What a fantastic birding day, Lesvos really is a superb birding destination, how about this for a list of goodies:
PALLID HARRIER, CITRINE WAGTAIL. LITTLE
'#CRAKE, LITTLE BOTTERN, AUDOUIN'S GULL, WESTERN ROCK NUTHATCH, MARSH SANDPIPER........ and so much more.
We started at 6:30am in the car park where a Common Nightingale sang in the garden and a Cetti's Warbler called from the hedgerow. A short drive found us at the small lake at Malachi, it os a small body of water surrounded by hedges and reeds, it is ideal for crakes and warblers. After 30 minutes we had found 4 Little CRAKE, 9 Squacco Heron, a Purple Heron flew over and Little Grebes called from the lake.
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| Common Tern |
from the lake we drove to a rocky escarpment where we search for Buntings etc. We quickly found Black-eared Wheatear, Western Rock Nuthatch and a few Jays.
Back to the hotel for breakfast at 8am and out for the day by 9. We drove to the Tsiknias river working our way up to the ford before crossing and taking the track to the KALLONI Salt pans. At the sand bar at the mouth of the river we found a lovely adult bird, At the river we found the main three birds; Cetti's Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler and Common Nightingale. Along the track we found Common Whitethroat, several Whinchat, Lesser Grey Shrike, Woodchat9 Shrike and more Corn Buntings that you can shake a stick at! A Little Owl sat on a barn and a few Marsh Harriers drifted across the fields.
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| Marsh Sandper |
At the Salt pans we stopped at a small pool where a Yellow (Feldegg) Wagtail sat and a Wood Sandpiper that looked soaked in oil.
We drove along the feeder channel next to the pans and out to the main road, on the corner of the main road and the channel a lot of waders were feeding. Ruff, Little Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Avocet and Black-winged Stilts formed a nice little list which was enhanced with finding of three Marsh Sandpipers, they looked great in summer plumage.
W e then crossed the main road to scan a large roadside pool and watched many more of Ruff and Wood Sandpipers. over the hills in the distance we saw 4 Short-toed Eagles and a couple of Common Kestrels.
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| Red-throated Pipit |
Next we worked our way back into the salt pans noting many Ruddy and Common Shelduck, Greater Flamingos, hundreds of Avocet and a single Redshank. Several Common Terns worked the channel and as we turned a corner we found a dozen Little Terns.
For an hour or some walked in the Alykes Wetlands where the grazing sheep keep the grass short and many seasonal pools form. In the grass we found over 20 Red-throated Pipits and smaller numbers of Short-toed Larks. In the pools we found Kentish and Little Ringed Plover, a dozen or so of Little Stint and lots of Yellow Wagtails.
Back at the bus we sat and ate our picnic lunch, the weather had improved and the sun came out much to our delight. Suddenly a harrier flew over us and spent amounts or so quartering a nearby field, we quickly identified it as a Pallid Harrier, a first winter,what a great bird.
Back at the channel on the pans we turned off to a side track where a smaller inlet fed into the main channel, there we found a beautiful male Citrine Wagtail, what a stunner. From there we drove to the south side of the pans and took a walk along the track. A Grennshank was new for our list and so was Zitting Costicola, a rare breeder on Lesvos. A group of Great White Egrets, Grey Herons and a Apia of Stone Curlew made up the most of our new birds.
To finish the afternoon we drove back to the Tsiknias River where we spent a couple of hours scanning the reeds along its bank. We found four Little Crakes and a superb male Little Bitten, it was posing in the afternoon sun. It was a great bird to end the days birding, but our birding wasn't over just yet. we drove back into town at KALLONI and at the school we found both Scope's and Long-eared Owls, such a delight to see these exes in the day light.
Well that really ended our day with nearly 90 species in the bag it turned put to be very successful too
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