I had visited Albania several times for work purposes since the fall of the communist regime in 1991. Finally in 2019, having retired, I arranged a holiday in the country I had grown to love. Having also transitioned from being a ‘casual birdwatcher’ to ‘birder’ I thought I would also try to arrange a birding trip. A little research led me to the Facebook page of Shpendët e Shqipërisë (Birds of Albania) and a great guy named Mirjan Topi, ornithologist and co-author of the first complete field guide to the birds of Albania.

We agreed a three- day trip to the south of the country to include an internationally important wetland, the Drino and Vjosë valleys in the southern mountains plus a couple of cultural visits at my request.

Mirjan picked me up from my hotel in the Adriatic port town of Durrës the morning after a 5.8 earthquake and several strong aftershocks had hit the area. We headed to the protected landscape of Vjosë/Narta some 55 miles south. As soon as we entered on the rough access road we had 3 Crested Larks, several Northern Wheatears, a Tawny Pipit, several Hooded Crows and several small groups of Barn Swallows, House Sparrows and Starlings. Three Dalmatian Pelicans and a Western Marsh Harrier flew directly over us.

We soon reached a high, road topped embankment separating the natural lagoon (Lagunas e Nartës) and the ‘Salinas’ (salt producing lagoons) and featuring two birding towers.

Almost immediately from the roadway we began to pick out small groups and individual birds. Avocet, Black-Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Black Winged Stilt, Caspian Tern, Dunlin, Greenshank, Kentish Plover, Marsh Sandpiper, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Ruff, Slender - billed Gull and Yellow – legged Gull.

As we moved further along the roadway, we began to see large, mixed groups of birds around the embankments separating the pools of the salinas. We identified Curlew, Dalmatian Pelican, Greater Flamingo, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Greenshank, Little Egret, Redshank, Slender billed Gull and Spoonbill. As we entered the Salinas on foot, we also picked up Little Ringed Plover, Little Stint and Sanderling.

We then visited the beautiful Byzantine monastery of Zvërnec situated on an island on the south of the main lagoon. On returning to the car park over the wooden walkway a Sparrowhawk appeared right over our heads, desperately trying to evade a mob of ten Hooded Crows.

After spending the night in the Adriatic resort town of Vlorë we headed for the mountains and the historic town of Tepelenë in the Vjosë river valley stopping at the first of three sites where the critically endangered Egyptian Vulture had nested that year. On the way we had spotted numbers of Grey Wagtail, Lesser Kestrel, Western Marsh Harrier, Northern Wheatear, Spotted Flycatcher and Whinchat. Unfortunately, the vultures had already left on migration but around the same spot we saw Blue Rockthrush, Common Buzzards, Kestrels, Ravens, and Rock Nuthatch. We then lost over two hours from our schedule when the car was damaged on our decent down a rough mountain road before heading to our second Egyptian Vulture site. As we now feared they had also left about a week before according to a local shepherd. As we entered the farmland a Kingfisher flashed by, a large flock of Goldfinches chattered in a tree a few yards away and we almost stepped on a well camouflaged Hermanns Tortoise.

We travelled on past the historic Ottoman city of Gjirokaster in the Drino Valley and the third vulture site. The road across the valley floor gave us good views of numerous Common Buzzard, Collared Dove, Corn Bunting, European Bee-Eater, Grey Wagtail, Hooded Crow, Jay, Lesser Kestrel, Northern Wheatear and Yellow Wagtail as well as a Bonelli’s Warbler, juvenile Red-Backed Shrike, Subalpine Warbler and two Tree Pipits. Up the mountain we went and, you’ve guessed it, no vultures! We watched Common Buzzards and Ravens again and listened to Rock Partridge calling but with the light starting to fade, headed for the village of Jorgacat. The approach road holds an impressive pre-migration roost site for Lesser Kestrel with around 2000 birds regularly counted. As we were a little late in the migration period, we ‘only’ counted up to seventy birds.

After staying near Gjirokaster we visited this beautiful city the following morning. We then decided to check two of the vulture sites again before the return journey to Durrës. No luck with either but at site three we were treated to an acrobatic flying display by over two hundred Alpine Chough while our final stop at site two yielded the national bird of Albania when a Golden Eagle drifted along the ridge in front us, mobbed by Ravens.

The coastline, several internationally important wetlands (mainly on the Adriatic flyway), the rugged southern mountains with their spectacular valleys, impressive lakes like Ochrid and Prespa (shared with Greece and North Macedonia), the Northern Alps and numerous protected landscapes offer plenty of variety in habitat. With around 365 bird species on the Albanian list (around 315 regularly observed, 19 globally endangered) plus 82 mammals, 40 reptiles, 17 amphibians and 215 butterflies there’s plenty to see. After the frustrations of covid, travel restrictions and other delays I’ll be back in spring for a full-on birding trip to add to my list (especially that Egyptian Vulture). As I did, you can add to the birding some terrific locations for historical/cultural visits. Plus, while I obviously can’t guarantee the birds, I can guarantee hospitality which is second to none.

For anyone with Netflix there is an excellent documentary ‘Untamed Albania’ which is worth a watch even if a visit is not for you.

If anyone wants to consider a trip and learn more about the opportunities available in this little known country here’s a few contacts that I stay in touch with. Both AOS and Birds of Albania provide species lists and all are familiar with birding, biodiversity and cultural opportunities.

Albanian Ornithological Society – https://aos-alb.org Birding Albania – www.birdingalbania.com Centre for Conservation and Protection of the Natural Environment of Albania (PPNEA) - https://ppnea.org Shpendët e Shqiperia (Birds of Albania) - https://birdsofalbania.com Into Albania: https://www.intoalbania.com/