April 09, 2005
A Day at a Very High Lake
The Danube has been high lately. Very high actually, and it has some around here worried. In today's first photo you can just barely see the top of a bench sticking out above the surface at Danube park. That means the river is about 20 feet higher than it is during summer and winter. There must be a lot of snow melting somewhere. That flooding has left a lot of garbage on the river's surface, and it's also flooded all of the lakes along the river.
Which made going to the Sreburna Reserve this past Thursday interesting. The lake that makes up most of the reserve was about twice as big as it normally is, and most of the smaller side trails along the lake were drowned in water. But that didn't seem to bother the birds that make Sreburna their home. It's spring time, and all of the birds are fresh off of their trips down to Africa and ready to nest.
The pelicans are Sreburna's main attraction. Mostly because you can't see them in too many other places. It turns out that you can't really see them too well in Sreburna either. They nest in an immense group among some reeds in the very center of the lake. Even with binoculars (provided by Sharad, who, as a bird watcher, so wanted to see Sreburna that he came all the way up to Silistra from Botevgrad) you couldn't really see them. Much more interesting were the swans and herons who stalked the shores.
I'd never seen swans in Bulgaria before, but I suppose I'd always kind of assumed that they were around somewhere. I certainly got to see a few this week. There were 6 or 7 of them that we saw and they all seemed to be nesting.
We didn't get to see all of the lake, even though we spent 6 hours exploring the western side. Someday, I may get to the eastern side, but we'll have to see about that, I suppose. Anyway, to finish off the day, here's a picture of me at the edge of the flooded lake. Enjoy.
