The word “elegant” was coined for the Demoiselle Crane, an inhabitant of Ukraine’s feathergrass steppes. Photo: Steve Rooke
Occupying 230,000 square miles between Poland and the Black Sea, Ukraine is the largest democratic state in Europe. Since attaining independence in 1991, this peaceful and politically stable country has increasingly drawn the attention of birders, botanists, and natural historians of all kinds, who recognize in the area’s amazing range of habitats one of the key biogeographic regions in the western Palearctic. Thanks to its advantageous position between the Black Sea and the Russian taiga, the Carpathians and the Caucasus, Ukraine—drained by the mighty Danube, Dniester, and Dnieper Rivers—hosts a spectacular range of species, many of them difficult to find elsewhere in Europe.
Our tour takes advantage of this diversity to visit freshwater marshes, riverine forests, coastal lagoons, rolling steppes, the rugged mountains of southern Ukraine, and above all the Crimean peninsula. Bounded by the Black and Azov Seas, Crimea—about twice the size of Connecticut—is one of three globally recognized biodiversity hotspots in Ukraine (the others are the Danube Delta and lakes and the forests of the Carpathians). We can expect to see more than half of the 300 species of birds recorded from Crimea, among them such hard-to-see eastern European specialties as Demoiselle Crane, Great Black-headed (Pallas’s) Gull, Paddyfield Warbler, and Rose-colored Starling. Moreover, the sheer number of birds is hard to match anywhere else in Europe: colony after colony of Red-footed Falcons, flocks of Great White Pelicans, swarms of Calandra Larks, and ranks of European Rollers, Lesser Gray Shrikes, and Corn Buntings assure us of a truly memorable trip.
Day 1: The tour starts in London with a flight to Odessa, where we’ll transfer to a local hotel. There should be time for a late afternoon walk through the mixed deciduous woodland of Shevchenko Park, where Syrian Woodpecker, Wood Warbler, Common Redstart, and Hawfinch nest; we might also find Wryneck, Barred Warbler, or Collared Flycatcher along with the local Red Squirrels. Emerging from the park at Odessa Bay, we should see Caspian Gulls, Common and Sandwich Terns, and perhaps a summering Arctic Loon (Black-throated Diver). We’ll end the day with our first taste of Ukrainian cuisine in a local restaurant. Night in Odessa.
Day 2: Today we’ll travel across the steppes of southern Ukraine to Crimea. This was the route taken by successive westward migrations of eastern peoples such as the Scythians, Bulgars, and Tatars, and the landscape is dotted with the Iron Age burial mounds known as kurgans. Starting in 1648, Crimea was the stronghold of the autonomous Ukrainian Cossack Host (the sech); after the sech was disbanded by Catherine the Great in 1764, these vast plains were settled by Russians and other peoples. After the Second World War, most of the steppe was converted to farmland, but the windbreaks and fallow fields still support a wide range of steppe species: Red-footed Falcons nest in the hedgerows and are sometimes present in large flocks, while roadside birds may include Roller, Red-backed and Lesser Gray Shrikes, Calandra Lark, and Ortolan Bunting. Waterbirds ranging from huge White Pelicans to noisy Great Reed Warblers are also possible. We’ll stop for a picnic along the way to the Askania Nova Biosphere Reserve.
The Biosphere Reserve was founded by Friedrich Falz-Fein, the descendant of German settlers, who set aside the initial plot of virgin steppe in 1898. The site was declared one of Europe’s first national reserves in 1919, and has been managed as a protected area ever since. In addition to the core protected zone of virgin feathergrass steppe, the reserve has an important arboretum and a zoological park. We’ll take a horse-drawn tour out into the huge steppe enclosures to see semi-wild Saiga Antelope, Przewalski’s Horse, Bison, and other grassland animals such as Spotted Susliks. We’re also likely to encounter Marsh Harrier, Black-winged Stilt, Ruddy Shelduck, and perhaps Common Crane around natural spring-fed pools. Here we should also find migrant shorebirds such as Wood Sandpipers and Ruffs in fine spring plumage, while the grasslands should be alive with larks and Red-throated Pipits. This steppe habitat will also give us our first chance at a magnificent Saker Falcon. Night at Askania Nova.
