Tom Beal, an American birder who came to Athens for vacations, wanted to have a full day of birding and make the most of the area's birdlife. Therefore, contacting Greece Bird Tours was the best way to achieve it. Pick up time from his BnB apt in downtown Athens was 5.45 so that the Scops Owl would be our first bird (and Tom's lifer) for the day. We saw a pretty male bird very easily at Lycabettus Hill and then headed off to the northern slopes of Mt Parnitha.
The scrubby areas were full of warblers: Sardinian, Subalpine and Eastern Orphean were singing all over the place.
There were also Sombre Tits, Cirl Buntings and distant Rock Nuthatches.
We could stay all day there but had to leave for the next stop: Schinias National Park. There, Ferruginous Ducks were very easy to find but we also had great views of Cretzschmar's Buntings on the way from Oropos Lagoon. There were also a lot of Glossy Ibises, Garganeys and Turtle Doves.
We left Schinias and headed towards Mt Hymettus, for the Ruppell's Warbler. On the way, we stopped at the fields around Spata which are flooded due to the heavy rains of winter and spring. A Little Crake was the most interesting species and the place was full of hirundines, Coots and Moorhens. We also looked for the Great Spotted Cuckoo but the pouring rain didn't help.
The scrubby areas were full of warblers: Sardinian, Subalpine and Eastern Orphean were singing all over the place.
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| Subalpine Warbler |
Next destination was Oropos Lagoon, Athens' most important brackish wetland. It really lived up to its name as we saw a very close Great Bittern, three beautiful Spoonbills and a Pygmy Cormorant, along with Red-throated Pipits and many more passerines!
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| Great Bittern |
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| Pygmy Cormorant and Sandwich Terns |
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| Spoonbills |
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| Red-throated Pipit |
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| Cretzschmar's Bunting |
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| Ferruginous Duck |
We left Spata fields and drove to Mt Hymettus, where we found the Ruppell's Warbler just minutes after the rain stopped.
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| Ruppell's Warbler |
It was almost dusk and a short walk around the forested lower slopes yielded the Short-toed Treecreeper, along with Jays, Blackbirds and Great Tits.
The day was over and we managed to record 91 species, an amazing number indeed!
The day was over and we managed to record 91 species, an amazing number indeed!
TRIP CHECKLIST
| Common Shelduck - Tadorna tadorna |
| Garganey - Spatula querquedula |
| Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos |
| Ferruginous Duck - Aythya nyroca |
| Little Grebe - Tachybaptus ruficollis |
| Rock Dove - Columba livia |
| European Turtle Dove - Streptopelia turtur |
| Collared Dove - Streptopelia decaocto |
| Common Cuckoo - Cuculus canorus |
| Alpine Swift - Apus melba |
| Common Swift - Apus apus |
| Water Rail - Rallus aquaticus |
| Common Moorhen - Gallinula chloropus |
| Eurasian Coot - Fulica atra |
| Little Crake - Zapornia parva |
| Black-winged Stilt - Himantopus himantopus |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher - Haematopus ostralegus |
| Grey Plover - Pluvialis squatarola |
| Kentish Plover - Charadrius alexandrinus |
| Black-tailed Godwit - Limosa limosa |
| Little Stint - Calidris minuta |
| Common Sandpiper - Actitis hypoleucos |
| Green Sandpiper - Tringa ochropus |
| Common Greenshank - Tringa nebularia |
| Wood Sandpiper - Tringa glareola |
| Black-headed Gull - Chroicocephalus ridibundus |
| Mediterranean Gull - Ichthyaetus melanocephalus |
| Yellow-legged Gull - Larus michahellis |
| Little Tern - Sternula albifrons |
| Sandwich Tern - Thalasseus sandvicensis |
| Pygmy Cormorant - Microcarbo pygmeus |
| Great Bittern - Botaurus stellaris |
| Grey Heron - Ardea cinerea |
| Purple Heron - Ardea purpurea |
| Little Egret - Egretta garzetta |
| Glossy Ibis - Plegadis falcinellus |
| Eurasian Spoonbill - Platalea leucorodia |
| Osprey - Pandion haliaetus |
| Short-toed Eagle - Circaetus gallicus |
| Western Marsh Harrier - Circus aeruginosus |
| Eurasian Sparrowhawk - Accipiter nisus |
| Common Buzzard - Buteo buteo |
| Eurasian Scops Owl - Otus scops |
| Little Owl - Athene noctua |
| Eurasian Hoopoe - Upupa epops |
| European Bee-eater - Merops apiaster |
| Common Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus |
| Eurasian Jay - Garrulus glandarius |
| Common Magpie - Pica pica |
| Eurasian Jackdaw - Corvus monedula |
| Hooded Crow - Corvus cornix |
| Common Raven - Corvus corax |
| Crested Lark - Galerida cristata |
| Sand Martin - Riparia riparia |
| Barn Swallow - Hirundo rustica |
| Red-rumped Swallow - Cecropis daurica |
| Common House Martin - Delichon urbicum |
| Sombre Tit - Poecile lugubris |
| Great Tit - Parus major |
| Long-tailed Tit - Aegithalos caudatus |
| Western Rock Nuthatch - Sitta neumayer |
| Short-toed Treecreeper - Certhia brachydactyla |
| Cetti's Warbler - Cettia cetti |
| Wood Warbler - Phylloscopus sibilatrix |
| Common Chiffchaff - Phylloscopus collybita |
| Sedge Warbler - Acrocephalus schoenobaenus |
| Eurasian Reed Warbler - Acrocephalus scirpaceus |
| Great Reed Warbler - Acrocephalus arundinaceus |
| Zitting Cisticola - Cisticola juncidis |
| Eurasian Blackcap - Sylvia atricapilla |
| Eastern Orphean Warbler - Sylvia crassirostris |
| RΓΌppell's Warbler - Sylvia ruppeli |
| Subalpine Warbler - Sylvia cantillans |
| Sardinian Warbler - Sylvia melanocephala |
| Common Whitethroat - Sylvia communis |
| European Robin - Erithacus rubecula |
| Common Nightingale - Luscinia megarhynchos |
| Whinchat - Saxicola rubetra |
| European Stonechat - Saxicola rubicola |
| Black-eared Wheatear - Oenanthe hispanica |
| Eurasian Blackbird - Turdus merula |
| Grey Wagtail - Motacilla cinerea |
| Western Yellow Wagtail - Motacilla flava |
| Red-throated Pipit - Anthus cervinus |
| Common Chaffinch - Fringilla coelebs |
| European Greenfinch - Chloris chloris |
| Common Linnet - Linaria cannabina |
| European Goldfinch - Carduelis carduelis |
| Cirl Bunting - Emberiza cirlus |
| Cretzschmar's Bunting - Emberiza caesia |
| House Sparrow - Passer domesticus |
