Day Five:
A local day that started pre-dawn
at Metochi Lake where the first rays of the day illuminated seven creeping Little Crakes including two slaty males and
six Little Bitterns along with giggling Little Grebes and boisterous Coots and Moorhens.
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| Metochi Lake |
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| Little Crake |
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| Little Bittern |
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| Little Bittern |
Great Reed Warblers gurked from the tall reeds and Common
Swifts were coming down to drink. However it was the trio of male Golden
Orioles that perched high in their chosen oak and serenaded the morning with
gusto that brought the most smiles. They were magnificent. A Middle Spotted Woodpecker briefly showed much to my
relief and we returned to breakfast fully satiated by our morning excursion.
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| Golden O' - through the scope they were magnificent |
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A
small Cicada species with an astonishingly high pitched song... a long steady
note followed by a staccato trill that actually hurts my ears. It has taken
till this trip to find one of the culprits. This one was on an apple tree in
the Pela gardens...
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From here we ventured back through Lotzaria adding
two Black-necked and three Great created Grebes at the Tsiknias river mouth and
the regular Long-legged Buzzard on a telegraph pole.
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| Long-legged Buzzard |
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Ominous cloud probably 20 miles away over Turkey to the North-west
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| The new look lower Tsiknia ford looking north |
The fields and pans were quiet
and especially so with Chinook military manoeuvres going on but they did help
us add Spoonbill and 11 Black Storks and get ridiculous views of Little Owl and
Red-throated Pipit.
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| Seven Black Storks and a Grey Heron |
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| Red-throated Pipit |
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| LIttle Owl |
We made our way to the eastern
end and shared Kevin's 14 male Garganey as they paddled up and down the
channel. Temminck's Stint was new for the trip and a couple of Marsh Sands were
noted along with 16 Ruddy Shelduck and a now perched Spoonbill.
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| Garganey |
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| Marsh Sandpiper |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
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| Curlew Sandpiper |
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| Ruddy Shelduck |
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| Allium sphaerocephalon var. aegaeum |
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| Dark Spreadwing - Lestes macrostigma |
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| Greater Flamingos |
A huge female Peregrine attacked
the Avocets and eventually caught one which was quite spectacular.
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| In for the kill... |
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| Another showy Hoopoe... |
The Raptor Watchpoint above
Kalloni provided the usual species but nothing out of the ordinary so we broke
for an early lunch at the Pela before doing the Potamia circuit but it was now
seriously hot and even the insects were keeping low.
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| The view from the KRWP... |
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| Black-eared Wheatear |
A Dwarf Mantis and a huge
Huntsman spider were the non avian highlights and a pair of Crag Martins around
the bridge were the first I have seen this close to town.
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| Wandering Potamia |
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| Eusparassus walckenaeri - The huge Huntsman |
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| European Dwarf Mantis - Ameles spallanzania |
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| Orbed Underwing Skipper |
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| Eastern Subalpine Warbler |
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| Syrian Thistle - Notobasis syriaca |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
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| Scarce Swallowtail |
A brief siesta and then down to Lotzaria where a
male Little Bittern and female Red-backed Shrike showed well at the Ford and
four Collared Pratincoles and a pair of Stone Curlews put on a great show at
the Big Barn Corner while a Little Owl watched on.
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| Red-backed Shrike |
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| Little Bittern |
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| Collared Pratincole |
The mossies were out and
ravenous so we packed up and headed for the Dionysis for the evening.
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