Day 1. After arrival to Bucharest we will need three hours to reach Mamaia city on the Black Sea coast, where our accomodation is on the shore of the lake Siutghiol, in the northern part of the village. If time permit we will visit the closest birding destinations near Navodari, a small wetland along the seashore, a hidden place for waders, tern, gulls and different ducks. Night at Mamaia.

Day 2. We will start the day with an optional pre-breakfast birding around the hotel. We may find Crested, Red-necked and Black-necked Grebes and different gull species on the nearby lake before they leave the roosting area. Among others we should see Mediterranean, Little, Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls and different Marsh Terns. The Russian-olive bushes can hold different migrating passerines, such as Collared Flycather, Spotted Flycatcher, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Willow Warbler. After the breakfast we will visit the Vadu area where we hope to find places with shallow water which attract waterbirds like Caspian Tern, Collared Pratincole, Red-necked Phalaropes, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Stone Curlew or even scarce passage migrants. In the afternoon we move further north to Histria, a famous site to look for the scarce and elusive Paddyfield Warbler and more Collared Pratincoles. It can sometimes be dry in autumn in these areas and  therefore we might change our itinerary and visiting also lake Techirghiol in the south. Night at Mamaia.

Day 3. The optional pre-breakfast birding today is the seashore close to our hotel where we can find shorebirds, Yellow-legged and Caspian Gulls or a passage skua or Yelkouan Shearwater. After breakfast we will visit Cheia`s limstone gorges and Gura Dobrogei valley, a famous site for breeding Pied, Isabelline and even Eastern Black-eared Wheathears and passage raptors and passerines. Early September still good for Isabelline and Eastern Black-eared Wheatears but most of the Pied Wheatears are gone and we need luck to find the last birds. These sites are brilliant for migrating diurnal raptors in the autumn period and we should see hundreds pass over Dobrudja. Raptors such as Lesser Spotted Eagle, European Honey Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Montagu`s Harrier, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Red-footed Falcon or local breeders such as Long-legged Buzzard and Levant Sparrowhawk should turn up and even the scarce Saker Falcon can sometimes be seen. Small woodlands or bushy areas in the middle of the steppe hold a lot of migrating passerines such as Red-backed Shrikes, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Barred Warbler, Common Redstart, Roller, Hoopoe, Golden Oriole, Common Cuckoo or late breeders like Red-rumped Swallow. In the afternoon we will visit a nice wetland site along the Sinoe Lake where we have good chance to see Great-black headed Gull and Dalmatian Pelican. Night at Mamaia.

Day 4. After a pre-breakfast birding we will leave the lagoons behind and continue our journey to the north part of Dobrudja. We will spend some time in the Babadag Forest to find woodpeckers such as Black, Middle Spotted, Great Spotted and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers.
Lunch will be taken in the vicinity of Murighiol salt lakes and then we start discovering the delta itself and enjoing the afternoon birding from our boat. Using our comfortable boat, we have two full days to experience a selection of the best birding locations within the Danube Delta’s most southern branch (Sfantu Gheorghe branch). We will concentrate our efforts on the mouth of this Danube branch to the Black Sea. The 20 kilometre long sandy Sachalin Peninsula is an amazing migrant trap and a very special place indeed in Europe. We hope to spend a full day at this magical location, which is simply impossible to reach any other way then getting to the end of the Danube branch.  Our accomodation will be in Sfantu Gheorghe fishing village, in the eastern extremity of the Danube Delta. Night in the Danube Delta at Sfantu Gheorghe.

Day 5-6. In our two full days we will focus our efforts on the best locations in the southern part of the delta and the mouth of the river Danube. Sachalin bay in autumn is by far the best birding palce in the whole delta, because its shallow lagoon offer refuge and excellent feeding possibility for many birds. This is the place to get the migration feeling and this is why we offer a different itinerary from our spring tour! This time of the year the breeding ’delta birds’ congregate arround the best feeding sites with lots of juveniles joined by lots of migrants. This creates an unforgettable scene whith such actors like Spoonbill, Squacco Heron, Great White Egret, Glossy Ibis, White and Dalmatian Pelicans, Caspian Tern, Broad-billed Sandpiper, masses of Sandwich  and Common Terns, Black-tailed Goodwits, Avocets and a lot more. Silent and shallow corners with plenty of Yellow Water-lily and water chestnut leaves close to the reed edge are ideal places to catch a glimpse of a joung Little Crake or a ’frozen’ Little Bittern while in the reed groups of Penduline and Bearded Tits roam continously. The bushy areas will be full with migrating passerines again and depending on the period different species dominate like Red-backed Shrike, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher, Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler, Eurasian Blackcap and others. This is also the place for anything unusual to turn up and no doubt this will happen as it always did on every single time we have been at this magical place! Night in the Danube Delta at Sfantu Gheorghe.

Day 7. After an early breakfast in the Delta we start travelling to Murighiol. We would like to reach the harbor as soon as possible and continue our jurney to the Macin Mountains National Park. This volcanic mountain is the oldest in Romania and owing to its habitat diversity it has the richest and most interesting fauna and flora, including numerous endemic plants and insects. This place is a famous site for migrating raptors in September and if the weather conditions are good we will enjoy this spectacle. We will spend most of the day around this great location. In the late afternoon we will return to Tulcea for our farewell dinner. Night in Tulcea

Day 8. After breakfast we leave Tulcea and start driving back to Bucharest. On the way depending on the flight time we have a short birding possibility just before we cross the Danube River or a picnic lunch in a nice park just the outskirt of Bucharest.

Back to Top / Back