Another Bird Blog: Black-headed Bunting

Friday, May 12, 2023

Gone Sunning

Henry The Labrador and daughter Joanne are in charge of the house. Alarm at 2 a.m. Next stop Manchester Airport and a 7 a.m. flight.

Sue and I set off for Skiathos Greece on Wednesday looking for a break from the British weather, the coldest spring for many a year. The average UK temperature in April was just 8 degrees Celsius, or 1.6 degrees colder than the usual monthly average.

On a sunny Greek day the sight of JSI runway splitting the landscape gladdens the heart and brings a lump to many a Boomerang's throat. We circled Mamma Mia island (Skopelos), passed close by Skiathos Town low enough to look in cafes and tavernas lining the harbour and then hit the football pitch runway to a roar of air brakes. If we overshot we’d land on Xanemos beach on top of a taverna, shaken but not stirred.

Skiathos, Greece

Less than an hour later we loaded cases and bags into the Jimny and set off to Spiti Oneiro, Dream House, our base for a day or two. Kostas, Efi and baby Vagelis greeted us with cold beers and a welcome hug. Xenia, Greek hospitality at its best. We strolled to Maistrali our favourite taverna, more hugs, an early night, and an unwelcome but fortuitous thunderstorm. Kosta's Breakfast set us up nicely for the day ahead.

We hit the road north in the Suzuki Jimny, the best car to ever leave Japan. The island has a roundabout under construction this year, an interesting addition to the perils of driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, especially since according to local gossip it won't be finished until October.

Jimny

The storm had done the trick with a huge flock of Bee eaters some 200 birds strong which tucked into the plentiful flying insects. Grey skies and into the light didn't make for the ideal morning but the best was yet to come with shrikes, Black-headed Buntings, Red-rumped Swallows, a European Roller and a simply superb Little Bittern. Several hundred clicks later the camera batteries needed a top up.

Bee eater

Black-headed Bunting

European Roller

Little Bittern

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-backed Shrike

It's not all about birding. Here are few pictures of the other Skiathos until I get around to going through the hundreds of pictures so far.

Goatherd and goat

From Plakes

Spring Jimny

Black Swan

Boatyard

Towards Skiathos Town

The Bourtzi

Plakes Skiathos

More soon from Skiathos. Now go back and click the pics for a break from the UK weather.

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

May Days

Apologies to regular readers who perhaps realised I had gone AWOL without leaving a forwarding address. I promise to get back to you all very soon. Yes, it was holiday time in Greece.

This was our eleventh time in Skiathos and our first visit to the island in spring. Sue and I missed out in both May 2020 and May 2021 due to Covid but at last we made it, despite the best efforts of TUI and Manchester Airport.

Skiathos runway

Spring was only slightly different from late September trips when the landscape is parched following a typical Greek summer and when many summer birds have gone south. In early May the weather was initially cooler but by the second week scorching sun and a familiar twenty five degrees. Once again I was the only birder on the island, birding as much as possible, if you get the drift. When is a birder not birding is the question?

Skiathos

Our usual hotel The Ostria at Agia Paraskevi opens in late May so this year we stayed within a stone’s throw at Spiti Oneiro, a Greek title that translates as ‘Dream House’. It’s an apt name for so many homes in faraway, relaxing Skiathos.

Dream House - Skiathos

We know Dream House well as one of our welcoming watering holes and places to eat during September stays. It’s a little off the beaten track so very quiet, a friendly, laid-back sort of place with just nine apartments, bed & breakfast if required or room only. Proprietors are Dad Kostas and daughter Efie, two wonderful, helpful and kind people who go out of their way to make guests feel at home.

Kostas Stergiopoulos

We reserved a room via Efie and book flights directly. This makes for a more personal experience as well as ensuring our money goes into the local economy rather than a percentage into commission to third parties.

Courtesy of Magda of Mustang Motors https://www.skiathosrent.com we picked up the Jimny jeep at the airport and filled it with expensive petrol, fuel that lasts a while on quite tiny Skiathos Island. At Euros 25 a day the jeep works out as both convenient and cost effective when a couple of trips to other parts of the island by local bus costs about Euros 8 each time, e.g into Skiathos Town or the opposite ends of the island Koukounaries, or Troulos.

The furthermost north part of the island is in any case accessible mostly by car, sometimes a 4x4, more so after a wet winter. It was in January and into March this year that Skiathos had several bouts of snow followed by a legacy of soggy roads and tracks.

Skiathos Life - Facebook January 2022

Two weeks of uninterrupted sun and zero rain made for lots of photos of Skiathos if not too many bird photos as early May proved a little late for heavy migration and in any case Skiathos has a quite small bird list.

The "best" and most unexpected bird proved to be a Little Bittern which I saw on and off for two weeks in a reedy ditch where stream frogs Rana gracea were probably the reason for the bittern's presence. Most of the time I glimpsed the thing climbing through the thick reeds and only once did I get a decent photo. My sighting may be the first recorded sighting of this small bittern species on Skiathos where birders are rare even non-existent but I imagine the Little Bittern is pretty common in Greece as a whole.

Rana gracea

Little Bittern

The first week included Bee Eaters, Black-headed Buntings, Red-throated Pipits, Richard's Pipits, Yellow Wagtails, Red-backed Shrikes, Woodchat Shrikes, Whinchats, Red-rumped Swallows, Barn Swallows, Marsh Warblers & Reed Warblers, Hobbies, Buzzard, Olivaceous Warblers, Scops Owl and a good number of daytime singing Nightingales. Sea birds consisted of the ever-present Yellow-legged Gulls, European Shag and numbers of Cory's/Scopoli's Shearwaters searching the mill pond Aegean Sea.

Barn Swallow

Black-headed Bunting

Red-rumped Swallow

Woodchat Shrike

Yellow Wagtail

Red-throated Pipit

Red-backed Shrike

Yellow Wagtail feldegg

By the second week the birds dried up with the increased temperatures and we were left to enjoy the sunshine, deserted beaches and the company of Hooded Crows and Yellow-legged Gulls.