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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Lesbos 2012 (5 Viewers)

Flying out tomorrow !

Will the kruipers nuthatch still be feeding young at the publicised tree nest at Achladeri or have the young left the nest by now ? Might take a detour between airport and molyvos tomorrow.

Are the scops owls reasonably easy to find at Papania and scops cops? Is it possible to specify the tree they are roosting in ? If you had to pick one site over the other, which site has the best views/easiest to find birds ?

thanks again
Tony
 
LESVOS; Hotel Malemi

11.05.12

I have just returned from my fourth trip to Lesvos and would quite happily reccomend Hotel Malemi in Skala Kaloni to anyone planning a trip. It's clean and tidy, caters for the eccentric whims of birders from the whole world and is one of the most resonably priced hotels in the area.

sincerely, Peter.
 
Light rain dominated the morning but had cleared by lunch time and back to a warm, bright afternoon. Thunderstorms threatening this evening but hadnt broken by 2300. Two Lesser Spotted Eagles over the pan and a male Citrine Wagtail were the main birds of note reported today.

Todays bird news update now on the Lesvos Birding website
 
Flying out tomorrow !

Will the kruipers nuthatch still be feeding young at the publicised tree nest at Achladeri or have the young left the nest by now ? Might take a detour between airport and molyvos tomorrow.

Are the scops owls reasonably easy to find at Papania and scops cops? Is it possible to specify the tree they are roosting in ? If you had to pick one site over the other, which site has the best views/easiest to find birds ?

Kruper's have fledged, but wont go far and there are two more pairs in this area, plus hundreds more around the island!

Scops - try both sites. Check the Pasiphae log for up to date gen as birds do move around at both sites. And finding them for yourself is half the fun!
 
Flying out tomorrow !

Will the kruipers nuthatch still be feeding young at the publicised tree nest at Achladeri or have the young left the nest by now ? Might take a detour between airport and molyvos tomorrow.

Are the scops owls reasonably easy to find at Papania and scops cops? Is it possible to specify the tree they are roosting in ? If you had to pick one site over the other, which site has the best views/easiest to find birds ?

thanks again
Tony

seen on the lesvosbirding website now so no need for anyone to comment - knew the pesky nuthatches would fledge just before i got there !
 
No sign of yesterday's Blue-cheeked Bee-eater but a Red Knot at Christou (4th record), a Dalmatian Pelican at Kalloni pans and the Spur-winged Plover still at Faneromeni. Plenty of Red-backed Shrikes out west and a couple of Rollers.

Todays bird news update now on the Lesvos Birding website.
 
A very thin day with no reports of anything other than what I saw with my group out west!

The Spur-winged Plover appears to have moved on, as do all the shrikes around Faneromeni in recent days. A very windy (but at least dry) day out west meant many things were hunkered down in the morning at least.

Weather - Thick cloud, strong winds and heavy rain in central areas during the morning. Out west dry and soon clearing to bright sunshine and scatter clouds. strong southerly moderating during day to light by evening. 28C out west mid-afternoon.

Todays news now on the Lesvos Birding website.
 
8 Elenora's at Petri quarry this am.
Booted Eagle over Metochi at 14.00
Auduin's gull at Tiskanias river mouth 16.00
With 2 Oytercatchers.
Mick Sway
 
Another thin day with little reported. More Eleonora's Falcons seen today and a handful of Marsh Warblers going through. But where are the Rosy Starlings?

And . . . Mick's sightings about which I'm just about to add to my site! Booted Eagle is therefore bird of the day!

Todays sightings now on the Lesvos Birding website.
 
Well, it was the last day for many of us but some of us went out on a high connecting with a mobile flock of 33 Rose-coloured Starlings. The Spotted Crake reappeared on the Tsiknias River and there was a large passage of hirundines and swifts.

Todays sightings now on the Lesvos Birding website.

And its the last night of daily sightings here on Lesvos Birding. Thanks to all who have shared their news with me by whatever means. See you next year!
 
