Whinchat

We had a good day for Whinchats near the Skala Polichnitou saltpans.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Crested Lark

Crested Lark, Kalloni saltpans

Crested Lark, Skala Polichnitou

Crested Lark was another species that seemed to be everywhere: in fields, on telegraph wires, running along the middle of the road...

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Sparrows

Rock Sparrow, Ipsilou monastery

Female House Sparrow, Skala Polichnitou

We saw two species of sparrow on Lesvos: House and Rock. The former is extremely common, even in unpopulated areas (in sharp contrast to the UK); the latter we only saw around the buildings at Ipsilou monastery, where they were clearly breeding.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Shrikes

Woodchat Shrike, near Sigri

Female Red-backed Shrike, Skala Polichnitou

Male Red-backed Shrike, near Skala Polichnitou

Shrikes, shrikes, and more shrikes. We saw four species (from most common to scarcest): Red-backed, Woodchat, Masked and Lesser Grey. On a couple of days, as we drove around, we saw a Red-backed Shrike every 200m! This passage tailed off towards the end of the week.

Masked Shrikes were mainly seen in olive groves (we watched one collecting scraps of plastic for its nest), Woodchats were often sitting atop roadside bushes or on telegraph wires, and our only Lesser Grey Shrike was seen perching near a grove where dozens of Black-headed Buntings were chirping away.

Unfortunately I failed to get (m)any good photos of any of them, but we had some great shrike-watching.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM