METOCHI LAKE – PAPIANA – EAST TRACK KALLONI SALT PANS – ALYKES WETLANDS AND SHEEP FIELD – SCOPS COPSE – WEST BANK OF THE TSIKNIAS RIVER
WEATHER: wall to wall sunshine but a quite windy in the morning. Top temp 25C
We had a fantastic day today, excellent birding, fantastic scenery, the wild flowers are amazing and the light was superb. The windy conditions for most of the day were the only downer on a great day out.
sunrise over the Kalloni Marsh just outside of our hiotel. Five Garaney flew in whilst I watched just before 6:30am
We started at the small Lake called Metochi, a fantastic setting with beautiful scenery , bird song came from all directions and the water was dead-flat calm. We listed all the species expected at this place at this time of the year, Little Crake, Little Bittern, Squacco and Purple Heron. Ruddy Shelducks with a large number of chicks was a surprise.
we saw four Little Crakes and all were female like this one
a male Little Bittern
Great Reed Warbler
Ruddy Shelduck with at least 10 chicks
In the scrub and reed beds we found Great & Common Reed Warblers, Sedge Warbler and Cetti’s Warbler. We heard Common Nightingale and Olivaceous Warbler. Common Swifts joined the hirundines coming down for a drink and distant birds included European Bee-eaters. On the way back to the hotel we added red-backed shrike and Black-headed Bunting to the list.
another shot of a Little Crake
Before setting off to the Salt Pans we stopped off in Papiana, the next village along, where we searched and found two of a family group of Long-eared Owls, we saw one chick and one adult.
the adult Long-eared Owl
The Salt pans we really felt the wind on our backs as we walked a good mile along the eats track. It was worth the trouble when we found 8 Dalmatian Pelicans, a single Shoveler, lots of terns including Little, Common and Gull-billed. We couldn’t find Eurasian Spoonbills but we added Grey Plover to our wader list.
two of the eight Dalmatian Pelicans seen this morning
We ate our lunch at the outflow near the racetrack behind Alykes Wetland. We found a Whimbrel and a Kentish Plover on the beach and two Whiskered Terns flew along the shore.
A short walk in the flooded ‘sheep fields’ produce very little, lots of Wood Sandpipers fed with a few Ruff and we also found Little Ringed Plovers, a good number of Ruddy Shelducks and a Short-toed Lark in song flight. Six Eurasian Spoonbills circled on thermals, Black Storks flew over, at least four, all one at a time. A Short-toed Eagle headlined the raptors, with Common Kestrel and Marsh Harrier the supporting acts.
Swallowtail Butterfly seen during our picnic lunch-break
We spent some time at Alykes Wetlands looking for Citrine Wagtail, we found not one but two females, along with a mixture of Yellow Wagtails and Red-throated Pipits. The Eurasian Bittern was very showy once again and large flocks of Glossy Ibis swirling around in the wind for most of the morning.
female Citrine Wagtail
A quick excursion to the Scops Copse was rewarded with the sighting of a Scops Owl, it wasn’t very obliging as it sat with its back towards us. We couldn’t find a second bird and on the way back we saw a Little owl fly up onto the roof of a building, our third owl of the day.
the not-so obliging Scops Owl
The last couple of hours was spent driving, walking, driving walking the length of the west bank of the river Tsiknias. Again, we didn’t see much but we enjoyed the sunshine, the wild-flowers and warmth. We watched European Bee-eaters, we found a Hoopoe, Black-headed Bunting, Olivaceous Warbler and quite a few species already seen today.
European Bee-eater
It was almost 6pm when we got back to the Hotel, we ate dinner at 7:30pm and at 9pm we met up for a visit into the town centre to look for a Barn Owl. We staked out the building in which the Barn Owl has built its nest, it gains access to the nest via a chimney. We watched the chimney for 40 minutes there was no activity, but we did see the barn owl flyover the chimney without stopping. Four Owls in one day isn’t bad, is it?