ROMANIA

The Danube Delta - Europe's Greatest Wetland

Stay on a comfortable house-boat & explore the heart of this wilderness with the most experienced local guides. See squadrons of White Pelicans drifting overhead with herons and egrets galore, Glossy Ibises, Pygmy Cormorants, Paddyfield Warbler, Marsh Sandpiper, Dalmatian Pelican, White-tailed Eagle, Booted Eagle, Levant Sparrowhawk and hoards of other songbirds and shorebirds in the delta and along the Black Sea coast.

Journey through Europe's greatest wetland with some very special birds, based on a private "floatel", with individual twin cabin accommodation. This is the only sensible way to explore and bird this superb wilderness. Romania's Danube Delta is arguably the greatest European delta for birds. Gerard Gorman has been visiting the Danube Delta since the mid-1980s and we are as convinced as ever that the masses of pelicans, ibises, cormorants, egrets and herons should be seen by every Euro birder. We have been fortunate to make friends with local birders and ground agents who provide exceptional local expertise, knowing the maze of channels like the backs of their hands. And, the Delta is non-tidal and so seasickness pills are NOT required!

Day 1 - Arrive Bucharest airport, then set off by road through the Dobrugean Plain for Tulcea at the edge of the delta, stopping as the birds demand. Roller, Red-footed Falcon, Lesser Grey and Red-backed Shrikes and Bee-eater are often roadside "wire" birds. Night hotel in Tulcea

Days 2 & 3 - Besides being the 'gateway" to the delta, Tulcea is also an ideal base for exploring northern Dobrugea, a dry steppe region dotted with fish-farms brackish lagoons, woodlands and vast fields bordered to the east by the Black Sea. We'll visit roadside marshes where Black-necked Grebe, Spoonbill, Mediterranean Gull, Little Egret, Squacco Heron Ferruginous Duck and Savi's Warbler are regular, where White Storks nest in almost every village and where the Yellow Wagtails are mostly of the Black-headed variety. We'll spend time in areas of steppe for Pied Wheatear, Crested and Short-toed Larks and possibly even Saker. Around the old Turkish town of Babadag we look for Ortolan Bunting and this area is good for raptors such as Lesser Spotted and Booted Eagles, Honey and Long-legged Buzzards and Levant Sparrowhawk, indeed in this part of Europe, a whole range of birds of prey occur. Then we move on to one of Europe's great bird areas, the marshes and saltpans by the ancient ruins of Histria. Here terns abound with Whiskered, Black, White-winged Black, Little, Caspian and Gull-billed all possible as well as Yellow-legged and "Caspian" Gulls, fishing Dalmatian and White Pelicans and Collared Pratincoles. A specialty and high priority for most birders is Paddyfield Warbler, a well-marked "reed" warbler with a bold supercilium and sometimes a "crested" look, that here finds one of its few niches in Europe.God numbers move through the area at this time. Waders include Marsh Sandpiper, Kentish Plover, Black-winged Stilt and Avocet, while Calandra Lark and Tawny Pipit can he found in farmland.

Days 4 to 7 - By European standards the previous day's birding in Dobrugea is often overwhelming, but today often matches it as we head into the Danube Delta by boat. Our next five nights are spent in the very heart of this incredible wetland, aboard a hotel-boat, which will take us to those areas which are otherwise inaccessible. Besides birding from the upper deck, which will enable us to see over the high reeds (the largest expanses in the world no less), we'll disembark to explore wooded islets, marshes, vast sandbars and the reedbeds before docking each night in a suitable spot. We'll also have the use of a smaller boat and our guides' intimate knowledge of the Delta enables us to enter the many small channels and back-waters. In short we will be exploring the Danube Delta the way it should he, without being tied to a land-locked hotel. Widespread birds include Red-necked Grebe, Pygmy Cormorant, White Pelican, Little Bittern, Night and Purple Herons, Little and Great White Egrets, Glossy Ibis, Hobby, Syrian, Black and Grey-headed Woodpeckers, Roller, Penduline and Bearded Tits. Among the warblers there are Moustached, Great Reed, Savi's and Icterine. We'll also make excursions into areas for White-tailed Eagle, Dalmatian Pelican and who knows what else besides. At the end of our journey visitors are often left with a lasting impression of a wetland wilderness, of vast reed beds, of cool and shady riverine wetlands and of a place where man lives as he always has, harvesting rather than exploiting nature's riches. Nights: Hotel-boat in the Danube Delta.

Day 8 - Depending on the time of our return flights we will either linger a little longer in this wonderful wilderness or bird on route to Bucharest Airport.

For more information, or to make a booking, contact us: Probirder

All images on this site are copyrighted. All text copyright Gerard Gorman 2006/07.
Aesthetic engineer: maxigas.




