📖 BIRDING CROATIA 2019 🇭🇷 ~ DAY 9

💨🌧⛅️2C Tuesday 14th May 2019 ~ It was difficult to sleep last night as the Bura winds hit at around 8pm and the house got battered. In fact, it was still raging when I eventually got up around 5:30am and I spent the first half hour gathering the garden furniture, which was strewn all over!

One of Dazzas responsibilities during our stay

While here Dazza has become a surrogate mother to 6 Hermann's Tortoise which the house owner Anita rescued from a wildfire last year and thankfully a quick check revealed all was good as they were well tucked up under their hay beds in the tortoise compound. As usual, Dazza's thrown herself completely into the job and is spoiling them rotten.

Once again I forwent my morning walk and Dazza and I discussed our best options over breakfast. The Bura was on for the day and the further south-west we went the better our chances of escaping these damaging localised winds. It was on the bucket list to hop over the border to Bosnia Herzegovina at some stage, so with the raging wind, we decided to head off crossing the border at Strmica a small village in the Knin Municipality. It's a long time since I've crossed a hard border by road but we had the necessary paperwork from the car hire company and the border control was pretty painless as we were the only car. From here our plan was to drive across to lake Buško Blato before heading back across the border at Kemensko.

We did in effect escape the worst of the winds and most birding was done from within the car, with the odd short walk mainly at around 3,500ft with the temperature hovering around freezing. However, the weather was dry and bright for the most part and the birding was excellent but not many photos of the day.

Photos of the Day...

Record shot of Whinchat

Northern Wheatear

Lesser Grey Shrike (one of two today)

Spotted Flycatcher

Notable Species for the Day...

Short-toed Eagle, Montagu's Harrier, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Red-footed Falcon, Rock Dove, Common Swift, Alpine Swift, Bee-Eater, Skylark, Calandra Lark, Crested Lark, Barn Swallow, House Martin, Crag Martin, Nightingale, Black Redstart, Whinchat, Ring Ouzel, Blue Rock Thrush, Northern Wheatear, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Spotted Flycatcher, Woodchat Shrike, Lesser Grey Shrike, Red-backed Shrike, Jay, Raven, Golden Oriole, Linnet, Cirl Bunting, Corn Bunting, Black-headed Bunting.