The Owls of Kikinda

 

Now some of you (possibly of the twitcher persuasion) will have heard of Kikinda, and it is in fact where Mary and I are now. 

It is a medium sized town in Northern Serbia, right in the middle of the Great Pannonian Plain (think the East Anglian Dens and then multiply it by a factor of fifty! It covers 80,000 square miles). And it is probably very typical of the towns out here. Plenty of tractors; bootscrapers by the door; German baroque architecture; cheap beer. Except for one thing: in an average winter there can be up to 700 owls roosting in the town's main square! It is a hugely-preferred winter roost for European Long-eared owls. The tree in the photo at the top had 13 of them. Try to spot them. 

It is therefore a bit of a magnet for birders, and Mary said we should try to go after the superb Irish Music session we attended in Novi Sad. And at the session it turned out that many of the mostly-Russian Irish musicians there were also birders so a lovely couple invited to drive us up as they had never been there either. 

We had a great day despite the cold, and saw dozens of the owls in their trees. I've used one of Mary's pics but will add some of our friend's even better photos when they arrive. And you could always find where the owls were by the tell-tale debris of owlshit and pellets under the trees. 

It was excellent, unexpected and highly-recommended!