ROMANIA The Danube Delta - Europe's Greatest Wetland Stay on a comfortable house-boat & explore the heart of this wilderness with the most experienced local guides. See squadrons of White Pelicans drifting overhead with herons and egrets galore, Glossy Ibises, Pygmy Cormorants, Paddyfield Warbler, Marsh Sandpiper, Dalmatian Pelican, White-tailed Eagle, Booted Eagle, Levant Sparrowhawk and hoards of other songbirds and shorebirds in the delta and along the Black Sea coast. Journey through Europe's greatest wetland with some very special birds, based on a private "floatel", with individual twin cabin accommodation. This is the only sensible way to explore and bird this superb wilderness. Romania's Danube Delta is arguably the greatest European delta for birds. Gerard Gorman has been visiting the Danube Delta since the mid-1980s and we are as convinced as ever that the masses of pelicans, ibises, cormorants, egrets and herons should be seen by every Euro birder. We have been fortunate to make friends with local birders and ground agents who provide exceptional local expertise, knowing the maze of channels like the backs of their hands. And, the Delta is non-tidal and so seasickness pills are NOT required! Day 1 - Arrive Bucharest airport, then set off by road through the Dobrugean Plain for Tulcea at the edge of the delta, stopping as the birds demand. Roller, Red-footed Falcon, Lesser Grey and Red-backed Shrikes and Bee-eater are often roadside "wire" birds. Night hotel in Tulcea Days 2 & 3 - Besides being the 'gateway" to the delta, Tulcea is also an ideal base for exploring northern Dobrugea, a dry steppe region dotted with fish-farms brackish lagoons, woodlands and vast fields bordered to the east by the Black Sea. We'll visit roadside marshes where Black-necked Grebe, Spoonbill, Mediterranean Gull, Little Egret, Squacco Heron Ferruginous Duck and Savi's Warbler are regular, where White Storks nest in almost every village and where the Yellow Wagtails are mostly of the Black-headed variety. We'll spend time in areas of steppe for Pied Wheatear, Crested and Short-toed Larks and possibly even Saker. Around the old Turkish town of Babadag we look for Ortolan Bunting and this area is good for raptors such as Lesser Spotted and Booted Eagles, Honey and Long-legged Buzzards and Levant Sparrowhawk, indeed in this part of Europe, a whole range of birds of prey occur. Then we move on to one of Europe's great bird areas, the marshes and saltpans by the ancient ruins of Histria. Here terns abound with Whiskered, Black, White-winged Black, Little, Caspian and Gull-billed all possible as well as Yellow-legged and "Caspian" Gulls, fishing Dalmatian and White Pelicans and Collared Pratincoles. A specialty and high priority for most birders is Paddyfield Warbler, a well-marked "reed" warbler with a bold supercilium and sometimes a "crested" look, that here finds one of its few niches in Europe.God numbers move through the area at this time. Waders include Marsh Sandpiper, Kentish Plover, Black-winged Stilt and Avocet, while Calandra Lark and Tawny Pipit can he found in farmland. Days 4 to 7 - By European standards the previous day's birding in Dobrugea is often overwhelming, but today often matches it as we head into the Danube Delta by boat. Our next five nights are spent in the very heart of this incredible wetland, aboard a hotel-boat, which will take us to those areas which are otherwise inaccessible. Besides birding from the upper deck, which will enable us to see over the high reeds (the largest expanses in the world no less), we'll disembark to explore wooded islets, marshes, vast sandbars and the reedbeds before docking each night in a suitable spot. We'll also have the use of a smaller boat and our guides' intimate knowledge of the Delta enables us to enter the many small channels and back-waters. In short we will be exploring the Danube Delta the way it should he, without being tied to a land-locked hotel. Widespread birds include Red-necked Grebe, Pygmy Cormorant, White Pelican, Little Bittern, Night and Purple Herons, Little and Great White Egrets, Glossy Ibis, Hobby, Syrian, Black and Grey-headed Woodpeckers, Roller, Penduline and Bearded Tits. Among the warblers there are Moustached, Great Reed, Savi's and Icterine. We'll also make excursions into areas for White-tailed Eagle, Dalmatian Pelican and who knows what else besides. At the end of our journey visitors are often left with a lasting impression of a wetland wilderness, of vast reed beds, of cool and shady riverine wetlands and of a place where man lives as he always has, harvesting rather than exploiting nature's riches. Nights: Hotel-boat in the Danube Delta. Day 8 - Depending on the time of our return flights we will either linger a little longer in this wonderful wilderness or bird on route to Bucharest Airport. For more information, or to make a booking, contact us: Probirder About us \| Destinations \| Guiding \| Tours \| Books \| Articles \|Gallery \| Links \| Email All images on this site are copyrighted. All text copyright Gerard Gorman 2006/07. Aesthetic engineer: maxigas.