and early evening overlooking a large marsh. Here Montagu’s Harriers quarter back and forth over the vegetation and we may well witness an aerial food pass between a nesting pair. However the main reason for visiting this site is to see one of Europe’s rarest passerines, Aquatic Warbler. As evening approaches we should see these delightful birds singing from the tops of reed stems. A few Great Snipe also nest and we could well get our first glimpses of this Poland speciality. Night in Chelm.
Day 6: Our drive north to the mighty Bialowieza Forest will again be broken with birding stops. More fishponds en route may hold White-tailed Eagle, Penduline Tit and maybe even Little Crake. At the River Bug we’ll walk along the sandy banks looking for terns and migrant waders, Woodlark, and perhaps finding the odd rarity. This area is also excellent for butterflies and other insects. Night in the Bialowieza area.
Days 7-8: We’ll spend two days exploring the famous Bialowieza Forest and surrounding areas. The Polish part of this ancient woodland covers 225 square miles and during gentle walks around the numerous trails we should encounter Hazel Grouse, Pygmy Owl, Black, White- backed, Grey-headed, Three-toed and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, Thrush Nightingale, Collared and Red-breasted Flycatchers and numerous Hawfinches. Tengmalm’s Owl occur in the forest, although careful searching is required to find this elusive nocturnal species. We may even catch sight of a few European Bison in this, their last European stronghold.
One day we’ll travel to the northern part of the forest to visit the extensive Siemianowka Lake, where we’ll look for brightly marked Citrine Wagtails picking their way around the lake edge and striking Barred Warblers performing their frantic aerial display flight. This part of Poland is remote, and ancient farming methods, unchanged for centuries, produce a wild and attractive countryside. Nights in the Bialowieza area.
Days 9-10: Our final destination is the Biebrza marshes but our journey there will be broken by a visit to fishponds on the edge of the floodplain of the River Narew where we might see all five European grebes in breeding plumage, other special birds here could include breeding Whooper Swan, Penduline Tit and maybe even Black-throated Diver or Little Crake. After exploring this area we’ll continue towards our hotel near the marshes, stopping en route at any suitable habitat looking for newly arrived passage waders or marsh terns
This magical place is as much about sounds as it is about sights. An early morning or evening visit to any of these habitats will bring the sound of trumpeting Cranes or booming Bitterns to our ears, along with the haunting aerial display calls of Black-tailed Godwits and Redshank, drumming Snipe, reeling Savi’s Warblers, and the sweet song of Ortolan Buntings. In the evening we’ll search for Great Snipe. Again it will be their strange clicking call that we’ll first notice before we catch sight of the lekking males, puffing their chests out in a frantic attempt to attract a female.
If the water levels are right we’ll be treated to the sight of clouds of White-winged Black Terns and perhaps Little Gulls dancing over the wetlands, or we might marvel at a Hobby lazily plucking dragonflies from the air. Passage waders could include Curlew; Wood and Marsh Sandpipers; Temminck’s and Little Stints, or possibly Spotted Redshank, White Storks are simply everywhere and in some villages we’ll pass through, there will seem to be a nest on every building. Night in the Biebrza area.
Day 11: We’ll drive back to Warsaw and catch a flight to London, where the tour concludes.
Updated: 27 May 2009
Prices
- 2010 price not yet available
Notes
This tour is limited to 16 participants. Stuart Elsom and a local guide will accompany the tour regardless of group size.
This tour is organized by our British company, Sunbird.