Pbirdarc0405

MY BIRDWATCHING HIGHLIGHTS FOR APRIL 2005

	2^ndApr. Near Sirili. A steppe buzzard and a booted eagle. Along the coast. We found some swallows; a black eared wheatear; a wood sandpiper; and then had lovely views of an osprey plunging and catching a fish only 30 meters away from our car.
	3^rdApr. Along the coast. Another osprey, this time flying north along our valley. Also 50+ swallows and 100+ swifts.
	4^thApr. At Neo Chorio. A mixed flock of swifts and swallows, over 500 in all. Along the valley. Several thousand swifts, swallows and house martins streamed north. Along the coast. We found 13 ruff; 1 greenshank; 1 redstart; 1 little egret; 5 wood sandpipers; a flock of 20+ red throated pipits; 22 glossy ibis; 12 yellow wagtails; and 2 little stints.
	6^thApr. At Neo Chorio. Our first golden oriole of the year, this a female. A flock of over 1,000 swallows headed north along the valley. Near Sirili. My right hand man was thrilled to see a short toed eagle. On the coast. We found 1 little stint; 2 moorhens; hundreds of swallows; 14 yellow wagtails; 3 wheatears; 6 glossy ibis; 1 jack snipe; 1 ruff; 2 wood sandpipers; 1 white wagtail; 1 grey heron; 1 bar tailed godwit; and 3 red throated pipits.
	8^thApr. At Neo Chorio. We had good views of a swallow hunting over the valley. In Chain. Hundreds of swifts were over the city centre. Coming back along the coast towards Tavronitis we saw a woodchat shrike; 3 glossy ibis; 1 marsh sandpiper; 2 greenshank; 1 redshank; 30 yellow wagtails; and a wheatear.
	9^th Apr. At Neo Chorio. A pair of ravens went ‘cronking’ along the valley.
	15^th Apr. In Chania. Relaxing at a taverna at the Venetian harbour, we were pleased to watch 3 swifts and a pallid swift flying together, so we were able to brush up on identification tips without spilling our beer!
	16^thApr. Along the coast. A whinchat; 2 moorhens; 1 little egret; lots of yellow wagtails; 1 wood sandpiper; 1 black winged stilt; 1 redshank; and then were amazed to be overtaken by a shag flying along the beach while I was driving at 40 kilometers an hour!
	18^thApr. At Kolymbari. A pair of lesser kestrels and an alpine swift. The coast yielded 5 little ringed plovers; 4 moorhens; 1 little egret; 1 black eared wheatear; some yellow wagtails; 3 whinchat; 2 woodchat shrikes; 1 black winged stilt; 2 little gulls; 1 squacco heron; 3 common sandpipers; 5 wood sandpipers; 2 ruff; and 2 greenshank.
	19^th Apr. At Neo Chorio. We saw our first eleonoras falcon for ages.
	20^th Apr. At Neo Chorio. A swallow was looking for a nest site in our lounge, coming in several times and twittering to us. We persuaded it to move on as they make a terrible mess when nesting.
	21^stApr. At Neo Chorio. Another eleonoras falcon. Hundreds of swallows and martins continued to stream north.
	22^ndApr. At Chania. Above the city centre at dusk hundreds of swifts were circling and screaming..
	24^thApr. At Neo Chorio. A sub alpine warbler sang and displayed in the garden. Along the coast. There was still a dribble of black winged stilts; wood sandpipers; ruff; and glossy ibis.
	26^thApr. At Neo Chorio. We managed to find our first fan tailed warbler for ages and were very pleased there are some still about.
	27^thApr. At Neo Chorio. A hoopoe stayed around the garden all day, calling all the time.
	29^thApr. A light phase booted eagle rounded off the month for us.

And a few final words for April..... Spring migration this year has turned out to be a flop as far as seeing numbers of birds is concerned. This is due to at least three factors.

First, this spring has been very dry and the normally flooded fields along the coast have long ago dried up so most migrants, especially the waders, herons and egrets, which have had to keep going as there is nowhere to attract them down to rest and feed.

Second, migration was very late getting under way so the flooded fields were even drier by the time the migrants started to come through.

Thirdly, and by no means the least important factor is that much of the month we have not been out looking much as my priority has been visits to clinics and consultants to try and get an awkward medical problem sorted out. A lot of time has gone on trips to and from Chania for ultra sound scans, CT scans, at least 37 blood tests and culturing of specimens. In telling you this I am far from soliciting sympathy but giving a good example of what I keep trying to tell people – my highlights only tell you when and roughly where we have been. They should not to be taken as a definitive list of what is to be seen on western Crete.

For instance. We have not been able to make a single trip up into the mountains this month and so cannot report on what is happening there. No reference to vultures this month does not mean there are none to be seen but merely that we have not been able to see any.

Hopefully all will soon be sorted out and a more normal service can be resumed.

By the way, we do not mind lending you northern Europeans our migrants for the summer, but please remember to send them back in the autumn!

Until next month, good watching. Paul Smith.