Lesbos Trip Report 21-28th April 2011 - Part 3 (final)

This is the final part of my report on the trip to Lesbos and follows on from Part 1 and Part 2.

Passerines

Masses of warblers were seen and heard during the week. These included all the usual suspects that we are familiar with in the UK like chiffchaff, willow warbler, common and lesser whitethroat, blackcap, wood, sedge and reed warbler.

We had good sightings of species that are not seen much or at all in the UK including great reed warbler, eastern olivaceous, eastern orphean, subalpine and the stunning Ruppell's warbler. A first for me was seeing a barred warbler.

We had one participant on the trip who's ear was so good that he could locate and correctly identify a bird from its song before the tour leaders. A rare skill indeed.

The only warbler that I managed to photograph was this little chap who proved to be obligingly tame.

It was suggested at the time that it might be a Marsh Warbler but I'm not sure if it was confirmed as such. Aiki or anyone else care to offer an opinion?

Wheatears, both Northern and Black-eared were fairly common. The male Black-eared were absolutely stunning but sadly no photo. I did catch this one high up on a rock. I think it's a female Northern Wheatear but would appreciate confirmation.

Woodchat Shrikes had arrived in abundance but sadly no photos. We saw one Lesser Grey Shrike but the Red-backed Shrikes were late arriving and we only saw a few right at the end of the trip. I did however manage to get a shot of this handsome Masked Shrike.

As I mentioned in Part 1 of my report several species of flycatchers were in abundance particularly the Pied, Collared and Semi-collared. It was thought they had stayed put rather than moving on because of the inclement weather the previous week. I managed to snap just one of this handsome Collared flycatcher.

One of the specialities of Lesbos and that end of the Med and Turkey is the Kruper's Nuthatch. We went to a known nesting site to see it. It's a bit smaller than our native variety. I'm rather annoyed with myself because I made rather a hash of photographing it (no excuses, tripod and everything), but here it is anyway.

Buntings are quite a feature on Lesbos. One of the commonest which seemed to be singing from a bush or wire every few hundred yards was the Corn Bunting. Here's one giving it some wellie.

The more exciting species of bunting are the stunning Black-headed Bunting, the subtly coloured Cinereous Bunting and the pretty Cretzschmar's Bunting. All of these we saw but none of which I photographed. I did, however, get a shot of a pretty Ortolan Bunting which is quite similar to the Cretzshmar's.

Other Critters

A few odds and ends which may of interest.

First the Lesbos Lynx or should that be Little Minx together with accomplice. He/she got into the back of our vehicle and scoffed some cake we had for our picnic lunch.

A Persian Squirrel (or so I'm told) trying to look inconspicuous.

Here's a strange creature. It looked like a very large worm at first glance but it clearly wasn't because it had eyes. It was about 7" - 10" long and could move quite fast. Some sort of reptile I guess but even our leaders couldn't ID it for certain. Anyone know what it is?

And finally, a Glass Lizard. It looks like a snake and is sometimes called that but it's definitely a legless lizard. I would estimate it was about 2 - 3 ft long

For the sheer variety of birds Lesbos is a great place to visit in the Spring. I guess that's why Seymouraves goes back each year. He was out there the week after me. I'll bet he comes back with a bigger list than me and probably some really good pictures.

Hope you didn't get too bored reading my rather lengthy reports.

TJ