This was our second day out west, we took the scenic route and made many stops along the way, the weather was over cast at first bur cleared into a beautiful day with a nice breeze.
Our chosen route took us along the northern edge of the Gulf of Kalloni passing through Paraloika where we made two stops, the first to look over a series of pools and the second at the chapel just outside the village on the west side. The pools held nothing of note except one Mallard, don't laugh, A Mallard is a good find in April here, ha! At the chapel we enjoyed good views of Black-eared Wheatear, Cretzschmar's Bunting and Cirl Bunting but not much else.
Further along the road we stopped near Agra where we found a nice selection of species, we had great close views of Cretzschmar's Bunting and we also saw Masked Shrike, Sombre Tit, Woodchat Shrike, Whinchat and Blue rock Thrush.
 |
| Cretzschmar's Bunting |
 |
 |
| Eleanora's Falcon |
Our next planned stop was at Skala Eresos where walked along the river looking for warblers and hoping for a sighting of a Penduline Tit. We had good views of Great Reed Warbler, Cetti's Warbler and Common Nightingale and brief views of Sedges Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler and Reed Warbler. The river was overgrown with reeds and shrubs so it was difficult to see anything, no chance of a crake or a rail.
Before dropping down into Sigri we made a few stops to look for Chukar without success but we did see Bee-eaters, Long-legged Buzzard, Raven, Cinereous Bunting and lots of Black-eared Wheatears, I have never seen so many.
Finally we arrived at Sigri where it was sunny but a little windy, we stopped first at the Lower ford at Faneromena but all we saw was a Common Moorhen and a Black Headed Bunting, so we drove around to the beach and sat in warm sunshine eating our picnic lunch by a river outlet. During lunch we watched Common Sandpiper, Little Stint, Grennshank, Little Ringed Plover and a Ruddy Shelduck flew over. In the hedgerow behind us we saw Spotted Flycatcher and Whinchat.
Just as we were leaving the beach area we found a Lesser Grey Shrike sitting beside a Woodchat Shrike, what a nicehoto that would have made if we could have been quicker.
A walk from the upper ford at Faneromena produced over 40 Flycatcher, mostly Spotted but also many Pied, we also saw common Whitethroat and Common Redstart, at the ford we saw Night Heron and a Little Bittern.
As we got back to the bus we saw over 20 European Bee-eaters on the wires, what a lovely sight that was.
 |
| one of the 20+ Bee-eaters at Sigri |
Well that concluded our day's birding so we made the long trek back to Kalloni, we arrived quite early so we decided to have a short break then spend an hour or so at the salt pans to finish off the day.
At 5pm we arrived at the pans and drove straight round to the Alykes wetlands hoping to see Collared Pratincole. During our walk we had great views of Red-throated Pipit, Short-toed Larks and many Yellow Wagtails. Then very distantly we found a single Collared Pratincole sitting in the grass, as we approached we found a second one. They both flew off into the salt pans so we watched a good number of waders in the pools of water. Another Temminck's Stint was found as well as Little Stint, Kentish and Ringed Plover and lots of Wood Sandpipers.
 |
| I can't stop taking pictures of this obliging species, Red-throated Pipit |
 |
| a couple of Little Terns bathing in one of the pools |
 |
| male Citrine Wagtail |
Gazing through the fence onto the pans we found Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Common Tern and a lot of the usual species seen there. It was approach 6pm so we had to shoot off to get ready for dinner, it was a fitting ending to another great day on Lesvos.
No comments:
Post a Comment