You understand issues are getting determined once you get excited by an surprising flock of Starlings. Right here I used to be, six days into a visit to Mani, within the Greek Peloponnese, and my hen record had but to succeed in 40 species. It was early within the morning, and I used to be trudging up a dried-up river valley within the hope of discovering just a few birds. I’d already seen a solitary Chiffchaff, a Noticed Flycatcher and a Gray Wagtail, so by my modest requirements I wasn’t doing too badly. Then, all of the sudden, the little flock of seven Starlings flew over, my thirty ninth species, and one I wasn’t anticipating.
A cock Cirl Bunting, a standard resident within the Peloponnese, south-west Greece
This was actually fairly thrilling. I continued my stroll, noting a cock Cirl Bunting, few Blackbirds, a Robin (little doubt a migrant from the north), a number of Blackcaps and a Sardinian Warbler, plus a few feral cats. The river mattress appeared as if hadn’t seen a drop water for no less than eight months. It doesn’t rain a lot on this a part of Greece. I turned spherical and headed again to the coast, the place a few German motorhomes had parked below the tamarisks for the evening, saving themselves a camp-site charge.
A migrant Noticed Flycatcher, heading south
Earlier than leaving I made a fast test of the shore. The ocean past – the Gulf of Messina – was already an exquisite shade of deep Mediterranean blue, although the solar had hardly risen. It’s not a fantastic coast for seabirds: within the earlier days I’d seen a single Shag and half a dozen Yellow-legged Gulls, and on this event there wasn’t even a gull to be seen. However out of the nook of my eye I famous a darting motion, and all of the sudden there was a splendid little Kingfisher, sitting on a rock. (In Europe we’ve got simply the only species of kingfisher: eBird calls it the Widespread Kingfisher). The sunshine was poor, because the solar had but to clear the mountains, however I reached for my digital camera even so. The hen stayed simply lengthy sufficient for me to seize half a dozen pictures, which proved to be surprisingly passable, if not fairly within the Kai Pflug league. They have been, in reality, a lot the perfect hen images I’d taken all week. I had discovered Peloponnese birds to be not solely elusive, however shy, and regardless of lugging my digital camera and lengthy lens round, had hardly pointed it at a single hen.
Kingfishers are all the time good to see
One hen I had photographed, albeit not very satisfactorily, was additionally probably the most fascinating species I’d discovered, a Western Rock Nuthatch. Because the identify suggests, these nuthatches want rocks to bushes, and there’s no scarcity of rocks on this a part of Greece. They’re a Balkan particular, their vary extending alongside the Adriatic coast, then around the Mediterranean/Aegean coast of Greece (and a good method inland), and on to Turkey. I’ve seen them as far east as Georgia, the place you may also discover the very related Japanese Rock Nuthatch. (I’ve seen them there, however they’re a difficult duo to inform aside). Each species have one factor in widespread, for they’re very noisy all year long. I discovered my pair of Rock Nuthatches on a sea cliff between the villages of Agios Nickolaos and Trahila, alerted to their presence by their noisy whistling. Nonetheless, strive as I did I, couldn’t see them.
Rock Nuthatches are noisy birds all year long
A prickly pear supplies a perch for this Rock Nuthatch
I went again the subsequent morning, and this time I discovered them simply. Nuthatches are such energetic little birds that they’re all the time entertaining to observe. It’s, I believe, uncommon to see a single Rock Nuthatch, for they’re social birds that stay in pairs all 12 months spherical. I’ve seen them numerous instances – my first sighting was of a pair at Delphi, probably the most celebrated historical websites in Greece, over 40 years in the past – however they are often elusive, and it’s not unusual to go to a favoured website and miss them completely. They weren’t a year-bird for me, as I had already seen a pair at Sidirocastro in northern Greece again in Might.
Ultimately – a Nuthatch within the solar
The nuthatches shared their cliff with a number of pairs of Blue Rock Thrushes. The behaviour of those good-looking thrushes contrasts with that of the nuthatches, for they like to take a seat for lengthy intervals, surveying their territory from a distinguished perch. I somewhat just like the Spanish identify for them – roquero solitario. Although I’ve come throughout approachable people in Spain, in Greece they’re usually shy, swooping away once you get too shut. I used to be to notice what gave the impression to be courting behaviour, not one thing I might discover point out of within the literature, the place I learn that the pair bond breaks down exterior the breeding season, and the birds then lead a solitary life. What have been these birds displaying for in late September? They clearly hadn’t learn the identical books as me.
Blue Rock Thrush – all the time shy and cautious
To be concluded.
