Take a snappy take a look at the breeding distribution of Eu birds and you’ll see that there are a stunning collection of species which might be limited to the Balkans. (The Balkans, via the best way, is a unfastened time period for Europe’s south-eastern peninsula, overlaying the international locations of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece.) It’s those Balkan specials which might be the objective species for many birdwatchers visiting the world from western Europe.
The Balkan specials are a remarkably numerous lot. The most important of them is the Dalmatian Pelican, which with a wing span of round 10ft and a weight of as much as 26lb is a significant contender for one the sector’s greatest flying birds. Move to the suitable location and you’ll be able to’t omit it, which is greater than you’ll be able to say for the Olive-tree Warbler. The latter is large (the most important of the entire Hippolais warblers), purchase shy. Because the Collins Fowl Information notes, it “assists in keeping neatly hidden”. You’ll pay attention greater than you spot, and you’ll be able to’t typically ensure to listen to one, both.
As a result of Olive-tree Warblers are any such problem to search out, and, to be fair, now not that thrilling to take a look at while you do sooner or later see one, they don’t function right here in my Balkan Best Ten. As an alternative I’ve decided on my favorite 10 species I anticipate finding once I consult with Greece, only a few of which can be limited to the Balkans. Those are all birds I be expecting (or hope) to look on a consult with right here.
Number one
The Dalmatian Pelican has to take the Number one spot, because it’s so giant and impressive. It’s relatively better than the White Pelican, in whose corporate it may well steadily be discovered. In comparison to the clean-cut White, it’s now not any such good chicken, its plumage tinged with gray, whilst the curly feathers on its head glance as though it wishes a consult with to the hairdresser. It’s in overdue iciness and early spring when those pelicans glance their very best, as the massive invoice pouch develops an intense color of orange-red, indicating that the chicken is in height breeding situation, however this quickly fades again to a lifeless yellow.
The vintage websites for seeing those pelicans are Lakes Prespa (with the sector’s biggest colony), Amvrakikos and Kerkini, however they do wander, and steadily flip up at different wetlands, or even in harbours just about Thessaloniki.
No 2
OK, you’ll be able to to find White Storks in lots of Eu international locations, however they’re one of the crucial function birds of Lake Kerkini: the village of Kerkini (from which the lake takes its identify) has over 40 nesting pairs. Maximum arrive in March, however via mid September they’ve migrated again south to their wintering grounds in Africa.
White Storks construct massive nests which get larger annually because the homeowners upload extra sticks and subject material. In Greece those spectacular nests steadily host colonies of Spanish Sparrows that nest in holes within the construction. The sort of nest web site has its dangers for the smaller occupants. In Would possibly this yr I watched a sitting Stork catch and devour certainly one of her tenants. Such an unfriendly act created numerous pleasure a number of the sparrows, lots of which got here out to take a seat at the close by wires to speak about the development. After some time peace used to be restored, and the sparrows returned to their nesting chambers,
No 3
40 years in the past the Better Flamingoes used to be a rarity in Greece, with fewer than 30 data. These days it’s develop into a well-recognized wintering chicken, with flocks of hundreds to be observed at favoured localities. I realize it neatly from the salt pans at Angelochori, only some miles to the west of Thessaloniki’s airport. Right here flocks can also be observed in maximum months of the yr. (This can be a effective web site for different birds, with quite a few waterbirds and waders invariably to be discovered right here, together with comparable to species as Black-necked Grebe, Avocet and Narrow-billed Gull).
Lately Better Flamingoes have unfold eastwards and now breed ceaselessly in Italy and Turkey, whilst in 2020 the primary a hit breeding used to be recorded in Greece, on the wetland of Agios Mamas in Chalkidiki. Better Flamingoes are strikingly good-looking birds and it’s encouraging to search out them doing so neatly in Greece nowadays.
No 4
Spoonbills aren’t a Balkan particular, as they even nest now in my house county of Suffolk, however there’s nowhere higher to look them at shut vary than on their breeding grounds at Lake Kerkini. Right here the new lack of the flooded woodland manner that almost all of birds now nest clear of the lake, commuting to it to feed.
