PeterHG's seventh Big Year

[TonyQ]

The Masked Shrike is lovely. I don’t think I have seen one.

[Soukous]

On 6/8/2022 at 10:58 AM, PeterHG said:

Well, I'm trailing @michael-ibkonly by 338, so the race is far from over yet. Let's get going again.

 

don't worry, Michael is making enough dust to keep us all behind him

[PeterHG]

Thank you @TonyQand @Soukous!

 

Now for another batch of less cooperative birds:

 

172 /L 33. Spur-winged Plover. Lesvos, May Very distant, but still quite recognizable even though this is an extreme crop. And I mean extreme.......

 

 

 

We tried several time to find this elusive bird. It is found in Achladeri forest and should not be too hard to find, we thought. But it took a lot of patience to finally get a glimpse of one, first alerted to its presence by its call. It stubbornly refused to cooperate and kept ducking behind branches and climbing the stem of the tree facing away from us, so I had to settle for a few EBC's. But a lifer it was!

 

173 /L 34. Krupers Nuthatch. Lesvos, May.

 

174 /L 35. Blue Rock Thrush. Lesvos, May. Only seen this once, when we were trying to find the Rüppel's Warbler, which we failed to do, unfortunately.

 

 

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

175 /L 36. Black-eared Wheatear. Lesvos, May.

 

 

176 /L 37. Northern Wheatear.

 

[PeterHG]

Though we failed to find the Rüppel's Warbler, we hade little trouble finding its cousin. Getting a change for a good photo was a different matter, but we did get a few.

 

177 /L 38. Eastern Subalpine Warbler. Lesvos, May

 

 

One of our favourites. We saw them on several occasions in the same location, pretty far off, but one evening we got lucky and got a much closer view.

 

178 /L 39. Collared Pratincole. Lesvos, May.

 

[PeterHG]

I don't think I've ever been on a trip where I saw so few ducks. Quite a relief actually...;)

 

179 /L 40. Ruddy Shelduck. Lesvos, May

 

[PeterHG]

180 /L41. Little Stint. Lesvos, May. Very common and seen daily.

 

 

[Galana]

Phew. So pleased you thoughtfully added that pointer for the Spur-winged Plover. Talk about pushing the envelope!

Some lovely pictures as usual.

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful Stint in flight. Also love the Subalpine. Spur-Winged in Europe? Did not know that, cool sighting. 

[TonyQ]

I love the Collared Pratincole photo.What a lovely bird (and photo!)

[xelas]

Looks like Lesbos is the new Portugal . Glad to find out also others are into extreme cropping. What was the cropped image size in pixels ?

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Galana@michael-ibk@TonyQ@xelas

32 minutes ago, xelas said:

What was the cropped image size in pixels ?

I ‘ll look it up when I get back home. We’re away in the north of the country for a week. Not really a birding trip, though you never know what might show up. We tried to find a River Warbler tonight, which would have been a lifer for me. We heard it singing from time to time, but never even managed a glimpse, let alone a photo. We’ll try again, though.

[michael-ibk]

8 hours ago, PeterHG said:

We tried to find a River Warbler tonight, which would have been a lifer for me. We heard it singing from time to time, but never even managed a glimpse, let alone a photo. We’ll try again, though.

 

That´s such a tough bird! Good luck for the next try.

[Dave Williams]

On 6/13/2022 at 9:15 PM, xelas said:

Looks like Lesbos is the new Portugal . Glad to find out also others are into extreme cropping. What was the cropped image size in pixels ?

 

Could be, my intentions for Portugal might or might not be on hold for next year depending on other plans but meantime I have booked two weeks on Lesvos. Peter has encouraged me to hit the "book now" button with his excellent collection of images.My only concern is the weather in the first half of May but going for 2 weeks increases the chances of some sun for Claire.

I have booked Skala Kollonis too Pete. TUI have some excellent deals at the moment.

We have been before and stayed near Molyvos. There used to be a hot spot for Rupell's Warbler by a lay-by up there. I, along with a couple of others were happily photographing them gathering nesting material when two coaches pulled in. One of the occupants wandered over towards us as the coaches disgorged their pay load. When he saw what we were photographing he yelled "they are over here!" and we were immediately surrounded but dozens of people. The birds disappeared and that was that for the day. I have often wondered why people sign up for birding trips, maybe because most sightings are so distant it doesn't matter how many people are on the trip. This had to be exceptional in size though. Must have been nearly 100 people!!

 

Spur-winged Plover are common and approachable in The Gambia but not so in Europe. I saw a single one on my last trip to Lesvos, and also in Cyprus earlier this year. @michael-ibk 

[PeterHG]

On 6/17/2022 at 9:16 AM, Dave Williams said:

have booked Skala Kollonis too Pete. TUI have some excellent deals at the moment.

