Rare Wheatears and Buntings

Although away from the headland itself, a Desert Wheatear found by George Ierapetritis and friends near Gerolimenas on 30th March, looked like being a strong contender for the best bird of the spring.

Desert Wheatear - near Gerolimenas 30th March 2024

A week later and that bird was pushed firmly in to second place when Giota Bourneli found a Hooded Wheatear on the rocky slopes above the Porto Kagio cemetery. See here for pics of that bird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S167431976 Sadly the bird did not hang about and could not be relocated in the afternoon when other birders came to look for it.

This appears to be the most westerly sighting ever of this very rare visitor to Europe. A fantastic addition to the Cape Tenaro list.

The very same day, while searching for the Wheatear,  a Little Bunting was found by Xenia Louverdi in the bushes at the Porto Kagio cemetery. Photos of the bird here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S167432206

Amazingly, although that Little Bunting could not be relocated the next day, what must surely be another was found by Mike Coverdale in the fields at Mianes. This bird was still present on 8th April.

 These are the second and third records for Cape Tenaro, following one that was trapped and ringed in April 2022.

Caspian Tern & Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin

Last Saturday (30th March) a group of visiting birders saw two Caspian Terns fly in an easterly direction past the lighthouse. This is a new species for Cape Tenaro.

Also present on the rocks near the lighthouse an exhausted, and very early, Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin, just the second spring record for the headland.

Full details of their observations on 30th & 31st March are available on eBird: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L7205235

The first of this year’s Tenaro team arrive this evening (6th April), so daily coverage from tomorrow until 26th April.

Cape Tenaro - Summary for Spring 2023

With apologies to all those who were hoping to see more posts from Tenaro last spring - the birding was so good that we didn't have time to write blog posts at the time and then, for various reasons, I failed to write up anything until now. 

This post provides a short summary of the 2023 season.

Coverage: Spring 2023 saw our best coverage yet - with members of the team present on the headland for just over 4 weeks: 8th to 15th April and 22nd April to 12th May. As a consequence the number of species recorded (117) was a new record, easily beating the best previous year, 2015, when 101 species were seen.

Arrivals: there were several large falls notably on 13th & 23rd April and on the 1st May - providing plenty of enjoyable birding and helping the ringing team boost their totals. In April the dominant species were Whitethroat, Pied Flycatcher and Redstart; while in May a greater variety of species were present: Golden Oriole, Woodchat Shrike, Garden Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Icterine Warbler, as well as more Whitethroats.

The most unexpected arrival was a fall of 21 Red-backed Shrikes on 6th May, with at least 17 still present the next day. We've recorded only two previous singles of this species in spring (2006 and 2018) so seeing them in such numbers was a surprise. In spring Red-backed Shrikes usually take a more easterly route to their breeding grounds even if they are nesting in western Europe.

Red-backed Shrike - 6th May

Raptors: Spring migration of raptors at Tenaro is very variable. The table below provides totals for the migrant species that were seen during our stay. In addition sightings of 7 Short-toed Eagles and 3 Eurasian Buzzards on 23rd April may have included some migrants as well as the local resident birds. 

Species	Number Recorded
Osprey	1
Honey-buzzard	5
Marsh Harrier	67
Pallid Harrier	2
Montagu’s Harrier	8
Montagu’s / Pallid Harrier	8
Eurasian Sparrowhawk	4
Black Kite	3
Lesser Kestrel	4
Kestrel	38
Kestrel Sp	45
Falcon Sp	15
Red-footed Falcon	13
Eleonora’s Falcon	7
Hobby	20

Visible Migration: During the second period of coverage there was a sustained movement of Bee-eaters, with birds being seen daily and in above average numbers, including 174 on 24th April and 169 on 30th April.

New Species: There were 3 additions to the Cape Tenaro list in 2023: Cattle Egret (13th April), Little Swift (27th April) and  Melodious Warbler (29th April). 

Melodious Warbler - 29th April

Scarce Migrants: A good selection of scarce migrants were seen: Eurasian Golden Plover (1 sound recorded at night on 5th May), Black-winged Stilt (5 on 1st and 1 on 7th May), White Stork (3 on 23rd April), Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (1 on 11th April), Lesser Grey Shrike (1 on 7th May) and Marsh Warbler (1 on 28th April).

Ringing: It was the best year yet with 1,334 birds of 49 species ringed. The top 10 species ringed are listed in this table:

Species	Number Ringed
Garden Warbler	422
Whitethroat	269
Pied Flycatcher	190
Wood Warbler	99
Sedge Warbler	43
Icterine Warbler	32
Spotted Flycatcher	32
Collared Flycatcher	30
Willow Warbler	29
Nightingale	21

Also of note were: 7 Nightjar, 3 Bee-eaters, 6 Wryneck, 1 Melodious Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Semi-collared Flycatcher.

Illegal Hunting: It is sad to report that illegal spring hunting is still an issue. While less illegal hunting was seen on the headland than in previous years hunters were seen on several days and were seen shooting at Turtle Doves and were seen to shoot and kill at least one Golden Oriole. 

Cattle Egrets - a new species for the headland

Friday 14th April -  A Cattle Egret found on rocks by the lighthouse during the morning flew off south and was followed until lost from sight. Amazingly, just 10 minutes later, another one also flew south. These are the first records of this species for the headland.

On the lands highlights included a Pallid Harrier (present for its third day) that ranged widely across the headland as it hunted for prey and a Roller, the earliest ever.

Counts of grounded migrants for Friday 14th (and the previous five days) are viewable on Trektellen: https://www.trektellen.nl/count/view/3384/20230414

Cattle Egret on rocks below the Lighthouse

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater !!

The first scarce migrant of the year was seen yesterday (11th April) - this very smart Blue-cheeked Bee-eater was resting on wires next to the road between Beehive Pass and Kokinoghia.

There was also an Eastern Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus samamiscus) near Paliros and an Osprey flew north. Full details of what was seen are on Trektellen: https://www.trektellen.nl/count/view/3384/20230411

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Eastern Redstart

Whitethroat Arrival

Monday 10th April - A good count of 65 Whitethroat - info on the other birds seen is now available on the Trektellen website: https://www.trektellen.nl/count/view/3384/20230409

Cape Tenaro - Spring 2023

This year we will be covering spring migration at Cape Tenaro from 8 to 15 April and from 22 April to 12 May.

For the next week bird news will only be on Twitter @capetenaronews (or use this link like a webpage if you don’t have a Twitter account https://twitter.com/capetenaronews). This blog will have regular posts from 22 April.

Last Morning

Highlights - Wednesday 20th April

A final morning’s birding before the last two of this year’s Tenaro Team departed. Clear skies overnight saw a clear out of grounded migrants and limited new arrivals. The highlights for the morning, in the limited time available, were 3 Eastern Orphean Warbler and a Roller (which may or may not be one of the birds seen on Monday).

Grounded Migrants: 5 Hoopoe, 1 Roller, 1 Wryneck, 6 Woodchat Shrike, 8 Whitethroat, 3 Eastern Orphean Warbler, 5 Collared Flycatcher, 10 Pied Flycatcher. 

Visible Passage: Limited …..

Raptors: 1 Montagu’s Harrier, 1 Harrier Sp, 2 Kestrel Sp.

Bird Ringing: None

Weather: Clear conditions overnight saw most of yesterday’s migrants depart.