6 September 2022 - Skala Kalloni, Lesvos
« Newer | Older »Red-rumped Swallows, Yellow Wagtails, Red-throated Pipit, Short-toed Eagle, Cirl Bunting, Middle-spotted Woodpecker, Masked, Woodchat and Red-backed Shrikes, Black Stork
This morning before breakfast I cycled up the west bank of the East River. Early on a few Red-rumped Swallows flew through and I tried (not very successfully) to photograph them in flight. I came across several Red-backed Shrikes, seemingly all in juvenile plumage, and then found a newly-mown field that was full of Yellow Wagtails and Whinchats. At one point I found a Red-throated Pipit, possibly two, in the same field, but most of these birds were too distant for photos. I carried on upriver to beyond the main road until the track went across the river and petered out. I stopped here and a Short-toed Eagle appeared above the hill to my left, soaring for a while then coming right overhead across the river and disappearing into the sun. I could hear birds calling which I couldn't identify, and at one point spotted a Cirl Bunting perched in a distant bush, but I wasn't sure what the other calls were, and I couldn't see anything else.
Running short of time I started to head back and spotted a Shrike on a post by the track. When I got my bins on it I could see it was an adult Masked Shrike, but having my camera in my backback doesn't make for quick response photography, and it was gone before I was organised. Just a couple of minutes later a juv. Woodchat shrike appeared in the same area, but again eluded the camera. A little further down the track, a Middle-spotted Woodpecker flew across the river, and I could hear Jays but didn't see any. The journey back to the hotel for breakfast was uneventful.
After breakfast we decided to head out on the west bank of Kalloni bay, and as we crossed the West River, I scanned down towards the beach, only to see a Black Stork feeding in the river in the distance. It was very hot, so I vowed to come back later and we carried on. We reached the track to Potamia Valley and started heading up but not long after I got a puncture so we had to head back on foot, and instead spent the afternoon on the balcony. I didn't get chance to go back to the stork, as we couldn't get the puncture repaired until around 6pm.
Red-rumped Swallow, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 640 (view full size image)
Red-rumped Swallow , 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 320 (view full size image)
Whinchat And Red-backed Shrike, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 200 (view full size image)
Red-throated Pipit, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 250
Short-toed Eagle, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 200 (view full size image)
Cirl Bunting, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 160