Showing posts with label Skiathos birding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skiathos birding. Show all posts

Sunday, May 28, 2023

Ixobrychus minutus

Today I share pictures and thoughts about Little Bittern Ixobrychus minutus,  the smallest of the breeding herons of Europe, a shy, secretive bird, a species seen on a recent trip to Skiathos, Greece. This is a much sought after bird by British birders, one that rarely occurs here but one that causes a stir when it does. I have seen Little Bitterns in the Mediterranean and in the UK too, but have never watched them as closely and for such long periods as the ones in Skiathos. Click the pics for  large size pictures.

Wherever it occurs the Little Bittern is uncommon to locally fairly common but secretive and easily overlooked. This is a tough bird to see because of its tiny size,about that of a pigeon, and its plumage and camouflage skills. Little Bitterns like fresh marshes and wetlands with reed beds, where they clamber high in reeds as well as feeding low along edges. Most likely to be seen in flight, early or late in the day, low over reed beds. Very small for a heron, and rich buffy overall with black cap. A large pale panel on upper wing visible in flight; male has dark back, female back streaked. 

Little Bittern - Bright green = summer. Dark Green = winter.
 
I thought I got lucky in May 2022 when for a day or two I had close views of a female Little Bittern. On some days it would slide through the reeds and then seemingly disappear; but it was there, silent, immobile and made invisible by its camouflaged colours of reed stems, greenery and sunlight, waiting for me the intruder to leave. 

Little Bittern
 
Little Bittern

And then in early May 2023 I had the extreme good fortune of finding an altogether more accommodating male Little Bittern in the exact same spot. Here I was able to pick & choose to watch over several days of our fourteen day trip to the island. Luckily the bittern was just yards from a favourite beach where long suffering wife Sue was able to indulge my obsession while enjoying the Greek sunshine. 

Little Bittern

Little Bittern

Little Bittern
 
The bitterns were in perhaps the most unlikely looking spot, a three foot wide reed lined ditch fed by water run off from the nearby hills mixed with saline water from the Aegean Sea just metres away. The giant reeds of Skiathos are more like a bamboo, very tall, dense and extremely tough, quite unlike the phragmites reed of the UK. 

Aselinos, Skiathos
 
The ditch contained a fair amount of detritus that is found on so many beaches of today’s world - lumps of polystyrene, drink cans, plastics and paper cups. All in all, not a salubrious spot to bird! However the ditch holds a population of Greek stream frog Rana graeca, an attraction that explains the continued presence of a predator like Little Bittern. 

Greek stream frog Rana graeca

Greek stream frog Rana graeca

The bittern faced another hazard in the form of the local herd of 50/70 goats which roam the hills and fields of the north of Skiathos where the mix of landscape provides variety to their all inclusive diet. The goat’s regular route in 2023 included a five minute crash through the bittern’s favourite patch of mud and reed where they grabbed a munch of bamboo before moving along the buffet trail.

Goats of Skiathos

Goat Dog and Goatherd

All the while, the bittern watched and then came back to feed once the animals had moved on. 

Little Bittern 

Little Bittern

Little Bittern
 
Little Bittern
 
Little Bittern

The list of “Birds of Island of Skiathos” (sic), The Systematic Classification of Skiathos Birds”, Presidential Decree 86/1969 Greek Legislation” does not include Little Bittern. The list is rather short, containing a modest list of species with a number of both likely and definite omissions, species I have seen on the island over a number of years e.g. Great Egret, Red-throated Pipit, Richard’s Pipit, Lesser Grey Shrike, Wryneck, Whinchat. 

The lack of a complete list is not wholly surprising as Skiathos has no resident birdwatchers and very few visiting birders to what is essentially a tourist destination of sunny beaches with limited birding opportunities. And dare I say, the birding concept has yet to catch on here. The average Greek would never be seen out birdwatching with a pair of binoculars around their neck, least of all, a Greek man! 

