A Year in Kiev

Urban birding in Eastern Europe

By Russell Boyman

Mention Ukraine to most UK birders and they will think of the steppe specialities in Crimea. But having spent the last year living in Kiev, I can recommend it to any birder here for a long weekend (Kiev is the cultural centre for the entire region) or a business trip — in just a single morning’s birding you could see that the local patch holds breeding Golden Orioles and Red Backed Shrikes, or that the thrush singing in the park is actually a Fieldfare, and that your ‘garden ticks’ could well include Black Redstart, Serin and Tree Sparrow.

Fieldfares are common winter visitors in Kyiv by Igor Rozkladaj

Whilst Kiev may have few genuinely unique species compared to the UK, the avifauna here gives birders from home a great chance to see and hear lots of species uncommon at home, and all within 30 minutes of their hotel or apartment. And its entirely possible to clock up over a dozen species of warbler in just a single late May morning, and without ever leaving Kiev.

Locations

Kiev is 3 hours flying time from London, with prices falling as budget airlines enter the market. The centre of the city is compact and well wooded. The best locations are two islands in the middle on the Dnieper River — Druzhby Narodiv Park (20 min stroll from the Centre) and the adjoining Hydropark (which has its own metro stop). Both offer lots of mature woodland and bushy heathland for warblers (including Icterine and Barred) and also woodpeckers (up to 5 species). In addition there is also the odd marshy patch, primarily near the river banks.

Also worth checking is the Academy of Sciences Botanical Gardens (walkable from the confusingly named metro at Druzhby Narodiv, but nowhere near the park above) — more formal wooded parkland but with a wide variety of flowering trees and shrubs, and regular Raven, Crossbill and Hawfinch — plus great views across the city.

Timing

Avoid the obvious resort areas on both islands and plan your trip to finish before noon — your hosts have little respect for the environment and both islands will fill quickly with picnickers on fine days. The sad consequences of this are piles of BBQ debris and empty bottles in the more accessible areas, especially around the rivers edge. Keep away from here and go further away from habitation, heading north.

Calendar

The birding calendar in Kiev starts at the end of March, when the thermometer creeps above zero for the first time since late November and the sheet ice, that makes walking to these locations so hazardous, finally melts.

The first Black Redstarts arrive around this time, their Common cousins arriving shortly after, although in fewer numbers — surprisingly given the large stands of oak and chestnut about. In this late winter period you can still see small flocks of Bullfinches around, of up to a dozen birds, and also the pale headed eastern race of Long Tailed Tit moves through during March.

This is also the best time to see Woodpeckers; Syrian is more common than Great Spotted, Lesser Spotted are not hard to find and even Grey Headed is possible in the older, more open woodland. Wrynecks are an obvious feature a little later, their yelping calls echoing through the areas with rotten trees throughout the Spring.

Things really begin to hot up in April, starting with the possibility of White Stork feeding around Boryspil airport, and then the woodland is suddenly alive with Chiffs Chaffs and Blackcaps. But it is in mid month that the real bonus birds arrive. Both Collared and Pied flycatchers breed, and can be surprisingly easy to see when they are looking for mates, even in the city parks.

Another surprising species is Wood Warbler, which can have quite dense populations trilling away well into June, in any stand of woodland with enough cover, and not only oaks by any means. They are certainly more numerous than either Whitehroat species, and also Willow Warbler, all of which are more common on passage than as breeding species.

By the time we get to May each dawn chorus is a cacophony of noise. Leading the charge, especially from mid month when some of the commoner species have begun to breed, is Thrush Nightingale, which is surprisingly common but just as hard to see as our own nightingales — you can be almost standing on the bush from which you can hear their liquid phrases and diagnostic dry rattles, and still not see the bird. They seem not to mind even the most popular areas and can even be found singing amidst the picnickers if there is enough local foliage to hide them.

Other arrivals at this time include breeding Icterine Warbler, their extraordinary song worth seeking out in the areas with taller trees, and Marsh Warblers on passage in the wetter spots.

The summer in Kiev is sultry, hot and humid, and any birding trips need to start early. However, June can be the best time to see orioles and shrikes, which don’t arrive until late May, and there is also a small passage of Barred Warblers on the bushy commons to look forward to. In the sandier areas, don’t be surprised to hear the hypnotic song of the Hoopoe floating on the heavy air.

Golden Oriole by Oleksander Arkhipov

Early summer is also a good time to visit the Lesniki Reserve, half an hour by car south on the outskirts of Kiev, and still on the western bank of the Dnieper (turn left off the highway 2 km after the sign for Lesniki village, and cross the level crossing behind the gas station).

This is reedbed, grassland and mixed riverine forest somewhat reminiscent of Stodmarsh in Kent, for those that know it. At this time of year Savis, Great Reed and Marsh Warblers are in full song, and many other birds feeding young: I was delighted to pick up an unfamiliar bird in the binoculars sitting atop a reedstem with a bill full of insects, and find it was a resplendent Bluetheroat! Other nice surprises here were the call of the Corncrake from the long grass surrounding the reedbeds, and a wonderful pair of Citrine Wagtails amongst the Yellows.

Pity though the poor uninformed birder that ventures into the forest here unprotected after some rain — the massive swarms of mosquitos will eat you alive in minutes.

But to my mind the best summer spectacle is in late July, when the evening skies above the centre of Kiev are almost black with wheeling and screaming family parties of Swifts, often several hundred strong. By the end of the month they have left for Africa, and Kiev suddenly feels a lonelier, quieter place without them.

By August bird passage is back in full flow, with Pied and Spotted Flycatchers amongst the first to move in any numbers. However its in September when the pace picks up, and even local parks can be full of redstarts and shrikes in the right conditions.

Numbers of some species, like Robins, Jays and all 3 thrushes, can be swollen by an unexpected influx overnight, and there are flocks of Hawfinches to be found. Some species move right through, others, like Wood Warbler, can hang on well into October. Chiff Chaff, almost the first to arrive, is also the last to leave.

Autumn is the best time to see raptors in Kiev. Sparrowhawks become more obvious, the odd Hobby is around and from the end of September through October there is a steady stream of ‘Steppe’ buzzards moving south. On one glorious late September afternoon, I was privileged to see a huge White Tailed Eagle wheel and circle over the island, before resuming its journey south down the Dnieper.

Finally, before Winter sets in properly, November is characterised by large flocks of Rooks that come into the city from the countryside, and by the huge roosts of Hooded Crows that accumulate nightly on the islands in the river, whilst Common Gulls join the Black Headed and Yellow Legged feeding on the Dnieper.

Further Afield

For those with a couple of days to spare, an hour’s flight to Lviv in Western Ukraine from Kiev can be very rewarding.

There is a site near the city centre currently for Ural Owl, amazingly near a recreational area, plus in the forests which surround the city, after much searching, I managed to find my own White Backed Woodpecker savaging a dead elm.

There is a good local guide (one of the few in the whole country — email Alex at lvivguide@ukr.net) and he can organise transport for great local birding — marsh terns and warblers, passage waders, Quail, Honey Buzzard, Lesser Spotted Eagle and all 3 harriers.

Alternatively, he can take you up into the Carpathians for specialities like Nutcracker, Corncrake and Black Stork — plus those two real Ukrainian cripplers: Wren and Dunnock!