10 September 2022 - Skala Kalloni, Lesvos

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Black-eared Wheatear, Rock Nuthatch, Bee-eaters, Sparrowhawk sp., Eleonora's Falcon, Stone-curlews

Having dispensed with the bikes, I headed out on foot this morning, towards 'upper East River', north of the road. I found a route across the tracks which brought me out on the river bank within sight of the road, but there wasn't much to see en route; I'd set off early so the sun hadn't yet risen above the horizon. North of the road I took the left turn towards the Grain Silos, and saw a Middle-spotted Woodpecker which flew across and landed briefly at the top of a telegraph pole. A field on the left had a number of Whinchats and Yellow Wagtails, with a couple each of Red-backed Shrike and Spotted Flycatcher. Carrying on, I came across a female Eastern Black-eared Wheatear and shortly after that I could hear the piping notes of Rock Nuthatch. It took me a little while to clap eyes on the bird, but eventually watched it moving around the rocks, and along a stone wall and wire fence. It was constantly on the move though and proved hard to photograph. In the distance I could hear Bee-eaters, and eventually after some scanning, managed to locate a couple in flight in the distance.

As usual, I had to start heading back for breakfast, but on the way back to the river bank, a sizeable party of Bee-eaters came overhead for a short while before moving on. I rattled off a few flight shots, and then once I reached the river bank, I looked left and could see a number of Bee-eaters on wires against the sun, and fairly close to the track. Moving carefully towards them I managed to get the sun behind me without disturbing too many, and managed some reasonable photos. I then headed back without too much else to report except for a Turtle Dove which flew across the dry river bed.

After breakfast, Joanne and I walked over to the West River, where I could see 3 Stone-curlew resting on the dry part of the river, and we then headed out along the beach towards the river mouth. We hadn't gone far when a Sparrowhawk flew out of some Tamarisks in front of us and flitted away. I couldn't get much detail so wasn't sure whether it was the common or Levant variety.

Out near the river mouth, there was a Greenshank calling and feeding, but not much else apart from a Little Egret, when Joanne spotted a raptor over the river. Getting the bins on it, I was chuffed to see a dark-phase Eleonora's Falcon, which circled a couple of times in front of us; not especially close, but good views through the bins. Couldn't get it on camera though! A little while later we saw it again, this time with prey, and it flew off upriver and out of view.

We wandered along the beach, past Skala Kalloni and the taverns, and out to the mouth of the East River, but here there was just a Great Egret and a couple of Grey Herons, and some Yellow-legged Gulls. Nearby on the track however, we did encounter another of the cone-headed grasshoppers, Acrida ungarica, this time a green one.

Back at the digs, from the balcony, I'd been hearing a 'chuk' or 'chak' sound from the nearby bushes all week, but hadn't seen what bird it was coming from. I'd assumed it was some kind of Sylvia warbler, but finally I got a view of the culprit - a Cetti's Warbler!

In the early evening we went out to the West River again to investigate two distant white blobs we'd seen earlier (I thought they might have been sleeping Pelicans - they weren't!) and a couple of Crested Larks came just within photographic range.

Spotted Flycatcher, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 125 (view full size image)