Numbers decline within the iciness, however birds can also be observed in Greece all yr spherical. The younger birds can also be simply recognized via their black-tipped number one feathers.
No 5
Because the identify suggests, the Levant Sparrowhawk is a Levantine particular. Very an identical in each look and behavior to the intently similar Shikra, it’s a chicken that favours open lowlands, and is steadily to be discovered round villages. It’s a late-returning migrant, now not typically showing again on its breeding grounds till early Would possibly.
The shrill name is loud and a long way wearing, and in contrast to that of every other Eu raptor. After I heard my first one, on a consult with to Kerkini in 2008, I wasn’t certain what it used to be, and needed to to find the chicken to determine its id.
No 6
Arguably essentially the most exotic-looking of any Eu chicken, the Bee-eater is all the time a pleasure to look and listen to. It’s a well-liked breeding chicken all the way through a lot of the Balkans, arriving again in early Would possibly and staying till overdue August. This can be a chicken that used to be as soon as extensively persecuted, as its liking for bees made it the enemy of the bee keeper, giving an excuse for it to be shot.
By the way, on a excellent day’s birding in northern Greece it’s imaginable to look all 5 of Europe’s maximum brightly colored birds: Bee-eater, Curler, Hoopoe, Golden Oriole and Kingfisher. Although it’s imaginable to look the similar Giant 5 in quite a few different Mediterranean international locations, Greece is the one nation the place I’ve controlled it ceaselessly.
No 7
There are 10 species of woodpeckers within the Balkans. The one one I haven’t observed here’s the 3-toed, which is specific to the Rhodope Mountains at the Greek/Bulgarian border. The White-backed could also be an actual problem to search out – the chicken proven right here I photographed just about town of Sidirokastro, a couple of miles south of the border with Bulgaria. Information of White-backed Woodpeckers in Greece are few, so the standing of this woodpecker is one thing of a thriller.
The race of the White-backed Woodpecker here’s lilfordi: it used to be as soon as referred to as Lilford’s Woodpecker. Lord Lilford used to be a Nineteenth-century English chicken fanatic and collector: he shot a thriller woodpecker in Greece in 1857 that used to be named Picus lilfordi, but it surely used to be later reclassified as a race of the a lot more well-liked White-backed Woodpecker.
No 8
Rock Nuthatch. Formally referred to as Western Rock Nuthatch to distinguish it from the Jap chicken (that may be present in Georgia), this noisy and energetic chicken is well-liked in Greece in appropriate habitat, however now not all the time simple to search out. I noticed my first people at Delphi a few years in the past. They’re well-liked in quarries and on appropriate rocky hillsides in northern Greece. Pay attention for his or her unique loud whistles.
Previous this yr I heard one calling in a big disused quarry in northern Greece the place I had observed those birds ahead of, however in spite of my very best efforts I failed to look it. Irritating, however they’re small birds that favour giant landscapes.
No 9
4 species of shrikes nest in Greece – Lesser Gray, Crimson-backed, Woodchat and Masked – but it surely’s the latter that’s the Balkan particular. The smallest and maximum subtle of the Eu shrikes, the Masked isn’t as simple to search out as the opposite species, as you infrequently see one perched on roadside wires or sitting conspicuously at the tops of timber.
Masked shrikes favor an open wooded habitat, so have their very own ecological area of interest, now not competing with their better cousins. Numbers had been expanding in recent times, so it is a chicken that you just will have to see in case you put the hassle in.
No 10
Wandering Black-headed Buntings had been discovered as a long way west as Britain, they usually do breed in southern Italy, however that is predominately a Balkan (and Turkish) chicken, migrating to India for the iciness. They go back in early Would possibly, when the cock’s unique and oft-repeated track is a function sound of the Greek nation-state.
When making a song they generally perch conspicuously on the best of a big bush or small tree the place they’re simple to look. By contrast, the a lot drabber women folk can also be tricky to search out. The cock is an excessively good-looking chicken that I by no means tire of seeing, its track one of the crucial function sounds of northern Greece in Would possibly.
