BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="foresttwitcher" data-source="post: 2985537" data-attributes="member: 97625">Tuesday 29th AprilMore of a target habitat today rather than a particular species as I headed to the rocky west hoping for a different variety of birds. It took a little longer to get there than planned so the sun was well up by the time I got to Vigla to look for Partridges. This plus probably the local roadworks meant I was out of luck but did get distant views of a male Golden Oriole sallying out of & back to a large tree in the valley, a heard only Hoopoe, a nice Little Owl first on a fence post & then sitting on rocks & a flyover Short-toed Eagle.Once at Ipsilou it became apparent that most of the hill was in low cloud so I spent some time looking down into the valleys on either side of the road before the turning to the Monastery - no Partridge but amongst the ubiquitous Crested Lark were a couple of Isabelline Wheatear. Eventually I tracked a new call down to a distant Cinereous Bunting.The cloud had begun to lift a little so I set off up the vehicle down route. Migrants in the oak trees included a nice male Redstart, a female Pied Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatchers, a Chiffchaff & a number of cute Wood Warblers seen at eye level. Residents were represented by the common tits & finches plus Cirl Bunting, a Nuthatch & a few not-as-dull-as-they-sound Sombre Tits. As the trees thinned out a Western Rock Nuthatch flew from the roadside & perched up on a boulder with a Blue Rock Thrush on a more distant outcrop & a Peregrine (ssp. brookei) flew along the hillside. Nearing the top a mix of hirundines & swifts (including a couple of Alpine) hawked overhead in what was by now a blue sky, Ravens called from the upper outcrops & a couple of stonking Cretzschmar's Buntings hopped about on the grass & in the scrubby trees. Also better views of Cinereous Bunting.A slow drive along the road to the Petrified Forest also failed to produce any Partridge but I did see a couple more Isabelline Wheatear. The Petrified Forest itself was more impressive than I had expected & birds seen over & around the car park & circuit included Little Owl, Long-legged Buzzard, Golden Oriole, Pied Flycatcher, Woodlchat Shrike, a small flock of feeding Bee-eaters & Black-headed Bunting.On the drive towards Sigri a small falcon overhead prompted me to stop & get out in a quite part of the new road construction area & it turned out to be part of a small flock of Lesser Kestrel hunting over the open ground.The fields between Sigri & Faneromeni had the more common species to be expected but seemed a bit quiet on the migrant front that day however a British couple put me on to a reasonably showy Icterine Warbler. I could not explore all the tracks as the car was now very low on fuel & the nearest was part way back at Antissa so I had to cut my time short.The Christou River Bridge proved to be a bit quite also when I called in on the way back to the hotel.</blockquote>

Verification