Lesbos Trip Report 21-28th April 2011 - Part 2

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