LESVOS 2011 - DAY 3 - APRIL 25TH

KALLONI POOL - KALLONI VILLAGE - PETRA ROAD RAPTOR WATCH POINT - PETRA RESERVOIR - EFTALOU NORTH COAST ROAD - KALLONI SALT PANS - MESA MARSHES -ACHLADERI PINE WOODS


Another glorious day, the chillY north wind kept us cool and also kept the migrants at bay, however, despite the day seeming to be quite we notched 96 species!

THE GROUP AT THE TSIKNIAS RIVER TRACK

An earlier start than yesterday saw us leaving the hotel at 6am for the short walk to Kalloni Pool to try and see the Savi's Warbler. We failed again even though the bird was 'reeling' just a few feet into the reeds! We then drove to the Tsiknias River and took the track along its east bank. We walked along the shore area for an hour and found Whimbrel, Curlew, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Stone Curlew, Red-throated Pipit, Lesser Whitethroat and Short-toed Lark.

RED FOX - A RARE SIGHT ON LESVOS

After breakfast we drove through Kalloni and stopped at the 'mini-soccer pitch' to look for Scop's Owl at it's traditional roost site. There were two birds showing really well, see photo below:

SCOP'S OWL

The raptor watch point along the road to Petra is a favourite of mine and never fails to produce good birds. The hillsides surrounding the view point held Cretzchmar's, Cirl and Ortolan Buntings, Black-eared Wheatear, Woodlark and Western Rock Nuthatch. The rapotors were slow to get started but once up there they were great, Honey Buzzard displaying, several short-toed Eagles, long-legged Buzzard and Hobby all put in an appearance.

At Petra we spent some time watching a pair of Rupell's Warblers feeding their young, we also saw Blue Rock Thrush, Crag Martin and Linnets.

Petra Reservoir held a good number of birds, the highlight was the Audouin's Gull but we also saw Common and Wood Sandpiper, Alpine Swift and lots fo yellow-legged Gulls.

WADERS IN THE ROADSIDE POOL = BLACK-TAILED GODWIT AND RUFF

The north coast road produced very little, on the ground we found Subalpine Warbler and little else, in the air we had Short-toed Eagle, Honey Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Long-legged Buzzard.

We decided to drive back to kalloni to look for more waders and at the first pool along the track from the Tsiknias River to the pans we found Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Greater Flamingo and Wood Sanpiper. We saw many of the waders that we saw yesterday but we added Marsh Sandpiper.

ROAD SIDE POOL WHERE WE FOUND MANY WADERS AND CITRINE WAGTAIL

A brief stop at the marshes at Mesa prduced a small flock of Sanderling and our visit to the pine woods at Achladeri gave us Serin and Woodchat Shrike. That ended the day, we drove back to the otel in time to wash and change for dinner.