The Biebzra Marshes are known among birdwatchers for the extensive marshes, wilderness and some rare species, especially Aquatic Warbler and Greater-spotted Eagle. Ofcourse we were eager to see these species, but we were also looking for butterflies, dragonflies, landscapes, plants and I was also looking for grashoppers.
At first I really had to enjoy the astonishing place, so I made allmost no recordings. (the true reason was mainly because of the many mosquitos and horseflies... couldn't stand still for more than 10 seconds!)
In the evening and nights, we were kept awake by the many Treefrogs (beers and vodka). Of course I couldn't withstand a recording (but I was almost killed by an unleashed watchdog...). The Treefrogs (Hyla arborea):
We were made enthousiastic by other people, who also recently visited the place, about the so called Aquatic Warbler-Reserve. This place, on the other side of the river, should hold the largest population of Aquatic Warblers (Acrocephalus paliducola) in the world. We have to go there in the evening, walk for a couple of kilometres and listen at the watch tower. So on the 20th of July we did, walked the couple kilometres, paving our way through the mosquitos and listened at the watch tower. What an ambience! Everywhere were Aquatic Warblers singing, some Spotted Crakes (Porzana porzana) were calling, Lesser-spotted Eagles (Aquila pomarina) soaring above our heads and reed and sedges as far as the eye could see.
A recording of the ambience in the area with Aquatic Warblers and Spotted Crakes:
A more direct recording of a singing Aquatic Warbler:
We heard a strange sound which seemingly was produced by a male Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus). It mostly looked like an alarm call, but we couldn't find anything that was causing the alarm. I also couldn't find any recording alike!
Unfortunately we had a terrible storm with thunder and lightning, so even in the watch tower we couldn't keep it dry. On the other hand, it was pretty cool also! On our way back, we had to walk in total (I mean really total!) darkness without flashlights (oops..) and with thunder and lightning in the distance.. We did heard an Moose (Alces alces) splashing in the swamps at 50 meters. On our way home to the campsite with the car we spent a lot of time staring in the distance for game and other animals. In total we saw three young Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) playing in the verges. It became even better when Steven saw something in the verge and slowed down. Suddenly an Otter (Lutra lutra) crossed the road, stayed in the verge, walked a bit and showed really well! When you asked birdwatchers what their best sighting or highlight was on a birdtrip, it often is a sighting of a mammal. This Otter really was a highlight!
The whole week on the first campsite I was hearing Fire-bellied Toads (Bombina bombina) and was very eager to get a good recording. I knew there aren't that many recordings and I really loved the sound. I finally booked some succes at the 22th of July:
On the 23th we moved from the Biebzra Marshes to Bialowieza Forest. The forest is told to be the only oldgrowth forest in Europe. As student Forest- and Nature conservation I know that also this forest is not really oldgrowth, but it quite resembles it (at least in the strict reserve). We had planned excursions to Siemanowka lake, Zebra zubra trail, the trail near the border of Belarus, the strict reserve and to Teremiski. Later in the week we decided to visit a known spot for European Roller (Corracias garrulus). Main targets were woodpeckers, Hazel Grouse, White-collared Flycatcher, Red-breasted Flycatcher and game.
My first excursion was to the lake of Siemanowka. As we were the first group, we kinda had to explore it ourselves and entertained ourselfes at the north side of the lake. Later in the afternoon we visited the south side and ended at the place where the railtrack crosses the lake (if we had stayed there longer, we probably had seen Citrine Wagtails, as did the other 2 groups....). That day I made recordings of one species: Icterine Warbler (Hippolais icterina). One individual was frequently calling and I was drawn to the sound as I didn't knew what it was. There were two types of calls.
The first call:
And the second more agitated call:
The day after I went on an excursion to the strict reserve. We met with our guide in front of the gate and while he was introducing himself and the strict reserve, we noticed a woodpecker above the gate. A closer look through the telescope (as it was foggy and 4:30 in the morning...) learnt us it was a White-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos)! For a lot of us it was a new species! I managed to make a poor recording of the sound of foraging, but the raindrups are polluting the recording. I really do not know if the sound of foraging is an ID-feature!?!
Two more recordings where I am pretty proud of, the first one is that of the European Roller (Corracias garrulus). It is one of the few recordings on Xeno-Canto and the first on observado.org. A bird flew by and called a lot. It was quite some distance to the bird, but the recording was not that bad. You can hear other enthousastic people enjoying the bird, I love it!
The last recording is that of a Grasshopper. I heard this species a lot in Poland, but I didn't knew it from the Netherlands. I had an idea that it could be the Upland Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus apricarius), but the sound could look like that of a Meadow Grashopper (Chorthippus mollis). I did not bring my identification key to Poland as I already had 10 books.. So I had to take a recording, and indeed it was an Upland Field Grasshopper. The easiest difference between these two species is that Upland has two bands between the ticks and Meadow has one band between the ticks, best to see in sonograms. In the field, the ticks of Upland don't fade away as in Meadow, but this can be difficult to hear and there could be some overlap.
The recording:
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