That is good to hear, Dave! It’s such a good base for getting to many of the hot spots. I think we were a little unlucky with the weather; it is usually better even in early May. But you’re right, it is certainly a good decision to go for two weeks. If only for having the time to visit some of the places several times. Horrifying story about the birding group. What a mass of people for such a trip! 

[Dave Williams]

On 6/19/2022 at 9:04 PM, PeterHG said:

That is good to hear, Dave! It’s such a good base for getting to many of the hot spots. I think we were a little unlucky with the weather; it is usually better even in early May. But you’re right, it is certainly a good decision to go for two weeks. If only for having the time to visit some of the places several times. Horrifying story about the birding group. What a mass of people for such a trip! 

 

Well that trip didn't last long! I got an email from Jet2 yesterday saying my booking was cancelled and the deposit was being refunded. No apologies, no explanation...dreadful PR ! 

[PeterHG]

I am very sorry to hear that! What dreadful PR indeed!

[Galana]

Jet2. What does one expect from a Pig but a grunt?

And they sit in their offices, with their booking fees and wonder why there are crowds and clouds gathering. Only time I booked with them, to avoid O'Leary, I got the run around and the bird.

Shame about the trip. But there are other carriers.

[Soukous]

1 hour ago, Dave Williams said:

 

Well that trip didn't last long! I got an email from Jet2 yesterday saying my booking was cancelled and the deposit was being refunded. No apologies, no explanation...dreadful PR ! 

 

sorry Peter, for abusing your BY thread

 

I'm puzzled Dave, you said TUI had some great deals then you say Jet2 cancelled your trip. TUI & Jet2 ceased working together in 2017.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Soukous

[Dave Williams]

15 minutes ago, Soukous said:

 

sorry Peter, for abusing your BY thread

 

I'm puzzled Dave, you said TUI had some great deals then you say Jet2 cancelled your trip. TUI & Jet2 ceased working together in 2017.

 

Me too Peter!

It was a mistake on the original post, it's Jet 2 I booked with. It appears they might have only cancelled the flight I was supposedly on which was the 30/4 as they are open for booking on the 7th of May. A little late for the migration but better weather more likely.

If indeed they are still taking bookings for that date and onwards you'd have thought they would have informed me.

Lesvos could be a good venue for an ST meet!

[PeterHG]

2 hours ago, Soukous said:

sorry Peter, for abusing your BY thread

No problem. Exchanges like these often lead to new ideas or even meet-ups. I still have to finish my Lesvos collection, so I'll pick up the thread again in due course.

[PeterHG]

181 /L 41. Common Greenhank. Lesvos, May. We only saw them a few times.

 

 

182 /L 43. European Turtle Dove. Lesvos, May. Rapidly declining numbers in our country and it's been many years since I last saw one here. Good to reconnect with them on Lesvos.

 

 

Black-headed Yellow Wagtail. Lesvos, May. Mostly considered subspecies of western yellow wagtail (motacilla flava feldegg), so I won't count it separately. It's quite beautiful and really the default yellow wagtail on the island.

 

 

183 /L 44. Middle Spotted Woodpecker. Lesvos, May. We only saw it once and only briefly as it flew past. 

 

 

184 /L 45. Kentish Plover. Lesvos, May. Another one that has almost disappeared from our country, due to loss of breeding habitat. We saw a few on Lesvos, but fewer than last time.

 

[PeterHG]

185 /L46. Curlew Sandpiper. Lesvos, May. Seen near the saltpans as was the case with most waders.

 

 

186 /L47. Hooded Crow. Lesvos, May. They take the place of the Carrion Crow here and are quite common. In spite of this and although we hardly ever see them where I live, it suffered from a lack of attention like crows ussually do. I did remember taking a picture for the count, though, albeit in harsh midday sunlight.

 

 

187 /L 48. Crested Lark. Lesvos, May. Also very common and fortunately there are no Thekla's on the island....;)

 

I'll finish my Lesvos collection with a lifer. We had heard that 2 had been sighted on the eastern side of the Kalloni Saltpans, so we drove out there, parked the car and walked along the edge of the canal bordering the saltpans. It was not hard to spot them even though they were fairly distant. They were by far the biggest birds present. I had to use the 2.0 converter, but as we were there rather early, the effect of the heat haze was still manageable.

 

188 /L49. Dalmatian Pelican. Lesvos, May.

 

 

[Soukous]

35 minutes ago, PeterHG said:

Mostly considered subspecies of western yellow wagtail (motacilla flava feldegg), so I won't count it separately.

 

count it

[michael-ibk]

Congratulations on your lifer Peter - they are spectacular birds. Awesome Lark in flight!