birding...

European Bee-eaters Merops apiaster Panos Oikonomou http://www.wildlifebirdphotography.gr/ Just a look at the map of Greece gives a rough idea of the diversity of its fauna and flora. The geographical location and the variety of habitat types determine its rich bird life. The mainland is characterised by high mountains and very rugged relief alternating with small valleys and farmland. Freshwater lakes and coastal lagoons form an important network of wetlands. And of course, the island archipelagos; more than 2,000 islands, some big, like Crete, some small rocky islets, are the home of nesting seabirds and Eleonora`s Falcons. Greece has 196 Important Bird Areas (IBA). Highly threatened species breed here such as Dalmatian Pelican, Ferruginous Duck, Lesser Kestrel, Audouin`s Gull, Pygmy Cormorant, Black Vulture, Lammergeyer and Cinereous Bunting. During the winter species like White-headed Duck, Red-breasted Goose and Spotted Eagle frequent the IBA wetlands. Foreign birders, mainly originating from western and northern Europe, mainly seek species of southern and/or eastern European distribution and find it easy to locate birds like Ruddy Shelduck, Long-legged Buzzard, Levant Sparrowhawk, Rock Partridge, Chukar, Roller, Short-toed and Calandra Larks, Red-rumped Swallow, Black-eared Wheatear, Orphean, Sardinian, Rüppell`s, Olivaceous and Olive-tree Warblers, Rock and Krüper`s Nuthatches, Lesser Grey and Masked Shrikes, Spanish Sparrow, Cretzschmar`s and Black-headed Buntings, etc. Spring is definitely the best season to visit Greece. The birds know it and so do the birders. Wherever you go you will enjoy it. West European birders prefer places like the lakes of Mikri Prespa and Kerkini, the Dadia forest, the coastal lagoons of northeast Greece and islands like Lesvos and Crete. There is no tradition of ornithology in Greece. The Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS); the local partner of Bird Life International, was founded in 1982 but it saw a big period of growth during the 90s; its work is expanding all over the country. Although tourism is a very important source of foreign income, the State has never promoted birdwatching tourism. Organised sites with basic infrastructure for birding, are very scarce and it is rather difficult to obtain information. As a result foreign birders mainly visit the few well-promoted birding sites or classic mass-tourism resorts like Rhodes and Corfu. Thus they miss many important under-developed places like the lake Himaditis, the mountains of the northern borders and beautiful islands like Lemnos. Greece is a fine place for birding and is largely unexplored. Trip reports are very useful to the HOS and are most welcome. Information on where to send them can be found at the HOS website. See the individual pages for Crete, Lesvos and Rhodes.

contributor

Yannis Tsougrakis

numbers

Number of bird species: 411

useful reading

A Birdwatching Guide to Crete

A Descriptive Lexicon of the Birds of Greece

Bibliography of Greek Ornithology

Birds of Greece

Birds of Pelion

DVD - Essence of Evros

Finding Birds in Greece

List of the Birds of Greece

The Birds of Greece

Where to watch birds in Turkey, Greece and Cyprus

useful information

BirdLife

Proact

clubs

Hellenic Ornithological Society

museums

Natural History Museum - Thessaloniki

reserves

Kerkini Lake

Nestos Lakes

Prespa Lake

Wetlands

Zagorohoria National Park

trip reports

Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you can’t find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page… give them a try!

2000 [May] - Chris Cameron - The Cyclades

2000 [May] - Honeyguide - Eastern Greece

2001 [June] - Tommy Pedersen

2001 [May] - John and Monica Kirby - Samos

2001 [October] - Gary Bletsch - Birding Field Notes, Athens, Greece and Environs

2001 [September] - Maurice Berry - Northern Greece

2002 - Doug & Lynda Haynes - Samos

2002 [September] - Parga area of North western Greece - John Jennings

2003 [August] David Griffiths - Naxos

2003 [May] - Ray Thorneycroft - North East Greece

2003 [May] David Pearce - Northern Greece

2003 [May] Kevin & Susan Boyd - Corfu

2004 [February] - Janne & Hanna Aalto - Kerkini and Evros

2004 [June] - Derek Gruar & Irini Koutseri - Prespa National Park, Northern Greece

2004 [June] - Richard Bonser - Zakynthos

2004 [May] - Ian Kinley - North East Greece

2004 [September] - Alan Saunders - Thassos

2004 [September] - Dylan Wrathall - Corfu

2005 [May] - Elaine Gathercole - Samos

2006 [August] - Uku Paal - Corfu

2006 [November] - Birdwatching Bulgaria - Lake Kerkini, Northern Greece

2007 [May] - Christian Dortu - Northeast Greece

2007 [May] - Honeyguides

2007 [September] - John & Jo Tallon - Yialova, Western Peloponnese

2009 [October] Tony Jones - Kefalonia

tour operators

Birding Pal

Birdwatching Tours in Greece

Honeyguide

other links

Birds at Rematia Halandriou - Athens

Birds of Imathia

Birds of Kastoria & Agia Sotira

Birds of Thassos

Birds of the Aegean

Birdwatching in Northern Greece

BLOG - Athens Birds

BLOG - Hellenic Birds & Wildlife

BLOG - Koele & The Birds

BLOG - Nature in Greece

Checklist

Deep in birds

Evros Delta

Ionian Birds

Skopelos Island

artists

Photographer - Panos Oikonomou