There is no doubt that Little Bitterns are scattered across Skiathos at least in the springtime. Whether they breed on the island is anyone's guess. There is a large population of Little Bitterns at Lake Mikra in Macedonia, Northern Greece and it could be that early May sightings in Skiathos are migrant birds heading north. 

In Skiathos there’s lots of reedy bamboo and a good population of frogs to be had from reed lined drainage ditches that run from the hills down to the coast. I got lucky by not having to sit around for hours looking in likely spots as tourists in shorts and T shirts hung around nearby bars, beaches and sunbeds while giving me curious looks. Each to his own. 

Will I be going back to Skiathos and being the only birder on the island? You bet. 

Fifteen weeks to go and counting.  I’m sure I can add to that list again when those September birds come along.

 

 

Sunday, October 1, 2017

This And That - Sunday October 1st

A run around the block on Saturday before the rains came didn’t produce too much in the way of birds. Sunday and it's still raining. 

I checked out the Linnet flock at Gulf Lane in the hope of a ringing session soon but a glance at the weather for the coming week doesn’t hold out much hope. While I was away in Greece Andy added another 25 Linnets and a handful of Goldfinch to the totals. Looking today most of the Goldfinch seemed to have moved on with the flock of 100+ birds almost exclusively Linnet. October is the peak migration time for Linnets so we expect the flock to increase again soon and also that those birds will include Linnets from further afield. 

Of course in Greece I’d missed the mid-September first arrivals of Pink-footed Geese to Lancashire but rather made up for it with many skeins flying off the marsh and over my head towards an inland destination. I’d counted more than 1700 in dozens of flocks before the movement died off and I too moved on. 

Pink-footed Geese

There was a Wheatear on the gateposts at Braides Farm with approximately 90 Lapwing and 100 Curlew scattered across the long grassy fields. 

Wheatear

A good find on a flooded field at Pilling/Rawcliffe Moss was a single Ruff feeding amongst a flock of 95 Lapwing but little else with a Saturday shoot with its accompanying noise and disturbance about to begin. 

Ruff

So in the absence of local news, and not much prospect for the coming week against the tail ends of two hurricanes, here’s more from Greece, 14-28 September 2017. 

A friendly horse - Platanias, Skiathos
 
Alonisos, Skiathos

The Yellow-legged Gulls of Skiathos are quite unlike our large UK gulls in exploiting the process of rubbish disposal and the British love of feeding birds. The Yellow-legged Gulls of Skiathos rarely come ashore but spend their time feeding offshore and sitting on the mostly flat sea, apart from on windy days. It was along the shore here at Alonisos that we had super views of an Eleonora's Falcon as one dashed left to right and quickly out of sight after being chased off by a Kestrel. 

Yellow-legged Gulls, Alonisos, Skiathos

I didn’t get any new birds this year but had a butterfly “tick” by way of a White Admiral Limenitis arthemis, a woodland species that we found along the margins of an olive grove near Alonisos. It took me a while to find this on Google because perhaps naturally enough, I searched for “black butterfly”. Doh! Seemingly, this species occurs in the UK and is increasing. 

White Admiral

We saw many, many Swallowtails this year, probably hundreds - a very beautiful butterfly that we also see during May in Menorca. “Papilio demoleus is an aggressive and very common butterfly. It is perhaps the most widely distributed swallowtail in the world.” – Wiki. 

Swallowtail

Below is yet another Red-backed Shrike and then a Whinchat. We saw very few Whinchats this year due to the lack of migrant birds as a whole. Also, not a single Wheatear and very few Yellow Wagtails. 

Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Whinchat

I knew that Spotted Flycatchers occasionally eat fruit but never witnessed it until this year in Skiathos. In the dry summer of Greece blackberries aren’t nearly as plump as those from a UK hedgerow but clearly good enough for a Spotted Flycatcher. 

