Pbirdarc0504

MY BIRDWATCHING HIGHLIGHTS FOR MAY 2004

	1^st May. At Neo Chorio. A golden oriole was singing n the garden.
	2^ndMay.At Neo Chorio. 3 rollers rested for an hour in the big walnut tree and later were joined by a golden oriole. At Deliana. There were 7 griffon vultures; a pair of ravens a turtle doves; and an adult bonellis eagle. On one of the peninsulas. We saw an eleonoras falcon; heard a corn bunting singing. On the coast. A fine long legged buzzard circling and showing off perfect plumage.
	3^rdMay. At Neo Chorio. Several golden orioles woke me up with their singing and later we had perfect views of an adult great grey shrike in the walnut tree. The shrike stayed for over an hour.
	4^thMay. At Neo Chorio. Over 1.000 house martins streamed by with nearly as many swifts though the swifts always flew higher than the martins. On the coast. We saw 4 red footed falcons; 2 little egrets; 2 wood sandpipers; 2 little ringed plovers; 1 glossy ibis; and a squacco heron
	5^th May. At Neo Chorio. Lots of swifts and house martins streamed by. On the coast. Were 2 little egrets; 4 red footed falcons; an alpine swift; 2 little ringed plovers; 1 moorhen; 1 squacco heron; and 2 wood sandpipers.
	6^th May. At Neo Chorio. Another golden oriole and then a hobby.
	7^th May. In a nearby gorge. We found 3 griffon vultures; a blue rock thrush; an adult golden eagle; some crag martins; several spotted flycatchers; and a lesser grey shrike. Along the coast. We saw 3 squacco herons; 1 ruff; 3 little ringed plovers; several alpine swifts; 2 little egrets; 2 little stints; 1 curlew sandpiper; 1 fan tailed warbler; several yellow wagtails; and a cormorant. At Neo Chorio. A single eleonoras falcon rounded off the day
	8^th May. At Neo Chorio. Another hobby..
	9^th May. At Astratigos. On visiting the Webmaster we saw a raven; 2 serins; and and a bonellis eagle.
	10^th May. At Neo Chorio. Toffee the cat struck unlucky – see comments below!
	11^th May. On the coast. Were 3 squacco herons; 1 little ringed plover; and 1 curlew sandpiper in perfect breeding plumage.
	19^th May. At Neo Chorio. About 100 house martins while on the coast were 2 red footed falcons and another hobby
	21^st May. A trip to one of the peninsulas. Was well worthwhile with a group of 5 shags fishing close inshore then we found several black eared wheatears; several wood larks; several crested larks; several stonechats; 1 blue rock thrush; a flock of 30+ swifts; 2 rollers in very worn plumage; a magnificent bearded vulture probably a 4 year old; both adults and a juvenile bonellis eagle. 1 lanner falcon; 14 griffon vultures; 26 spotted flycatchers; 1 eleonoras falcon and a long legged buzzard. Having lunch at a taverna on the way home we were serenaded by a sub alpine warbler.
	23^rd May. At Neo Chorio. Several golden orioles sang from the walnut tree. So many birds use that tree, it is a favourite perch for many species.
	24^th May. On the coast. We watched a cattle egret in full breeding plumage feeding actively with a flock of sheep, well away from any water. The wet bit held a squacco heron and a little egret.
	28^th May. At Kamisiana. We found a single serin.
	29^th May. At Neo Chorio. An eleonoras falcon and joyful news of the safe arrival of our seventh grandchild, born in Germany with both mum and dad delighted.
	31^st May. On the national highway. We were saddened to see two dead barn owls in just 30 metres that had been hit by cars. I suspected they were juveniles but it is not safe to stop on the national highway to inspect corpses! Back at home we had 2 swallows come into the lounge and circle several times. On the coast. We found 2 singing skylarks and a lovely red rumped swallow.

And a few final words for May..... As predicted, this month was very dull in terms of numbers of birds though the variety was good. It has been so dry that migrants have just had to keep going. To have only seen one glossy ibis shows how poor conditions were. Where we would expect to see hundreds of red footed falcons we saw only a handful.

The outstanding highlight was the great grey shrike that perched in the walnut tree and let us study it at length. A real treat and totally unexpected!

I was thrilled that the bearded vulture on the peninsula is surviving and with good luck next year or the year after will become adult and able to breed. With only one successfully breeding pair left on the island every chick is a precious commodity and each that survives the five or six years to maturity is cause for hope that the future for this magnificent species is a hopeful one.

Now to Toffee, our normally dim-witted and docile feline friend who has featured on these pages before (see archives). On this particular night I was relaxing with a good book before retiring when suddenly something shot past and smacked into the window beside my chair with a loud crash. This sort of thing happens here but not usually on the inside! What happened was that Toffee somehow managed to fall over a juvenile scops owl out in the garden, grabbed it and then not knowing what to do brought it into the house where he delightedly opened his mouth to tell my right hand man what a clever boy he was. At this the owl fled through the house to frighten the life out of me when it smacked into the window with Toffee, now in full pursuit, plus another cat woken up by the commotion. A hectic chase ensued with the decidedly disgruntled owl wanting to escape but with two frantic cats determined to catch it again and yours truly caught up in the middle. The droplets of blood across the lounge floor indicated serious injury until I realised it was my blood, whether from tooth or talon I never found out - but the owl was rescued and found to be uninjured - so was quickly released with nothing more than its dignity ruffled. So keen was I to effect the rescue and release that only afterwards did I realise it did not cross my mind to ring the owl. I must be getting old…

For now, good watching. Paul Smith.