Birds of Fruška Gora: birdwatching around Rakovac

Fruška Gora is a national park, and its forests cover about 90 per cent of it. The National Park counts 220 bird species; the birding guide Birding Places speaks of about 150 in the park itself and about 210 with the lower slopes. Rakovac lies right on that edge between forest, orchards and vineyards.

Birdwatching near Rakovac

When: spring and autumn migration are the best seasons, and May and June when the forest birds sing and nest. Go out early in the morning; owls are heard in the evening.
Where: the forest edge above the monastery and the path to Beli Majdan; the meadows at the lookouts for birds of prey; the orchards and vineyards of the lower slopes for buntings and shrikes; and the Danube floodplain below the village.
How: binoculars, quiet and patience. Stay on the paths and keep away from nests: all these species are protected. You can record what you see in eBird, which helps researchers.

Birds of prey and the black stork

Eastern imperial eagle

Aquila heliaca

rare

The symbol of Fruška Gora and its rarest bird. Sources disagree on whether it still nests here: the National Park speaks of about four pairs, while conservationists say it has disappeared as a breeding bird. A sighting is worth reporting to the National Park.

Black stork

Ciconia nigra

The shy forest cousin of the white stork: it nests deep in the woods and feeds along streams. Black, with a red bill and red legs.

Short-toed snake eagle

Circaetus gallicus

A large, pale eagle that hovers over clearings and hunts snakes and lizards. A summer visitor, here from spring to autumn.

Booted eagle

Hieraaetus pennatus

Europe’s smallest eagle, about the size of a buzzard. It nests on Fruška Gora and spends the winter in Africa.

Common buzzard

Buteo buteo

The bird of prey you are most likely to see above Rakovac: it circles over the fields with a mewing call.

Peregrine falcon

Falco peregrinus

The fastest bird on Earth in a dive. Fruška Gora is its only breeding site in Vojvodina.

Woodpeckers and owls

Black woodpecker

Dryocopus martius

Europe’s largest woodpecker: all black with a red crown. In old beech and oak woods you hear its loud drumming and ringing call from far away.

Middle spotted woodpecker

Dendrocoptes medius

A woodpecker with an all-red crown, tied to old oaks. It appears on the National Park’s list of notable birds.

Great spotted woodpecker

Dendrocopos major

The commonest woodpecker in the woods and orchards around the village: black and white, with a red patch under the tail.

Tawny owl

Strix aluco

The owl of old forests and parks. Its hooting carries far on autumn and winter nights.

Eurasian scops owl

Otus scops

A tiny owl with ear tufts that comes from Africa for the summer. On warm nights it repeats one short, soft whistle for hours.

Songbirds

Collared flycatcher

Ficedula albicollis

A small black-and-white bird with a white collar that nests in holes in old trees.

Wood warbler

Phylloscopus sibilatrix

A yellow-green warbler of the beech woods; its song sounds like a coin spinning on a plate.

Ortolan bunting

Emberiza hortulana

A bird of warm slopes, vineyards and orchards, and one of the species birdwatchers come to Fruška Gora for.

Red-backed shrike

Lanius collurio

A bird of hedges and pastures that impales its prey on thorns. The male wears a black mask across the eyes.

Hawfinch

Coccothraustes coccothraustes

A big finch with a massive bill strong enough to crack cherry stones.

The drawings are decorative, in the style of the Rakovac local identity, and are not meant for identification.