Trip Report: Northern Greece May, 2007


                                                 

Dadia Forest, Phillipi ,  Arum Dracunculus or Voodoo Lily

Leader : Dermot Mc Cabe 

Photos: Patricia Price, Lorraine Benson

This was prime time migration and one week was just not long enough as we travelled across Northern Greece to visit as many habitats as possible.

Pygmy Cormorants

 From the sites of ancient European civilisation resonating with history  to wilderness of great natural beauty, the northern Greek experience is highly recommended if your ambition is to make a big indent into the Collins Bird Guide. Birds were in breeding plumage and singing making identification easier. Our itinerary started with Delphi... of course! A Rock Nuthatch was waiting for us in the ruins. Returing north from Delphi we saw our first White Storks on the nesting platforms that seem to be a feature of all the villages.Then east to Thessaloniki, Lake Veronia and on to Asprovalta. On and around the Lake Veronia, White Stork and Black Stork were plentiful as were Greater Flamingo, and Pelicans.  Corn Buntings, Black-headed Buntings and Crested Larks were everywhere. Marsh Harrier was the commonest raptor in this area.  On to lake Volpi where we saw 6 Red-footed Falcons on a telegraph wire. Pygmy Cormorant and Cettis Warblers, Cirl Bunting showed easily. A Short-toed Eagle hovered over our heads for a short period on the side of the road

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Onwards to Fanari in 28 degrees of heat - near the hotel we saw our first and only White-backed Woodpecker. We also found our first Calandra Lark in this area near Lake Ismerida south of Pagouria. These idiosynchratic large larks favoured roughly ploughed fields and were less numerous that the commoner Crested larks, Short-toed Lark and Wood Lark. A surprising flock of 30 Collared Pratincoles bounced tern-like overhead and stayed hawking in the area for several minutes.Hundreds of calling Bee-eaters filled the air and landed on low bushes around us as we walked in this area alive with birds. So much colour almost succeeded in diverting our eyes from a great bunch of waders including Marsh Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper and  Little Ringed Plover . A Lesser Grey Shrike was also present where we walked. We could have spent the week in this magic small area which we discovered. It was not on anyone else's trip report!! But it was onwards to the birding hotspots identified by Gosney and others before us.

 

Rock Nuthatch at Delphi

Next stop was inland and up towards the mountains on the Turkish border to Raptorland. Its possible to see almost all the breeding raptors in Europe at the Dadia reserve.The raptors included Booted Eagle, Lesser Spotted Eagle and Long-legged Buzzard. Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture and Black Vultures were easy to see at Dadia.

 You can gen up on your tricky Warblers in the low bushy scrub along the coastal plains of the Evros Delta which was our next stop. We saw a good number  including  Eastern Olivacious Warbler, Orphean Warbler, Reed Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Great Reed Warbler  as well as the easier ones such as  Subalpine Warbler, Mustached Warbler and Sardinian Warbler. A tiny Little Bittern clung leaflike to a stalk in the reed beds. Penduline Tit nests decorated the trees along the delta. Down at the beach a pair of Kentish Plover ran around the abandoned boats in the fishermens' area.We stayed near the Evros visitors centre at Loutros   This was another place where we could have spent more time. It is, we understand, one of the few places where the Slender- Billed Curlew can be found. We did not see this bird this time!

A six hour drive to  Lake Kerkini near the Bulgarian border took us to a spectacularly different Alpine lake area home to the White-tailed Eagle, Black Kite, Dalmatian  Pelican and White Pelican, a variety of Herons and thousands of Great Cormorants. On the same day we saw a Great Eagle Owl and the diminutive Little Owl standing guard at its nest hole in a quarry. The woodlands around lake Kerkini provide cover for a variety of warblers, finches, buntings and  raptors. More there than we had time for.

A total of 150 birds were seen in one week. We will be back for more next year!! LB

 

 

