A greek birding sojourn

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Finding interesting birds during Christmas and New Year is sometimes a bit of a challenge in NW Europe – so I relocated to Greece, to have a pelican experience and to escape the cold for a bit.

Lake Kerkini, close to the bulgarian border, is famous for pelicans. It’s an artificial lake, and some of the locals like to think that it has been a boon for the local biodiversity – the argument goes that the floodplain wasn’t very productive, so the lake made the whole thing better, plus it keeps the water in one place instead of having it all over the place at certain times of the year, and not at all at others. The story is obviously a fallacy; the area would have been a fabulous hotspot before the lake was created. But it’s not half bad WITH the lake either, and we want to be the glass-half-full kind of people.

In any case the lake has made the area interesting to Europe’s two species of pelicans, the dalmatian and the white. This in turn has made the lake interesting to birdwatchers and -photographers, and a small local “industry” has sprung up, with locals arranging pelican boat trips, replete with bait fish and photographers. It’s not normally my kind of scene, but it is the only way to get close to the silly critters, and it does keep them well-fed during the winter months…

Some dalmatian pelicans from Lake Kerkini. Click on the individual images for the full-sized experience.

I did two outings with the best of the local pelican whisperers, Nikos Gallios, and I must say I enjoyed the experience – and he was a great source of information about all things bird besides the pelicans.

There were even a few white pelicans present – they were less rambunctious than the dalmatians, and garnered less photographic interest for it. Click on the image for a full-size experience.

Once I felt like I had done the touristy thing with the pelicans I explored the other options in the vicinity. I spent quite a bit of time trying to find wall creepers, but they’re elusive little beggars… The best shot I managed, of a bird I found in the Vikos Gorge close to Albania, was this one:

Wall creeper from the Vikos Gorge. In 1999 I flew a Paragliding World Cup in that area, it was good fun to be back. Click on the image for a large version.

I spent some days exploring the south end of the Prespa lakes – quite a birding haven, alas probably at its least active around New Year. The most photogenic experience from there was the black-necked grebes:

Black-necked grebes from the lesser Prespa Lake. They’re less spectacular in winter attire, but still very attractive birds. Click on the images for large versions.

I then relocated to the west coast around Igoumenitsa. There I found very many kingfishers, and they’re always fun to be around.

Eurasian kingfishers from the west coast of Greece. These birds are all salt water dwellers, something that isn’t quite as common around here. Click on the individual images for the full experience.

There were plenty other nice photo opportunities, these jumped out at me while I was blogging.