TISKNIAS RIVER MOUTH - AGRA BY-PASS - ERESOS TO SIGRI COASTAL TRACK - MELADIA VALLEY AND FORD - SIGRI FIELDS - FANEROMENI UPPER FORD
WEATHER; cloudy with some sunshine, very strong easterly wind with gusts up to 40mph.
Today was a great day we saw oodles of new species with some cracking ‘goodies’ thrown in. The weather forecast was for strong easterly winds so we opted to visit the far west of the island and seek shelter from the annoying, cold wind.
Before breakfast we made a short excursion to the mouth of the River Tsiknias, we drove to the eastern side where not too many birders go. It proved to be a great choice, from our view point we had close views of the birds on the sandbar at the mouth of the river and it was covered in Terns. Mostly Common and Little Terns with a few Sandwich Terns. Then three White-winged Terns flew in and after dancing about for short while they too landed on the sandbar. Two Common Sandpipers did the same without the dancing about, the terns looked great in their summer plumage.
here we have Whiskered Tern (right) with 3 Little Terns and a Common Tern
White-Winged Tern
We walked along the eastern shoreline and found several waders, the Curlew (2), Ruddy Turnstone and Common Ringed Plover were new for our trip list whilst Kentish Plover was also present. Our target bird was the Rufous-tailed Bush Robin and it wasn’t long before we heard its plaintiff song, it was Lyn who got onto the bird first, we had great views of this uncommon-migrant, it is a breeding species. We also saw a couple of Whinchats and four Night Herons flew over us, a Black Stork circled in the distance whilst a second Bush Robin appeared to chase the first one away.
Rufous-tailed Bush Robin
As we walked past the sandbar we scanned it again and found that two Whiskered Terns had joined the throngs, in fact, in one view there were 5 species of terns! Sandwich, Whiskered, Common, White-winged and Little Terns, amazing! A Great Crested Grebe was well noted and as we walked back to the car a Grey Heron and a Purple Heron flew over us together.
A Curlew in the morning light
Back at the hotel we had just finished breakfast when I wandered into the grounds, a Scops Owl had been seen and I relocated the bird. After showing the rest of the group we set off for our day’s birding on the west coast.
Scops Owl, this bird has been calling each night in the hotel grounds
It was around 9:30pm when we reached Agra on the coast road, we stopped just passed the town to view the mountainside, we were hoping to see Chukar. We found Short-toed Eagle, Common Buzzard, Alpine Swift, Common Swift and Blue Rock Thrush. The strong wind was keeping most of the birds down and under cover.
Short-toed Eagle carrying a snake (this picture was taken in the meladia Valley later in the day)
The most exciting part of the trip to lesvos is a day out to Sigri and the 12km stretch of track between Eresos and Sigri can deliver some phenomenal species. Not long after we started out we stopped to view some trees and an olive grove. Nothing showed in the trees but we started noticing raptors drifting along the ridge of the nearby hills. Our first sighting was that of a dark Morph Eleonora’s Falcon, this was followed by a Hobby and then the prized Black Kite appeared, wowza!! Black Kite sightings are very uncommon on Lesvos.
A Raven mobbing a Black Kite
The real birding began as we entered the Meladia Valley, we clocked Cretzschmar’s and Cirl Buntings, Northern and Eastern Black-eared Wheatears and lots of common species before we got out of the bus for our first walk. Attached to a small cliff face was an old Rock Nuthatch nest, this was now used by Rock Sparrows, they were feeding young.
the terraine as we entered the Meladia Valley
The scrub held some Pied Flycatchers, Spotted Flycatchers and Subalpine Warblers and as we walked along the track we scanned more bushes and a few trees. We eventually found Golden Oriole, Black-headed Bunting, Common Whitethroat, Great Reed Warbler, Woodchat and Red-backed Shrikes and a distant Roller!
a Rock Sparrow leaving the adbandoned nest of the Rock Nuthatch
Raptors and swifts appeared on a regular basis, we saw several Short-toed Eagles (2 were carrying snakes), lots of Marsh Harriers and another Eleanora’s Falcon, two Hobbys and a couple of Kestrels. Ruddy Shelduck flew around at lunchtime, we found more Orioles, Whinchats, Stonechats and Shrikes. We also saw a Spur-thighed Tortoise and a few butterflies.
In the fig plantation we struck gold with a Collared Flycatcher find, in the plantations were also two more Rollers, and a dozen bee-eaters. Whilst eating lunch we watched a female type Montagu’s Harrier quartering the fields.
we found this amazing Collared Flycatcher
At the chapel we found another Roller, two Wood Warblers and another Spotted Flycatcher, more Marsh Harriers flew over the fields. The drive to the old Cheese Factory went uneventful, we didn’t even see a Little Owl. We did find Northern Wheatear and at least three Lesser Kestrels. The windy conditions were really quite bad at this point, the trees around the Cheese Factory we being bumped around. We saw Spotted Flycatcher and a female Red-backed Shrike and that was all.
European Roller
Wood Warbler
After a coffee break in Sigri we visited the Upper Faneromeni Ford and along the way a Levants Sparrowhawk flew parallel to the bus and over track in front of us, wow, another great sighting. We then spent some time driving past flocks of Bee-eaters and eventually parked at the ford.
The river was almost dry but at least it was sheltered somewhat from the wind. We found a Squacco Heron then a stunning male Citrine Wagtail appeared close by it. As we watched the wagtail two Red-footed Falcons flew over us, one of each sex. A short walk produced sightings of Hoopoe, Pied Flycatcher (a male) and another Marsh Harrier.
male Citrine Wagtail
Eurasian Hoopoe
We left the area at 5:30pm and spent 45 minutes driving back to Skala Kalloni, three Rollers were seen together on a powerline as drove back. Well, that concluded our days birding, it had been a fabulous day, we saw 90 species with many sought-after birds included, a great day.
Golden Oriole
Just a brief note:- last night we went to the Square in Skala Kalloni and watched the local celebrity, a BARN OWL. It flew over the village a couple of times before visiting its nest site which was located in the chimney of a disused building.