ITINERARY: 

Day 1 – Arrival day – Saturday December 06th
Plan to arrive today on the 06th Nov into Nikola Tesla International Airport (Airport code: BEG). Belgrade, Serbia, after which you will be met and transferred to our hotel in the City Center. Our tour will start with dinner this evening. For anyone joining this tour from our Spain, Extremadura Tour, we will advise flight details.
Note: aim to arrive by the late afternoon at Belgrade airport. See flight information at the end of the itinerary for more details. 
There is also an option to arrive a day earlier (Friday 05 December) in order to enjoy a cultural tour of Belgrade on the morning of Saturday 06 December.
Please let us know if you are interested in this option and we can give you a price.
Night Belgrade. D

Day 2  
Today after breakfast we will make our way towards Kikinda – the Owl Capital of the World. There will of course be stops along the way, and we may start with a quick look at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers right in town! 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 and Syrian 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 eying up their breakfasts. A little further on we will arrive at a large fish pond that is surrounded by reeds. More Pygmy Cormorants will be 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 Yellow-legged Gulls. Tree Sparrows will be easily seen while out on 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 Graylag 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.
Night Kikinda  B,L,D

Day 3
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. 
Night Kikinda  B,L,D

Day 4 
After breakfast, and of course a check on the owls outside hotel, we will spend some time at village with yet more Long-eared Owls. We are sure to be distracted by flocks of Common Cranes and White-fronted Geese flying overhead, and Black Restarts calling from the rooftops. Our destination today is Kapetanski Rit Wetlands which is 80km NW of Kikinda. With 179 acres of designated wetland the area is rich source of biodiversity. Here we will look for more views of Pygmy Cormorant, White-tailed Eagle, Hen and Marsh Harrier, egrets, gulls and both Bearded Reedling and Penduline Tit. Towards the end of the afternoon we will explore several landscapes for owl species including Long-eared, Short-eared, Little and Barn Owls, while also looking in the old trees for Great Spotted and Syrian Woodpeckers, Brambling, Hawfinch and anything else that might appear. We will eventually return to Kikinda in time for dinner.
Night Kikinda  B,L,D

Day 5  
Today we will spend the day at Carska Bara Nature Reserve the largest individual bog in Serbia.  the entire system consists of three ponds (Carska, Perleska and Tiganjica) connected by the 8 km (5.0 mi) long canal. This protected wetland consists of many smaller bodies of water, including rivers, canals, lakes and ponds, covered with reed beds, willow thickets and rushes and it is known for its color diversity. Blue clear water, white and yellow Salt Marsh and brown and green woodlands. There are some 500 plant species registered in the reserve, including many rare or protected species. Around 24 species of fish live here along with amphibians and reptiles making it an ideal hunting ground for waterbirds and raptors. The reserve itself is best known for its abundant birdlife. Some 50,000 Greater White-fronted Geese spend December-January each year in Carska Bara, and careful searching may turn up rarities such as Lesser White-fronted Goose or the beautiful Red-breasted Goose. Among the assembled ducks should be Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Northern Shoveler and Eurasian Wigeon, and maybe a Ferruginous Duck or Smew. White-tailed Eagles, Marsh and Hen Harriers, Merlin, Peregrine, Common Buzzard and Eurasian Sparrowhawk patrol the area and both Pygmy Cormorant and fields full of Common Cranes can be present. Surrounding bushes, scrub and fields can hold Brambling, finches, pipits, Reed Bunting, Great Grey Shrike, and Fieldfare, so there’s plenty to keep us busy. Later we will return to Belgrade after stopping in Novi Sad in time for our final dinner and to review our highlights.
Night Belgrade  B,L,D

Day 6 – Thursday December 11th
Today you will be transferred to Nikola Tesla International Airport (Airport code: BEG). Belgrade, in time for our international departing flights home. You may book a flight to depart at any time today, but note our tour finishes with breakfast today. B