During our two weeks we took a few longer trips out, a couple of times to the north of the island, Molyvos and the North Coast, and a couple out West, to Sigri, once using the main roads and once taking the coastal track. In addition we went up to Agiasos our favourite mountain town, where much coffee was drunk, and various types of Baklava purchased!
Our coffee shop in Agiasos on what was a dull sometimes wet day:
Some great birds were seen on our travels of course, we swapped our hire car for a 4x4 so we could safely do the Eresos to Sigri track and we were glad we did, I know people do it in ordinary cars but I don't think it's worth the risk! Having said that we should have done it for the North Coast Road too, the first bit out from Molyvos is a bit hairy, not sure the bottom of the car we had was in quite the same state as when we first hired it!
Before getting to Molyvos we stopped at Kavaki Bay looking for the
Rüppells Warbler, which after a few minutes duly obliged:
as did a bemused looking
Subalpine Warbler:
We were going to have lunch in Molyvos, but we couldn't get near the place, it turned out it was full of School Kids, once a year apparently we learned later, the schools have an excursion day. Molyvos was full of them, coaches everywhere, so we beat a hasty retreat back to Petra and had lunch there.
We then tackled the northern coast road. Great scenery and...
Cretzschmar's Bunting,
more
Long-legged Buzzard,
and
Hoopoe.
We had seen a few Hoopoe on our travels, but this is the first one I managed to get a picture of, albeit from a distance. At the and of the track we arrived at the quiet little harbour village of Skala Sikamanias... sadly it wasn't quiet today. Hundreds of school children again, so we went back along the track a short distance had a coffee. Have flasks will travel! Then drove the coast road back to Molyvos. Which hadn't been the plan!
Next longer trip was to Sigri, stopping at the Crags, Ipsilou and the Petrified Forest, before a late lunch in Sigri and a drive around Faneromeni.
Cirl Bunting
Red-rumped Swallow,
Rock Nuthatch and Nest,
Cinereous Bunting,
Black-eared Wheatear,
Little Owls,
Black-headed Bunting (Female),
Bee-eater,
Spotted Flycatcher,
Elanora's Falcon and
Short-toed Eagle.
Next trip out, as I said at the beginning was Agiosos (great Coffee... yes we actually bought some!), dodging the showers, we called in at a couple of places in the 'Lesvos Bible' (Dimitrios & Panaghia) but little was seen, apart from plenty of Greenfinches and House Sparrows, we called in at Achladeri Forest on the way back looking for Serin but they eluded us too!
So having swapped our car for a 4x4 we headed down to Eresos, taking a detour to Makara, this was a wonderful and rewarding drive, resulting in our best
Rock Nuthatch sightings;
along with Lesser Kestrel heading out to (was drinking a coffee at the time so missed a photo opportunity, so took a picture of the island later, the Kestrel is on there somewhere!!)
Garbias Island,
a surprise
Black Stork:
The river mouth at the end of the track by the ford produced some
Little Ringed Plover:
We decided not to cross the ford and explore further, as we wanted to get down to Eresos and pick up the track to Sigri and hopefully see a Chukar on the way back up. Sadly the Chukar avoided us the whole two weeks, even though we were patient and scanned their known habitats for a while. Hey ho, that's birding for you!
We found the track to Sigri OK at Eresos and started wending our way...
Long-legged Buzzard again,
Little Owl,
Ruddy Shelduck,
Juvenile
Stonechat,
Corn Bunting,
Cretzschmar's Bunting,
Olive-tree Warbler,
and
Black-headed Bunting,
In addition after a tip off we found a Red-breasted Flycatcher at the Chapel, Yelkouan Shearwater offshore, Bee-eaters, Jackdaw, Sardinian Warbler, Rock Sparrow, Red-backed Shrike plus all the regular birds.
So we eventually arrived in Sigri and drove to Faneromeni Beach for a cuppa before the winding drive back to Kalloni. We were lucky here to see three Red-footed Falcon flying over, a fly by by a Little Bittern, Ringed Plover, but the star for us was the Rufous Bush Robin:
Our fourth new species of the trip! Taking us up to a total now of 997 species, I'm sure we will crack 1000 when we go to Southern India later this year, not a birding holiday, but we will be in lots of good places (I hope!)
That's pretty much it, we had another day out to Molyvos, where we had a lovely lunch on the harbour, had a look at Molyvos Reservoir, where the Y
ellow-legged Gulls ruled the roost,
along with
Ruddy Shelducks, on the opposite side of course!
Bee-eaters entertained us on the track back down to Petra
and finally a view of Molyvos Castle from the harbour.
So from a birding viewpoint it was brilliant again, although there were a few moaners around complaining that they didn't see enough! We saw 112 species of birds, plus lots of other interesting stuff that we don't know the names of, I could research them all, but I think the blog is long enough!
Yes... these are sheep!
and this is a fishing boat!
Hope you liked it!
