Saturday 2 December

Plan to arrive today (2nd December) into Nikola Tesla International Airport (Airport code: BEG) Belgrade, Serbia. Most flights arrive early evening, after which you will be met and transferred to our hotel in the City Center. Our tour will start with dinner this evening. Overnight in Belgrade

Sunday 3 December

Today after breakfast we will make our way towards Kikinda – the Owl Capital of the World. Of course, there will be stops along the way and we may start with a quick look at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers right in the centre of Belgrade. We can see both Great and Pygmy Cormorants, Yellow-legged Gulls, Great Crested Grebe, Pochard and sometimes Smew while the surrounding trees can hold both Great, Syrian and the occasional Black Woodpeckers, Western Jackdaw or maybe a group of Hawfinch. Moving on and literally just on the outskirts of the city we will pass by a small canal where we can get our first close up views of Pygmy Cormorants alongside numerous Grey Herons eagerly eyeing up their breakfasts. A little further on we will arrive at a large fish pond that is surrounded by reeds. More Pygmy Cormorants will greet us joined by Great Cormorants allowing for good comparisons while among the gull flocks we will try and find some Caspian Gulls mixed in with the devilishly similar Yellow-legged Gulls. Tree Sparrows will be easily seen and while watching the lake we can search for ducks that may include Northern Shoveler, Pochard, Teal, Common Shelduck and possibly something like Smew or Ferruginous Duck. As we keep looking up we could see skeins of White-fronted and Greylag Geese and this is also a regular place to spot our first White-tailed Eagle. Among the reed-beds the ringing call of Bearded Reedlings may draw our attention and further searching could find us both Penduline Tit and Reed Bunting. After the excitement of this wonderful place, we will continue our journey to the small town of Kikinda and possibly our first Long-eared Owls in the few trees right outside the hotel. Overnight in Kikinda

Monday 4 December

Today will be surely one of those days that everyone holds in anticipation! We will start our morning in Kikinda Square right outside the hotel which conveniently has a coffee shop. The focus will be Long-eared Owls and it shouldn’t take us long to locate our first tree with roosting birds. The spectacle of the number of birds can be astounding. Up to 150 Long-eared Owls have been counted in one tree in the town centre and the total number of roosting owls in the town square in winter in a good year can be upwards of 800! Even in a poor year there are still several hundred to be found. The birds can be anywhere and everywhere – in the churchyard, in the trees along the main street and in the trees around cafes. The spectacle is incredible and should offer excellent owl watching and photographic opportunities. Once we’ve seen the owls we will also take in some of the cultural delights, architecture and cuisine that the town has to offer before visiting a few other sites in the vicinity for more Long-eared Owls, Little Owl, Syrian Woodpecker, Black Redstart and Hawfinch. Overnight in Kikinda