Just returned from 2 weeks and thought worth mentioning a good site for olive-tree warbler that we came across on the 17th. We did walk 20 from Mike Maunder's new book of walks. It's a pleasant 2 hour ramble from Liota (Ligeri) to Gavathas and back. We heard ( and saw a few ) 9 Olive-tree warblers during the walk. Five were in oaks on the way down to Gavathas and 4 were in the olive groves on the route back. As they were only singing intermittantly ,there may have been more ! I think they were all different individuals , as they were in the main spaced out well along the route, though at one point there were 3 singing at the same time close together. Having heard only 2 otherwise during the 2 weeks, thought it worth mentioning this.
cheers, Bill Turner.
 
Hey Bill
Re OT Warbler
I saw and heard one singing at the back of Anaxos olive groves yesterday morning at 06.30, (seems a long time ago now).
I was also pleased to find a basking lattice brown butterfly (one of a few flitting about the area) a Lesvos species
that Ray Purser kindly put me on to a few days earlier.The field guides say that it is quite unusual to see them with their wings open (see pics).
It was great to speak to you and Linda again, I haven't laughed like that for some time (the "Silkmen" being relegated was no joke though!).
Birds apart we met some lovely Lesvos "returnees" and characters, thank you Lesvos for a great and always interesting holiday.
Best
Mick
PS also see below a snatched shot of the boot we saw last week.
B :)

Just returned from 2 weeks and thought worth mentioning a good site for olive-tree warbler that we came across on the 17th. We did walk 20 from Mike Maunder's new book of walks. It's a pleasant 2 hour ramble from Liota (Ligeri) to Gavathas and back. We heard ( and saw a few ) 9 Olive-tree warblers during the walk. Five were in oaks on the way down to Gavathas and 4 were in the olive groves on the route back. As they were only singing intermittantly ,there may have been more ! I think they were all different individuals , as they were in the main spaced out well along the route, though at one point there were 3 singing at the same time close together. Having heard only 2 otherwise during the 2 weeks, thought it worth mentioning this.
cheers, Bill Turner.
 

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Now firmly back to earth having arrived home last night. Once we'd checked in yday, some of us went off to Cape Lena and enjoyed cracking views of Scopoli's Shearwater and a female Honey-buzzard in off the sea from Turkey. Nice farewell!

I'd just like to thank all those birders who shared bird news over the last month. Also thanks to the Hotel Pasiphae for being my home from home for the last month, Taslis for looking after me and lots of other birders' car hire needs and the tavernas Dionysos (Skala Kallonis), Soulatso (Skala Eresou), Australia (Sigri) and the beach tavena at Ancient Pyrrha, and Tsaliki's cafe (nr Petra) - enjoyed you all very, very much.

Thanks again and until next spring - when we'll do it all again!
 
Hi Bill. OTW is quote a widespread species on the island, but like so many species (e.g. Kruper's) birders seem fixated with just a couple of sites when they can be easily found if you go out and look for them elsewhere.

Mike Maunder's new book looks excellent. Just a shame I don't have the time to do many of his walk myself.

Just returned from 2 weeks and thought worth mentioning a good site for olive-tree warbler that we came across on the 17th. We did walk 20 from Mike Maunder's new book of walks. It's a pleasant 2 hour ramble from Liota (Ligeri) to Gavathas and back. We heard ( and saw a few ) 9 Olive-tree warblers during the walk. Five were in oaks on the way down to Gavathas and 4 were in the olive groves on the route back. As they were only singing intermittantly ,there may have been more ! I think they were all different individuals , as they were in the main spaced out well along the route, though at one point there were 3 singing at the same time close together. Having heard only 2 otherwise during the 2 weeks, thought it worth mentioning this.
cheers, Bill Turner.
 
Thanks for the advice

Just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone for the excellent advice on this thread and in Steve's website, twitter and excellent book. We had a lovely week in Lesvos, seeing almost everything we wanted to see thanks to the advice of others. I had forgotten how pretty the island is.

I attached a couple of photos here and, if anyone is interested, more are on Flickr (mixed with a few from 2006) at => http://www.flickr.com/photos/54189378@N02/sets/72157628301722353/

There seemed to be Ruppell's warblers showing everytime I stopped at Kavaki - 3 in view at the same time at one point opposite the night club despite being after their peak period of activity. Are numbers recovering, or perhaps I was just very lucky ?!
Saw the spotted crake but missed the rosy starlings and OT warblers - something saved for next time !

There were some other waders and warblers that I couldn't identify and have included in a separate thread in the identification forum. I'd link the thread if I knew how to !!

regards
Tony
 

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