Day 3: We’ll leave Askania Nova and travel to northeast Crimea, where we’ll spend the day exploring Sivash National Nature Reserve in the company of a local guide from the Azov-Black Sea Ornithological Station. This vast area of lagoons and salt marshes is an Important Bird Area and includes two Ramsar sites. Here we’ll look for a wide variety of waterbirds including Great White Pelican and Pygmy Cormorant, along with shorebirds such as Collared Pratincole, Marsh and Broad-billed Sandpipers, and Temminck’s Stint; Slender-billed and Great Black-headed Gulls and Gull-billed and Caspian Terns may also be present here. Some of the reedbeds hold Paddyfield Warblers, and if the weather is right, we may be treated to the sight of thousands of migrating White-winged Black, Black, and Whiskered Terns. Later we’ll continue to Feodosia, a small historic resort town on the southern coast of Crimea, where we’ll spend the night.
Days 4-5: From our base in Feodosia, we’ll travel east along the southern shore of the Kerch peninsula to Opug Nature Reserve and the Uzunlarskoe Lake area. Karadag is an area of mixed forest and sea cliffs, while Uzunlarskoe is a coastal wetland set among rolling hills and wonderful flower-strewn steppe. This is raptor country, and we’ll be looking for Steppe Eagle, Saker, and Lesser Kestrel. On the feathergrass Bagerova steppes we should find a wide range of birds and reptiles, including Stone-curlew, Rose-colored Starling, Isabelline Wheatear, Tawny Pipit, Black-headed Bunting, and Calandra, Greater Short-toed, and Lesser Short-toed Larks; there is always the chance of an elegant Demoiselle Crane or even a Great or Little Bustard. Flower enthusiasts will find much to entertain them, with a fine array of orchids and wild tulips possible. Nights in Feodosia.
Day 6: We’ll leave Feodosia and head west to the famous town of Yalta, founded by Greek traders and scene of the February 1945 conference during which Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill determined the post-war geography of Central and Eastern Europe. We’ll spend much of the day exploring the woodlands and mountains en route, including the beautiful Karadag Mountains Reserve, searching for birds such as Egyptian Vulture, Short-toed Eagle, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard, Northern Goshawk, Peregrine Falcon, Alpine Swift, Pied Wheatear, Rock Thrush, and Rock Bunting. Night in Yalta.
Day 7: We’ll spend most of the day in the spectacular Crimean Forest Nature Reserve, which covers 84,000 acres at a range of altitudes. The habitats here include lowland broadleaf forest, conifers, and the sub-alpine zone with its stunning views over Yalta Bay. The highlight of our visit will be a station that offers close views of the resident Griffon and Black (Cinereous) Vultures. We’ll also take advantage of the opportunity to see woodland and mountain birds we may not have encountered earlier, with additional possibilities for Rock Thrush and Rock Bunting. Night in Yalta.
Day 8: Today we start our return trip to Odessa, but there is still plenty of birding to be done. We’ll begin by traveling further west to explore the coast and the rugged Valley of Death near Balaklava, famous for the Charge of the Light Brigade in October 1854. After a picnic lunch we’ll proceed north to the freshwater lagoons around Krasnoperekopsk, where we should find a good range of ducks, herons, and shorebirds. Ospreys are frequent visitors here, along with Montagu’s Harrier. Night in Gola Pristin, in the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve.
Day 9: Before breakfast we’ll explore the grounds of the hotel, which often attract migrants including flycatchers, redstarts, and even Isabelline Wheatears. A gentle electric boat ride on the Dneiper River should bring us close to marsh terns, Marsh Harrier, Pygmy Cormorant, and Purple Heron. We’ll depart for Odessa airport in good time for our flight to London, where the tour ends.
Updated: 01 October 2008
Prices
- 2009 price about $3,790
- Single Occupancy Supplement $310
Notes
Maximum group size 13 with three leaders; two leaders will join the tour regardless of group size.
This tour is organized by our British company, Sunbird.