Gary and Laura are newlyweds who came to Greece for their honeymoon. Apart from the mainstream sight-seeing and beach-going, they also wanted to spend half day birding. They wanted to visit Antonis Tritsis Park in Athens, then the plains of Erythres and Kopaida because they saw our May blog post. They really wanted, however, to see White Storks and Bee-eaters.
August is, of course, much hotter than May and bird activity is lower. In any case, they wanted to visit areas away from the busy centre and the hordes of tourists.
We started from Antonis Tritsis Park, Athens' largest park and a very important area for birds. We were looking for warblers, Eastern Olivaceous and Sardinian in particular, when a large bird flew overhead, along with some Common and Pallid Swifts; an Eleonora's Falcon!
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| Eleonora's Falcon |
Eleonora's Falcons are very rarely seen in the mainland in August, as they nest in rocky islets of the Aegean Sea. This could have been a non-breeding individual. Coots, Moorhens, Mallards and Grey Herons were also seen, along with a lot of Rose-ringed Parakeets.
We left Tritsis Park and headed to the plain of Erythres, NW of Athens. The White Stork nest was empty but the plain was full of birds: Woodchat, Lesser Grey and Red-backed Shrikes, Great and Sombre Tits, Lesser and Common Kestrels were easily found
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| Red-backed Shrike |
Next stop was the much larger plain of Kopaida. We had little time to spend, as Gary and Laura wanted to return to the hotel at 16:00 but we managed to admire the colourful Bee-eaters.
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| Bee-eater |
Heading to the town of Thiva to have lunch, we finally saw White Storks! Two birds were still inside a nest at the outskirts of the town.
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| Gary and Laura taking photos of the White Storks |
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White Storks@Thiva
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We had a fine lunch at Thiva and then we returned to Athens. A very productive half-day, indeed, as we saw more than 30 species, on a hot August day!
TRIP CHECKLIST
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| Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos |
| White Stork - Ciconia ciconia |
| Gray Heron - Ardea cinerea |
| Common Buzzard - Buteo buteo |
| Eurasian Moorhen - Gallinula chloropus |
| Eurasian Coot - Fulica atra |
| Eurasian Collared Dove - Streptopelia decaocto |
| Common Swift - Apus apus |
| Pallid Swift - Apus pallidus |
| Eurasian Hoopoe - Upupa epops |
| European Bee-eater - Merops apiaster |
| Lesser Kestrel - Falco naumanni |
| Eurasian Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus |
| Eleonora's Falcon - Falco eleonorae |
| Rose-ringed Parakeet - Psittacula krameri |
| Red-backed Shrike - Lanius collurio |
| Lesser Gray Shrike - Lanius minor |
| Woodchat Shrike - Lanius senator |
| Eurasian Magpie - Pica pica |
| Hooded Crow - Corvus cornix |
| Barn Swallow - Hirundo rustica |
| Red-rumped Swallow - Cecropis daurica |
| Common House-Martin - Delichon urbicum |
| Sombre Tit - Poecile lugubris |
| Great Tit - Parus major |
| Willow Warbler - Phylloscopus trochilus |
| Eastern Olivaceous Warbler - Iduna
pallida |
| Subalpine Warbler - Sylvia cantillans |
| Sardinian Warbler - Sylvia melanocephala |
| Black-eared Wheatear - Oenanthe hispanica |
| Eurasian Blackbird - Turdus merula |
| House Sparrow - Passer domesticus |
| Eurasian Tree Sparrow - Passer montanus |
