Another wet and cold day - is this Greece???? And yet we saw 116 SPECIES
We set out at 6:15am for a quick visit to the 'pumping station' at the pans to try to find a Rufous Bush Robin without success. However we did see 2 barn Owls on the way and Olivaceous Warbler, Great Reed warbler, hundreds of Spanish Sparrows, Black Stork, Long-legged Buzzard and plenty of waders, egrets and terns whilst we were out.
By 8:30 we had finished breakfast and the group were found in th hotel grounds looking for a Barred Warbler that had been seen earlier, we couldn't it but we did see Ortolan Bunting, Blackcap, Olivaceous Warbler, Common Nightingale, Long-eared owl, Spanish Sparrow and Cetti's Warbler, all seen in the rain!!
SPAINSH SPARROW
We then set off for our second visit to the far west of the island at Sigri. It was raining for most of the way. We stopped in the Lardia Valley which is a deep, steep sided gorge. We watched Blue Rock Thrush, Black-eared Wheaters, Crag Martins and several Ravens.
At the Eresos cross-roads we spent some time looking for Isabelline Wheatear and whilst doing so we found Cretszchmar's Bunting, Cinereous Bunting, Golden Oriole, Barred Warbler, Woodlark and Black-eared Wheatear. We drove a short distance and parked again for another search, this time we were lucky and found a superb male Isabelline Wheatear which sang and displayed just 10 meters from the bus.
The drive up passed the Ipsilou Monastery was through cloud and rain but at Sigri it was dry and threatened to brighten up!! There were many Common and Lesser Whitethroats to see, more Golden Orioles, Woodchat Shrike, Short-toed Eagle and a field full of Yellow Wagtails.
The Ploughed Field - part 11.
We stopped to view the famous ploughed field where a couple days ago we found hundreds of birds in this small area. This time there were far fewer birds but we added several new species to our 'ploughed field' list. We saw Stone Curlew, Little Ringed Plover (4), Collared Pratincole (6), Red-footed Falcon (1), Turtle Dove (8)and the usual wheatears and whinchats.
At Faneromeni Lower Ford we saw Little Bittern, Little Crake, Green, Wood and Common Sandpiper, Chichaff, Great Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, a very showy Cetti's Warbler, Spotted and Collared Flycatcher and a Squacco Heron. We took a short walk along a nearby track and added Lesser Whitethroat, Orphean Warbler and Blackcap.
At 2pm we set off back eastward passing Ipilou Monastery which was still in the clouds, oalong the way we found another Red-footed Falcon on the wires. Just beyond the Eresos cross-roads we stopped to look for Rock Sparrow. The scenery there was magnificent we overlooked a rock strewn valley which stretched for miles. All the typical mountainous species were seen. Blue Rock Thrush, Black-eared Wheatear, Cinereous Bunting, Cretszchmar's Bunting, Raven, we also found a few migrant species such as Golden Oriole and a male Semi-Collared Flycatcher. We eventually found a pair of Rock Sparrows, they showed very well before flying over a ridge.
Back in the Kalloni area we popped into the Potamia Valley to look for shrikes, we found the common Woodchat variety and then discovered our first Masked Shrike, what a little Beauty he was!
MASKED SHRIKE
A brief visit to the pool at Metochi produced nothing new but we did see Water Rail again and lots of Little Crakes. Finally we visited the salt pans and made brief stops at the mouths of Tsiknias and Christou rivers where we found many species but nothing new for our tour list.
We returned to hotel at 6:30pm, it had been a long day but it dried up and became quite pleasant in the end and with all the birds to see it was a very enjoyable day out!
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