Wednesday 30 April 2014

Golden Orioles and Flycatchers

Well today proved to the best one yet, with a good variety of species on the move and lots of activity throughout the day. Given there was little change in the weather, the wind remained stuck in the west all day, the size and diversity of the arrival was surprising. It would be interesting to know where these birds had crossed the African coast.

Early on there was a mini raptor movement with 2 Marsh Harriers, 4 Kestrels and a Lesser Kestrel; in addition single Hobby and Eleonara's Falcon were seen later in the morning.

A number of species clearly arrived after midday, for example only 1 Northern Wheatear was seen in the morning but a further 10 were found during the afternoon, mostly on roads that had been checked in the morning. Totals for the day were 20 Whinchat, 18 Redstart, 18 Woodchat Shrikes, 25 Golden Orioles, 28 Pied Flycatcher, 52 Spotted Flycatcher, 4 Quail, 26 Garden Warbler, a single Icterine Warbler and 2 Cuckoo.

Visible passage included at least 63 Bee-eaters and 73 Turtle Doves.

Woodchat Shrike at Koureli
Swallowtail near Porto Kaghio

 

West wind but a small arrival - Tuesday 29 April

The wind was still stuck in the west, however it had slackened. An early walk to the lighthouse was remarkably unproductive but walks around Koureli, Porto Kaghio and Paliros showed clear evidence of a small fall of migrants. The most abundant species was a Garden Warblar (42), other migrant totals for the day (all increased since yesterday) were 13 Wood Warbler, 10 Whitethroat, 36 Spotted Flycatcher, 13 Pied Flycatcher, 2 Icterine Warbler and 6 Golden Oriole.

There was also a small movement of 36 Turtle Doves mostly seeming to arrive late morning - and some hunting activity especially around Paliros.

The surprise sighting of the day was a mammal rather than a bird, on the way back to the hotel we had two brief, but good, separate sightings of Golden Jackals crossing the road in front of us.

Black-headed Bunting at Koureli
Ladybird Spider on the road to Kokinoghia

 

Monday 28 April 2014

Windy weather - slim pickings

Today started with a brisk westerly wind that got steadily stronger as the day went on. There was no evidence of any new birds arriving and in most areas the bushes were being whipped about so strongly that there was little hope of seeing any small birds. The best birding of the day proved to be at Porto Kaghio where there was a good mix of migrants presumably driven out of the hillside scrub to seek shelter where they could find it. Totals for the day of the more abundant migrants were 6 Redstart, 20 Spotted Flycatcher, 10 Pied Flycatcher, 8 Wood Warbler, 11 Garden Warbler, 12 Whinchat, 2 Wryneck, 1 Hoopoe, 21 Red-rumped Swallows and 2 Golden Oriole.

In the absence of any decent bird pics here are a couple of shots of the headland:

Koureli and the path to 'Secret Beach'

 

 

Abandoned terraced fields above Marmari

 

Weather: Wind west force 5 to 6, increasing 7 in afternoon. Mostly overcast with isolated showers until mid-afternoon, clearing later.

 

Yesterday's best bird

In my haste to write up Sunday's observations I forgot to mention the bird of the day. A rather unseasonal adult Mediterranean Gull flew strongly west past the lighthouse. We've not seen one at Cape Tenaro before and by now they should all, in theory at least, be further north.

There were also at least two rather distant dolphins but seen so briefly that they couldn't be identified.

Rain at first light but no large fall - Sunday 27th April

Despite an impressively loud thunderstorm and a short lived but heavy downpour just before dawn there was no large fall of migrants. That said there was a good mix of species and totals for Sunday included 29 Spotted Flycatcher, 15 Pied Flycacher, a single Collared Flycacher, 6 Woodchat Shrikes, 3 Wryneck, 11 Whinchat, 8 Great Reed Warbler, 6 Garden Warbler, 2 Icterine Warbler and 7 Golden Oriole. There was also a reasonable movement of 49 Turtle Doves - and a number of hunters out shooting at them.

Single Squacco and Night Herons came in off the sea and an Eleonara's Falcon was seen over the mountain.

At the end of the afternoon a visit to the plateau above Gerolimenas, north of the headland, gave stunning views of two Montagu's Harriers and distant views of a third unidentified harrier.

Montagu's Harrier near Gerolimenas 27 April 2014
Whinchat 27 April 2014

 

Sunday 27 April 2014

First afternoon on the headland

We spent about three hours on the headland on Saturday afternoon. A scattering of migrants were present including 10 Spotted Flycatcher, 7 Redstart and 4 Wood Warbler; there was also a large (but unseen) party of Bee-eaters. At Porto Kaghio there were single singing Olivaceous and Olive-tree Warblers and also a small group of flava wagtails feeding in a recently strimmed garden.

 

The Evrota Delta

Species of interest from yesterday's visit to the delta included 25+ Little Egtret, 9 Squacco Herons, 9 Garganey, a Ferruginous Duck, 10+ Wood Sandpiper, a Turnstone, 3 Water Rail (calling), 4 Red-footed Falcons, 4 Marsh Harriers and a single Montagu's Harrier. The Garganey were very wary however I did manage to get a couple of shots.

Garganey in the Evrota delta 26/4/2014

The delta is protected under EU legislation as a Natura 2000 site based on the importance of its sand dune systems and the role it plays as a migratory stop over for Glossy Ibis. It was therefor disapointing to see this solar panel farm, built in the last 2 years it occupies an area of the delta where we have regularly seen Gloosy Ibis feeding in previous years.

 

On our way to Cape Tenaro

Having reached Sparta late on Friday night on Saturday we initially headed off to the Evrota delta. This river delta has been largely reclaimed for agriculture however there are still some small fragments of this (presumably once great) wetland left. On the way we had great views of the Tagyetos mountains.


There were no big numbers of birds on show however we saw a few interesting migrants, the best of which was a Baillon's Crake feeding along the edge of a drainage channel.

More on the other birds in the next post.

 

Thursday 17 April 2014