Photos from Ukraine birding tour 2013

Our Ukraine birding tour at the end of August was a great success with a delightful combination of birds and culture. We have seen many Eastern species including a nice flock of Demoiselle Cranes, many waders with sizeable parties of Broad-billed and Marsh Sandpiper, Pallas’s Gulls still in breeding plumage, Pallid Harrier, over 100 Red-footed Falcons hunting above a field, all three marsh terns, Pied and Isabelline Wheatear, many Red-breasted Flycatchers and the endemic subspecies of Firecrest. In Kyev we visited golden domed churches and monasteries. We walked around Livadia Palace where the Yalta Conference was held after Worl War II. We visited the Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysaray and had a traditional tatar dinner in an outdoor restaurant with Alpine Swifts screaming overhead.