Thursday, June 30, 2011

Седемте рилски езера (Seven Rila Lakes)

Almost a year ago, I visited the Седемте рилски езера (Seven Rila Lakes). This past weekend, we went back to share the experience with some volunteers who still hadn't been. Everything I wrote last year still applies. The place is simply magical.

Things didn't look promising on the afternoon of our arrival.






The next morning, things didn't look much better. But, slowly but surely, the sun wrestled away the clouds and we were left with a spectacular day.
































Not everyone agreed, but for me "The Eye" stole the show, revealing a different shade of blue with every passing cloud.













The birding was pretty good too. Not surprisingly, most of the birds didn't cooperate and let me photograph them, but a few did. Chaffinches, like this one, were common along the trails leading up to the Seven Lakes.

Common Linnets were abundant around the hut where we stayed.


Fewer numbers of Hedge Accentors were in the same places.

Water Pipits were fairly common throughout the open areas.

And Alpine Accentors were easily found among the rocks at higher elevations.