North-Eastern Greece, May 26 to June 4, 1996

This report  is based on notes I wrote on my rather hectic trip, but the final version was only written in 1999 when preparing for another, more leisurely visit to that beautiful area. In 1996 I attended a conference in Thessaloniki. I only escaped for  visits to the Axios Delta and the Angelohori Salt Pan, and after the conference had two days to drive around birding. I used D. Gosney's guide "Finding birds in Greece" which was extremely useful, though it refers to visits in August rather than in spring.
 Characteristic birds that impressed me were Collared Dove, Crested Lark, Corn Bunting, Magpie in incredible numbers,  Black-Headed Bunting and Hoopoe. Warblers are definitely under-represented in this report which is due to the time pressure together with my poor knowledge of the voices of mediterranean species.
 

I. Thessaloniki

During my daily walks from the hotel to the conference along the quay, I saw a chain  of 5 Flamingos, Cormorant, an unidentified Skua harrying a gull, Mediterranean and Yellow-legged Gull, Collared Dove, Swifts (I gave up to tell the pallid from the ordinary ones: in the morning they all were ordinary, in the evening all pallid), Swallow, House Martin, Olivaceous Warbler, Magpie, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Greenfinch.
 

II. Axios Delta, May 29, 1996

I started early at 6 a.m. in terrible weather. Storm and rain lasted until noon. So I did much birding from the car.
Only in the early after noon I had a few dry hours. I saw:
Cormorant (7), Night Heron (12), Squacco (>50), Little Egret (>>100), Grey Heron  (2), Purple Heron (2), White Stork (5), Spoonbill (2), Shelduck (50), Mallard (<10), Marsh Harrier (2,3), Common Buzzard, Hobby (1,1),  Coot (5), Oystercatcher (10), Stilt (>20), Stone Curlew (4), Collared Pratincole (>100), Kentish Plover (4), Lapwing (20), Little Stint (2), Redshank (10), Mediterranean Gull,  Slender-billed Gull (8),Yellow-legged Gull, Caspian Tern (1), Common Tern (8), Little Tern (3), Whiskered Tern (7),  Swift, Bee-eater (>10), Crested Lark, Swallow, House Martin, Great Reed Warbler (4),  Reed Warbler (1), Olivaceous Warbler (3),  Whitethroat, Red-backed Shrike, Magpie (200), Nightingale, Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting (3).

 
III. Angelòhóri Salt Pans, May 31, 1996

I visited this place in the after-noon . The weather was beautiful, comfortably warm,  clear sight.
I found: Little egret (8), White Stork (1), Flamingo (43), Shelduck (20, among them a kinder garden of 13 ), Long-legged Buzzard (1 imm.)
Oystercatcher (6), Stilt, Avocet, Kentish Plover (very many), Little Stilt (1), Zwergstrandläufer (1), Redshank (4), Turnstone (19),
Mediterranean Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Little Ternl, Hoopoe (4), Crested Lark, Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow,  House Martin, Tawny Pipit (4),Yellow Wagtail (feldegg), Olivaceous Warbler, Red-backed Shrike, House Sparrow, Serin, Black-Headed Bunting.
 

IV. Going East, June 1, 1996

I passed lakes Koronia and Volvi, and from Asprovalta follwed the coast line. At Loutra I met a flock of Alpine Swifts, and somewhere at the road my first Kalander Lark.
Gosney's directions led to the Spur-winged Plover at Nestos Delta. The place was rather littered and depressing, but the plovers (3) were present.
Other birds seen there include Cormorant, several Egrets (Little, Grey, Purple), Marsh Harrier, and Kestrel, a Stone Curlew, several Bee-eaters,  and Hoopoes.

Lagos with its lagoons was rather beautiful, but at this time of the year had almost no birds at all. A few Gadwalls, Pochards, and Tufted Ducks,
Mute Swan and Crested Grebe. 3 Curlews presented the highlight.

On my further way east I had a Syrian Woodpecker, and a Cirl Bunting along the road. The Collared Dove was noticeable substituted by the Turtle Dove. Also increasing was the number of White Storks.

I arrived after dark at the  "Dadia ecotourism centre", but could not get a room. I recently learned (January 1999) that even five months in advance is not enough for reservation. So I slept in my car.
 

IV. Dadiá, June 2, 1996

Next morning, I stupidly enough waited for the information pavillon to open at nine, but then decided to walk up to the hide instead of taking the minibus.
There is a marked trail starting behind the tavern. The hide was the only place on my whole trip where I met tourists: orni-tourist from Japan. But they were absorbed by the bus rather soon, and I was alone in the hide. At the feeding place there were Black Stork (1), Black Kite (1), Egyptian Vulture (4), Griffon Vulture (6), Black Vulture (8).
On my walk down-hill I spotted a Common Buzzard, a Golden Eagle, and an immature Imperial Eagle. I did not see a single Lesser Spotted Eagle. Other birds encountered were Cuckoo, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Woodlark, Wren, Black Bird, Song Thrush, Robin, Cetti's Warbler, Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat, Semi-collared Flycatcher, Golden Oriol, Red-backed Shrike, Magpie, Jay,  Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Raven, Starling, Chaffinch, Serin, Greenfinch, Hawfinch, Ortolan, Black-Headed and Corn Bunting.

V. Ávas, June 2, 1996

In the afternoon I paid a visit to the Ávas Gorge north of Alexandroupoli. I found the Masked Shrike right in place at the track to the RR station, while the reported Isabelline Wheatear seemed to be married to a male Black-eared Wheatear. Besides the now rather familiar spectrum of species, I had 2 Black Storks, Hoopoe,  Cirl, Black-headed and Corn Bunting.

I arrived in Serres late at night, found a miserable hotel in the center of the city, and started at 6 next morning.

VI. Kerkíni Lake, June 3, 1996

On my way to the lake, I  had a very close sight of a male hobby and of a group of 3 black Elenora's Falcons sitting in a tree. The lake, and even more the
river Strymonas north of the lake offer a beautiful scenery of archaic flavor, with picturesque groups of vagabondizing dogs, blooming banks, and abounding with birds. I spent 12 hours to drive around the lake, the surface of which was monopolized by thousands of Crested Grebes with their chicks. There were no ducks, and only very few Coots and Moorhens. The banks, however, produced hundreds of herons. I did not attempt to count the Grey ones and Little Egrets, but  had Night Heron (>90) , Squacco (>60), Purple Heron (6), and Spoonbill (7). The northern part of the lake, and  the Strymonas produced lots of Cormorants and Pygmy Cormorants (200). On the Strymonas I also had a group of 32 White and 2 Dalmatian Pelicans. In Livadia and Kerkini I counted more than 50  pairs of breeding White Stork.  Near Livadia there was a colony of about 70 Black, and 30 Whiskered Terns. I also had 5 Stilts and a Kentish Plover.
There were few raptors. Besides the falcons mentioned above,  a Kestrel, a Common Buzzard, and 3 Black Kites was all. But I had Collared Dove, Turtle Dove (16), Cuckoo (2), Swift(s), Kingfisher (1), Bee-eater (45), Hoopoe (13), Crested Lark, Swallow, Sand Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, House Martin, Yellow Wagtail, Nightingale, Black-eared Wheatear, Blackbird, Great Reed Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler, Golden Oriol (10), Red-backed Shrike, Magpie  (>>500), Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Raven (1), Starling, House Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Black-headed Bunting, Corn Bunting.

Dirk Ferus , Berlin, Germany