KALLONI SCOPS COPSE - PETRA ROAD RAPTOR WATCH-POINT- MOLIVOS RESERVOIR - EFTALOU TO SKALA SYKAMINEAS - NAPI VALLEY - KALLONI SALT PANS - THE MOUTH AT THE RIVER TSIKNIAS
WEATHER; overcast for most of the day with some sunshine. Very windy at the coast.
Every day cannot be fantastic like yesterday, some days are unsuccessful and not as exciting as others, today was one of those days! We had a modicum of success but mainly failures and dips and frustration. But, you have to have bad days to make you appreciate the good days, isn’t that right?
We set at 6:30am for a pre-breakfast sortie into the Potamia Valley, we visited two places and we were successful in one of them. The old Kalloni Reservoir has been pretty reliable for Black-crowned Night Herons over the years and today we searched for them. We found two adults, a perfect start to the day, we now have completed our goal of seeing all four of the herons available on this trip. In the pond we also saw Little Grebe, Coot and Moorhen. Walking to and from the reservoir we found Red-backed shrike, Whinchat, Raven and lots of Yellow-legged Gulls.
Black-crowned Night Heron
Driving further into the valley we stopped near a bridge over the Potamia River and walked to view some olive groves. We were after Olive Tree Warbler, several had just arrived and had been reported by other birders. We heard a couple of them but didn’t get near them, the olive trees had dense foliage, we never had a chance of seeing the birds perched. Other birders we talked to did see them in flight. Two pairs of Ruddy Shelducks kept on flying around making an awful racket, they stayed throughout our vigil.
a cracking male Whinchat
A Persian Squirrel taken by Jane Wise
After breakfast we set off for Molivos on the north coast, we had planned several stops along the way and the first of which was the old Mini-soccer pitch just outside of Kalloni. We searched all the eucalyptus We searched all the eucalyptus trees without success, then I had to drive back to the hotel because Christine had forgotten her binoculars, doh! Whilst we were away the others saw a Scops Owl, in fact they flushed one by mistake.
European Tree Frog - can you spot it on this Giant Fennel?
At the raptor watch-point along the road to Petra we spent an hour gazing into the sky above the surrounding sky above the mountains. We got very little rewards for our efforts! We saw a total of three raptors: Common Buzzard, Short-toed Eagle and a Eurasian Sparrowhawk. Plenty of Ravens were seen (20+) and a few passerines were singing behind us. We saw Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Woodchat Shrike, Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Cirl Bunting, Eastern Orphean Warbler (a male singing) and a Cretzschmar’s Bunting singing.
We stopped just before Petra to look for Middle Spotted Woodpecker but all we got was a Wren which was new for our list. We never stopped at Kavaki, the cliffs just above Petra and drove straight to the reservoir at Molivos. The reservoir has virtually no water in it, we saw dozens of Y L Gulls, a single Wood Sandpiper and a single Little Ringed Plover.
Red-backed Shrike
A walk along the track above the reservoir was made to search for Great Spotted cuckoo, they had been seen everyday, we saw ziltch! In fact they were reported again after we had gone!! But, we did find the Middle Spotted Woodpecker, we enjoyed Red-backed Shrike and avery close Subalpine Warbler. A Hobby flew down and landed by the waterside in the reservoir as we walked back to the bus. We watched a lot butterflies as we ate our picnic lunch before we drove off.
It was now very windy, a northerly wind hit us in the face as we drove along the coast road from Eftalou to Skala Sykamineas. We stopped twice, the first stop produced a Sardinian Warbler feeding chicks and the second a Common Nightingale showed very well and we saw more butterflies.
We sat outside in the windy conditions for a coffee at Skala Sykamineas before we drove to Napi Valley via Mandamanos. Two excursions in the Napi Valley were fruitless, it was far too windy to bird watch. So, we drove all the way down the valley to the Kalloni Salt Pans.
Olivaceous Warbler taken by Jane Wise
An hour or so was spent as various locations in and around ‘pans’, we listed quite a few species and Little Stint was the only new bird for the list. Highlights included, close up views of fully summer plumage Curlew Sandpipers, a good number of Ruff, a Montagu’s Harrier (female type), some Red-throated Pipits and all the usual species.
Red-throated Pipit - there seems to be dozens of these still around
A quick stop at the Tsiknias River mouth produced an amazing 28 Mediterranean Gulls, a single Slender-billed Gull, 6 Sandwich Terns and numerous Little and Common Terns.
a distant Montagu's Harrier seen between the salt pans and the River Tsiknias
Our final birding of the day was after dinner. We visited the square in the village centre and watched a Barn Owl visiting its nest in a chimney, it was our last bird of the day!