ARRIVAL AND TRANSFER FROM THESSALONIKI TO LAKE KERKINI WITH STOPS AT - KALICHORI LAGOONS - LITHOTOPOS
WAETHER: dry, sunny, very warm 30C max. Light breeze.
I arrived yesterday in Sofia Bulgaria with my birding Guru in tow, Guy Campbell. We were met by Dancho our Bulgarian guide and friend, all three of us then drove to our hotel on the shore of Lake Kerkini in Northern Greece.
We were up early this morning and went birding locally and to a place near Thessaloniki, it would unfair to list the species we saw before the group arrived so I shall say that we didn’t see very much at this point.
We collected Jo from her accommodation near the Airport and the rest of the group arrived on time from London, Gatwick. As we left the terminal building our Trip Bird List could officially start. The first bird we saw was Pallid Swift, plenty of them were flying around the airport buildings, a few Common Swifts were with them.
Along the road to our first birding stop we noted many species, notably, Eurasian Hoopoe, White Stork, Honey Buzzard, Rook and Turtle Dove. Our first birding destination was the large lagoons at Kalichori, which, for some reason were very poorly attended by the usual wader fraternity. We were very disappointed by the lack of species and wader numbers were very low. However we did list over 30 species, the most abundant were: Ruff, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt, Common Shelduck, Mediterranean Gull, Common Tern and Pygmy Cormorant.
our first birding of the trip at Kalichori Lagoons
Our drive around several lagoons produced more sightings of the same plus another twenty or so species: we added: Little Owl, Stone Curlew, Eurasian Spoonbill, Great Egret, Great Cormorant, Eurasian Teal, Yellow Wagtail, Kentish, Little Ringed and Common Ringed Plovers, Curlew Sandpipers, Redshank, Greenshank and a few others.
the wild flowers were prolific at Kalichori and many butterflies were seen too!
Near the main canal and sluice gates we saw Tree Sparrows, Moorhen and we heard both Cetti’s and Reed Warblers. Marsh Harrier and Common Buzzard were the only raptors in view.
We left the area around 4pm and set off for Lake Kerkini, our next stop wasn’t until we neared the town of Lithotopos. A roadside stop proved very successful, especially for raptor sightings. We saw three Lesser Spotted Eagles, two Common Buzzards, Levant Sparrowhawk and some distant small falcons which could not be identified.
a small selction of the Dalmatian Pelicans seen from our hotel rooms
White Storks were very common, we also saw two Rollers, five European Bee-eaters, another Hoopoe, Corn Bunting, we heard a Black-headed Bunting and both Barn and Red-rumped Swallows flew over us. Another very short stop produced Black Kites and more Buzzards as well as Common Kestrel.
White Stork - one of many seen today
Our arrival at the hotel was around 6pm, we had a short time to scan the Lake from our balconies, from there we listed many more species. Dalmatian and White Pelicans, Eurasian Spoonbills, Squacco and Night Herons, Greylag Geese, Great Crested Grebe and thousands of other birds.
the view from my balcony this evening
Our ‘travel-day’ list was 63 species, which by all accounts was not too bad.