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Showing posts from March, 2017

Samokov Herping 2017

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 Today I went to Samokov to repair my bicycle that I haven't used for about two years. The bike looked terrible, all dusty and warped in spider webs, but after the man I took it to finished repairing it, it actually started looking like a suitable vehicle. So, while waiting for the bus, I decided to go on a little herping trip at the Iskar river. Loads of Wall lizards, as always, but I also managed to catch a young male Grass snake, the first snake I've caught in my home region this year.  After I was done herping, I thought it would be very nice to just ride my bike around the city, listening to music on my headphones (I bring them literally everywhere). I felt so good and free, I didn't feel like taking the bus to my village, but ride my bike through the fields instead. It was a long trip, maybe 30-40 minutes or so, I can't remember, I lost track of time.  While I was pedaling my way to the village, I got the opportunity to do a little on-road birdwatching. C

March Update: South Park Herping

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 Spring has officially begun, and so has the mating season for most animals, which means the time for herping has come. So today, I'll show you guys everything I've seen so far in the month of March. Agile frog (Rana dalmatina). Saw this one in my backyard while eating breakfast. Isn't it a beauty? As I said, mating season has started for many species. Butterflies are no exeption.  I spent the first weekend of March in Gotse Delchev, southern Bulgaria, staying at my cousin's house. Not much went on then, except that the weather was a lot warmer there, meaning that the reptiles had already awakened from their winter hibernation. Loads of Wall lizards where darting around on the walls on both sides of the nearby river. In one of the cracks of that wall I found a dead Great Tit, which at first I assumed suffocated in the wall, but then it all became clear - a young adult male Caspian Whipsnake had captured and killed it. As soon as I moved the bird asi