Continuing the sightings I reported in Part 1.
Birds of Prey
Birds of prey seen but not photographed included Buzzard, Long-legged Buzzard, Marsh, Montagu's, Hen and Pallid Harriers. Also saw a Black Kite and numerous Common Kestrels and the occasional Hobby.
Short-toed Eagles were quite numerous and I managed to get a few shots. They are also known as snake eagles and if you look closely at this photo you'll see why.
Although I didn't quite get this one in the frame I've included it because it shows the snake it caught a bit more clearly. It was taking evasive action from, I think, a gull or a hoodie which was trying to pinch its meal.
We had good but quite distant views of Red-footed Falcons. Although these are very heavily cropped photos I've included them because they show the marked difference between the all over slate grey plumage of the male
and the peachy coloured breast of the female.
Near the end of the holiday when the wind had changed to a more favourable southerly direction there was a sudden influx of birds at the western end of the island where we duly dashed. We were fortunate to see about 32 Lesser Kestrels perched on overhead cables. Here's a not very good pic of one.
A first for me was a view of a perched Eleonora's Falcon. Unfortunately, it was raining so hard I couldn't get a photo because I had no protection for my camera. It is similar to a Hobby but with a more pronounced face mask.
Little Owls were quite common but this is the only shot I managed to get. It was taken uo at Ipsalou Monastry where I think it was nesting.
We also saw a Long-eared Owl which was roosting in the grounds of a neighbouring hotel. Unfortunately it was being harassed by a Hooded Crow and was constantly flying so no photo. I'll bet Seymouraves gets a picture this week though.
The highlight has to be the Scops Owls which was seen at a well known roosting site. It's often well concealed but this time we were lucky.
Eyes open (just)
and nodding off.
Herons, Crakes and Storks
In this part of the world the Black Stork is equally if not more common than the White Stork. I missed out on the best photo opportunity and the only picture I got was not ideal but here it is anyway.
Early one morning we had a Dalmatian Pelican fly over glowing in the early morning sunshine. Not a common visitor in this region. They are generally more commonly found around the Black sea.
Grey Herons were plentiful but I didn't take any photos of them. Little Bitterns were quite common too but often difficult to photograph as they skulked in the reeds. Here's a male.
Also got a shot of a Squacco Heron as it tried to creep away.
Metochia Lake where I photographed the White-winged Black Terns is a well known spot to see Little Crakes.
We were quite fortunate to have good views of them as they are very secretive. Here's a male.
And a female.
It surprised me how many Purple Herons there were about. They looked very colourful in their breeding plumage. Quite difficult to get close enough to photograph though. This one was taken from the vehicle.
I'll round off with the final part tomorrow.
TJ
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Hi TJ
I nearly missed this as it had disappeared from the front page. Good job for the 'Posts you have not Read' bit!
Another fascinating report. I love the light in many of the shots. Very Greek!
I know you have been very modest about the photos you took, but I have to disagree. They are wonderful and special.
That Scops Owl is brilliant!!!
Thanks for sharing these. Fabulous!!!
Pip xx
Love your reports and I will read Part 1 shortly
Love the Purple Heron ...... and hopefully we will see one when we go to Menorca in May this year. We where in the mind set we heard a Night Heron last year due to the unusual call that they have...very haunting indeed
Heard lots of Scops Owls in evening time - they call through a tin can...as we like to put it
Never know what we will see next... in the bird world
Thank you for sharing with us here
Regards
Kathy and Dave
My eager anticipation about Lesbos part 2 was well placed. :-)
I love these photos! Fantastic shots especially that Purple Heron. Wow!!!
Thank you TJ
Best wishes Chris
Click Here to see my photos
What wonderful sightings and photos TJ I love the little scopes owl they are so sweet and the purple heron is majestic. In fact they are all great Thank you for sharing your wonderful holiday
Of all creatures, man is the most detestable, he is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~ Mark Twain
Part 2 was definitely worth waiting for TJ. Wonderful photographs to see and so well written. Thank you so much.
Excellent sightings TJ! So many birds of prey, I would have been jumping all over the place in happiness! Wow. All your bird photos are pretty special but I do love the owls and also the Dalmatian Pelican simply because of it unexpected appearance.
Looking forward to your next bit :-)
Kerry
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kezmo6310/
Again fantastic photo's I will look forward to part three tomorrow and if i get just a couple of photo's as good as yours on my holiday to Canet De Plage i will be really chuffed
Regards Kimbo
Feeling More Positive :-)
Hi everyone
I thought it was such a shame that TJ's 2nd Snake Eagle shot had a missing wingtip that spoiled the image, so I decided to see if I could do anything with it in Photoshop.
Without giving complicated instructions, I copied part of the photo with the perfect wingtip in it and pasted it into the photo where the wingtip is missing. I probably didn't use the recommended method, (and Robert I would love to know what that is. LOL) but it isn't too bad.
I know some of you won't like any adjustment to an original image, but I asked TJ and he gave me permission to put in this adjusted image. It's just to show it to you so that you can see what can be done, and if someone who knew what they were doing did it, it could look much better
Gosh Chris, that's fabulous. Just shows what can be done with some good software and a bit of imagination.
Well done you.
Pipit x
Well done Chris and what an edited shot {big smile}
Fabulous alteration to TJ's photo, and it suits the situation well
Woodpecker said: Hi everyone I thought it was such a shame that TJ's 2nd Snake Eagle shot had a missing wingtip that spoiled the image, so I decided to see if I could do anything with it in Photoshop. Without giving complicated instructions, I copied part of the photo with the perfect wingtip in it and pasted it into the photo where the wingtip is missing. I probably didn't use the recommended method, (and Robert I would love to know what that is. LOL) but it isn't too bad. I know some of you won't like any adjustment to an original image, but I asked TJ and he gave me permission to put in this adjusted image. It's just to show it to you so that you can see what can be done, and if someone who knew what they were doing did it, it could look much better