Just back from two weeks of beautifull sunshine, but this place is not for those also interested in birds Only 10 species seen, although I must be honest in that I gave up after a few days and just relaxed in the sun and drank lots of beer Kamari- where we stayed; 6 Cory's Shearwater( a first for me ), 1 Shag (no smirking at this), lots of House Sparrows and Collared Dove. Pirgos- 2 Common Buzzard and 2 Raven. Above Port Athinios- 5 Yellow Legged Gull, 1 Eleonora's Falcon, 2 Hooded Crow. Ia- 1 Blue Rock Thrush. Not a great haul and my wife said I can choose next year so I'm thinking Lesvos where, apparently, there are all kinds of interesting birds Cheers Ian
Thanks Ian, I had found your suggested web-site, it doesn't look to promising but you never know . Simon, thanks for the advice, much appreciated. Paul, at least if trapping is a big problem there must be birds to trap!. I really just wondered if any GM birders had any 1st hand experience of Santorini. Cheers Ian
Not known as a birding location but that makes no difference at all, it's all good
Check out:
http://www.biomi.org/biology/santorini/index.html
Personally I'd go with an open and pioneering mind. Olive groves offer great birding with warblers and shrikes etc. Any open ground (often with plenty of scrub) affords chances of more warblers, wheatears, buntings, chats and the like but get out as early as you can, the heat of the midday makes birding unpleasant and the birds generally go 'quiet' around then anyway so it's a good time for spending time with the wife! Could be a few raptors about (depending on how heavily shot they may be!) and there's usually some gulls offshore somewhere.
Plea for help, lady wife has just booked 2 weeks in Santorini going 28 July. Anybody out there ever been?, are there any recommended birding locations, any help gratefully received. Cheers Ian