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Skiathos

The Boat Yard, Skiathos

Stay tuned for more news, views and photos soon.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesdasy.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Home From Skiathos

Sue and I are back from Greece and as usual, up to our ears in catch-up with friends and family. Until I get up and running with birding I put together a few pictures of the last two weeks in Skiathos. Please "click the pics" for better views.

Two weeks of late September wall-to-wall sunshine, temperatures in the thirties and not a cloud in the deep blue Skiathos sky. I found myself feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the almost total lack of birdlife during what should be a period of peak migration. Yes, we saw House Sparrows, Collared Doves, swallows, and hundreds of the ubiquitous Hooded Crow and Yellow-legged Gull but had to search hard to find the limited number of migrants hiding from the burning midday sun. 

Nr Ligaries, Skiathos

Agia Paraskevi, Skiathos

The Bourtzi, Skiathos Town

The Bourtzi, Skiathos Town

Skiathos Town

The ferry - Skopelos to Skiathos and vice versa 

Where to go - Skiathos Town

 Coffee Time - Skiathos Town

I have experienced this strange sensation before on Skiathos and also on islands such as Menorca, Lanzarote, and closer to home on Bardsey Island and North Ronaldsay. Such times reinforce the understanding of the effect of the weather on bird migration during spring and autumn when theoretically there should be migrant birds at every turn but when ideal holiday weather makes for poor birding. A drop or two of overnight rain or preferably one of the famous Skiathos thunderstorms would have made for interesting mornings but it was not to be. 

It was in the relative cool of the hills and the monastery gardens that we found Spotted Flycatchers together with small numbers of Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Garden Warblers and Eastern Olivaceous Warblers. Up here close to the pine forests we saw Honey Buzzards circling and small numbers of Bee Eaters and swallows, both Common and Red-rumped. 

Church at Evangelistria
 
To the Monastery

Spotted Flycatcher
 
Willow Warbler

Red-backed Shrike

Red-rumped Swallow

Hooded Crow

Unlike our own farmland Barn Swallow the Red-rumped Swallow is a bird of the open hilly country of southern Europe and Asia where they build quarter-sphere nests with a tunnel entrance lined with mud collected in their beaks. They normally nest under cliff overhangs in their mountain homes, but will readily adapt to buildings and bridges. 

Red-rumped Swallow

It doesn’t matter where you go in Skiathos. There’s always a Red-backed Shrike to enliven proceedings and inevitably one that lacks any red in the plumage but displays the autumn russets of a juvenile or female.

The Red-backed Shrike is a very common bird in all of Greece and the Greek Islands, and a bird well known to Aristotle, the original Greek birder. The Latin/scientific name of the Red-backed Shrike is Lanius collurio, the genus name, Lanius derived from the Latin word for "butcher" and the specific collurio is from Ancient Greek “kollurion”. 

Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

In the pine forests there are fire crews on permanent watch to ensure that help quickly reaches any conflagration. A few years ago forest fires in mainland Greece spread by strong winds across the waters of the Aegean to the islands of Skiathos and Skopelos where they devastated huge swathes of forest and claimed many lives. Only now have the forests recovered. 

Fire Crew - Skiathos

Our forest dwelling Jimny

Spotted Flycatcher

From the forested Kanapitsa peninsula of Skiathos it is possible to see the church of Agios Ioannis Kastri out towards the neighbouring island of Skopelos and where scenes of Mamma Mia were filmed. The film runs through the summer season in the open air cinema in Skiathos Town. The church stands on top of a rock and provides amazing view to the coasts of Skopelos and to Alonissos. Its name actually means Saint John on the Castle, assuming that probably there was a small castle there in the past to protect the island from pirates.

The "Mamma Mia" church of Agios Ianiss Kastri

Open Air Cinema - Skiathos Town

Me? I'd rather be birding than watch that awful film. Log in soon for more birding.

Linking today with Eileen's Blog and Anni's Birding.
  

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