Bee-eaters

Lake Kerkini

Dalmatian Pelican
  1.   LITTLE GREBE

  2. GREAT CRESTED GREBE

  3. GREAT CORMORANT

  4. PYGMY CORMORANT

  5. WHITE PELICAN

  6. DALMATIAN PELICAN

  7. LITTLE BITTERN

  8. BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERON

  9. SQUACCO HERON

  10. LITTLE EGRET

  11. GREAT WHITE EGRET

  12. GREY HERON

  13. PURPLE HERON

  14. BLACK STORK

  15. WHITE STORK

  16. GLOSSY IBIS

  17. SPOONBILL

  18. GREATER FLAMINGO

  19. MUTE SWAN

  20. GREYLAG GOOSE

  21. SHELDUCK

  22. MALLARD

  23. GARGANEY

  24. BLACK KITE

  25. WHITE TAILED EAGLE

  26. EGYPTIAN VULTURE

  27. GRIFFON VULTURE

  28. BLACK VULTURE

  29. SHORT-TOED EAGLE

  30. MARSH HARRIER

  31. BUZZARD

  32. LONG LEGGED BUZZARD

  33. LESSER SPOTTED EAGLE

  34. BOOTED EAGLE

  35. RED-FOOTED FALCON

  36. SPARROWHAWK

  37. KESTREL

  38. MOORHEN

  39. COOT

  40. OYSTERCATCHER

  41. AVOCET

  42. BLACK-WINGED STILT

  43. COLLARED PRATINCOLE

  44. LITTLE RINGED PLOVER

  45. RINGED PLOVER

  46. KENTISH PLOVER

  47. GREY PLOVER

  48. SPUR-WINGED PLOVER

  49. LAPWING

  50. LITTLE STINT

  51. DUNLIN

  52. RUFF

  53. SNIPE

  54. BLACK-TAILED GODWIT

  55. CURLEW

  56. SPOTTED REDSHANK

  57. REDSHANK

  58. GREENSHANK

  59. COMMON SANDPIPER

  60. MARSH SANDPIPER

  61. WOOD SANDPIPER

  62. MEDITERRANEAN GULL

  63. LITTLE GULL

  64. BLACK-HEADED GULL

  65. YELLOW-LEGGED GULL

  66. LITTLE TERN

  67. SANDWICH TERN

  68. COMMON TERN

  69. WHISKERED TERN

  70. BLACK TERN

  71. WHITE-WINGED BLACK TERN

  72. WOODPIGEON

  73. COLLARED DOVE

  74. TURTLE DOVE

  75. GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO

  76. CUCKOO

  77. EAGLE OWL

  78. LITTLE OWL

  79. SWIFT

  80. PALLID SWIFT

  81. BEE EATER

  82. ROLLER

  83. HOOPOE

  84. GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

  85. WHITE-BACKED WOODPECKER

  86. CALANDRA LARK

  87. SHORT-TOED LARK

  88. CRESTED LARK

  89. WOODLARK

  90. SKYLARK

  91. SAND MARTIN

  92. CRAG MARTIN

  93. BARN SWALLOW

  94. RED-RUMPED SWALLOW

  95. HOUSE MARTIN

  96. TAWNY PIPIT

  97. YELLOW WAGTAIL, as well as the very distictive sub-species Black-headed Wagtail 

  98. WHITE WAGTAIL

  99. GREY WAGTAIL

  100. ROBIN

  101. NIGHTINGALE

  102. STONECHAT

  103. WHEATEAR

  104. BLACK-EARED WHEATEAR

  105. BLUE ROCK THRUSH

  106. BLACKBIRD

  107. SONG THRUSH

  108. CETTI'S WARBLER

  109. REED WARBLER

  110. GREAT REED WARBLER

  111. OLIVACEOUS WARBLER

  112. OLIVE-TREE WARBLER

  113. ORPHEAN WARBLER

  114. SUBALPINE WARBLER

  115. SARDINIAN WARBLER

  116. MUSTACHED WARBLER

  117. WHITETHROAT

  118. BLACKCAP

  119. CHIFFCHAFF

  120. SPOTTED FLYCATCHER

  121. LONG-TAILED TIT

  122. COAL TIT

  123. BLUE TIT

  124. GREAT TIT

  125. NUTHATCH

  126. ROCK NUTHATCH

  127. GOLDEN ORIOLE

  128. RED-BACKED SHRIKE

  129. LESSER GREY SHRIKE

  130. WOODCHAT SHRIKE

  131. MASKED SHRIKE

  132. JAY

  133. MAGPIE

  134. JACKDAW

  135. HOODED CROW

  136. RAVEN

  137. ROOK

  138. STARLING

  139. HOUSE SPARROW

  140. SPANISH SPARROW

  141. TREE SPARROW

  142. CHAFFINCH

  143. GREENFINCH

  144. GOLDFINCH

  145. LINNET

  146. CROSSBILL

  147. CIRL BUNTING

  148. ORTOLAN BUNTING

  149. BLACK-HEADED BUNTING

  150. CORN BUNTING.