Three Lazy Days – 10,000 Birds

That is additionally my favorite birding spot, which I often go to yearly, however because of the pandemic disruption I used to be now returning after a 4 years break. We arrived simply earlier than midnight to satisfy our pal and the Limneo Lodge proprietor Nikos Gallios, with whom we shared a wonderful pizza topped with contemporary village produce, mere 100 m / 330 ft from his lodge. What amazed me is that, as a substitute of the same old 6 or 8 slices, this pizza was lower into tiny, bite-size slices!

Booted Eagle by Kostas Papadopoulos

The following morning was a lazy one, a late breakfast and even later tour. It was getting scorching, so as a substitute of an initially deliberate 6 km intense birding route, I opted for a leisurely 70 km around the lake drive with some en route birding intermingled with just a few cafe and restaurant stops. The southern half of the lake produced White Stork, Spanish Sparrow, Pygmy Cormorant, Nice White Pelican, Squacco Heron, Black-crowned Evening-Heron, Eurasian Spoonbill, Black Kite, European Bee-eater, Crested Lark, Nice Reed Warbler, Crimson-rumped Swallow, and simply earlier than the espresso break, a Lesser Noticed Eagle swallowing a snake in mid-air.

Lesser Noticed Eagle and Eurasian Hoopoe by Kostas Papadopoulos

After which we had whipped and iced espresso frappe, which is as we speak much more widespread in Greece than conventional Greek espresso (with much less political correctness it might be additionally known as Turkish espresso, one thing I by no means tried myself) in a deep shade of very dense tree crowns, which is, alas, additionally very a lot appreciated by a neighborhood gang of mosquitoes. But, that was the one time we used insect repellent on all the journey. The northern half of the lake added Corn Bunting, European Turtle Dove, Dalmatian Pelican, Purple Heron, Eurasian Interest, Eurasian Golden Oriole, Eurasian Inexperienced Woodpecker, and solely the primary of the a number of Masked Shrikes of the tour (cowl photograph by Kostas Papadopoulos).

The following cease was for lunch in a Railway Station Tavern within the Vyronenia Village. Though the trains on the Thessaloniki-Alexandroupolis line appear to be few and much in between, they nonetheless cease at this village station changed into a restaurant. We sat outside, shaded by previous aircraft timber and cooled by a brief bathe falling within the vibrant daylight. We had been joined by Nikos and his household, so we ordered a dozen conventional dishes and salads to share, some native buffalo sausages and pork kebabs with yoghurt sauce, bouyiourdi (a Greek appetizer consisting of feta cheese, kasseri, tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and bell peppers), a mushroom pie, after which there was one other salty pie with honey, it’s all combined up in my thoughts by now. The service was quick, the dishes nice, costs average and the corporate priceless. To spherical up the day, in our base-village of Chrisochorafa, we later had one lovely Little Owl just some hundred metres from our lodge.

The following day was the one after I wakened early – the one time on this journey. I went to discover the perfect birding space of the nationwide park, the legendary jap levee, and this present day began with one other Little Owl within the subsequent village. The levee was bursting with singing Frequent Nightingales, Eurasian Penduline , Japanese Olivaceous Warblers, Cetti’s Warblers (one permitting for the perfect of views), and Cirl Buntings. Then there have been just a few Hawfinches and two younger Black Storks, Little Bittern, Nice White Egret, Shiny Ibis, Frequent Kingfisher, Syrian Woodpecker, Peregrine Falcon, Crimson-backed Shrike, Lesser Gray Shrike, Collared Flycatcher and a household of Western Yellow Wagtails. Later within the day, roadside birds included a Booted Eagle and a Levant Sparrowhawk.

Subsequent morning we joined one in every of Nikos’s Varkada Boat Excursions of the lake, crusing round and thru chicken colonies and into the principle in-flow channel of the Strymonas River the place it enters the lake. Resulting from heavy rains many clutches of Nice Crested Grebes had failed, however we noticed each nests with eggs (and left the world instantly) and adults with chicks, a few of them piggy-backing their moms. We additionally noticed nests of Pygmy Cormorants, Dalmatian Pelicans, Little Egrets, Cattle Egret (with a chick), Squacco Heron, and Spoonbills. The final time I used to be right here, the Nationwide Park Director, Dr Theodoros Naziridis, informed me they had been ready for a very excessive water stage to tug the floating concrete raft (supposed for breeding of pelicans) additional away so the pile of rocks it was anchored to might grow to be a basis for the brand new picket platform. Nevertheless, throughout a storm the chains that saved it anchored broke off and the raft is now stranded on the shore, accessible to stray canines and never used for breeding. The Strymonas Channel was adorned by quite a few Nice White Pelicans, Black-crowned Evening-Herons, Shiny Ibises, additionally Penduline, Frequent Reed Warblers, Cetti’s Warblers and Eurasian Tree Sparrows. Final however not least, there have been three species of shrikes, Crimson-backed, Lesser Gray and no less than 2 Masked Shrikes, presumably 2 extra, a complete household (not all had been exhibiting so properly).

Nice White Pelicans by Kostas Papadopoulos

We devoted the afternoon to the small, deserted and revitalised quarry behind the hamlet of Chimarros. It turned out to be the house of the ultimate of the 4 native shrikes, the Woodchat Shrike (a household, 2 adults and a pair of juveniles) exhibiting properly, a singing Ortolan Bunting, Turtle Dove, yet another Masked Shrike, Japanese Olivaceous Warbler, Noticed Flycatcher, Yellowhammer, in addition to 3 grazing Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca).

Versus one earlier Kerkini tour when two intense days bought me over 100 species, these three lazy days bought me 95 species and I’m very pleased with the rating and the way in which I bought there. The following day we went to a different nationwide park, this time a sequence of coastal lagoons, however you’ll learn that story in a fortnight.