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Acheron Delta, Greece: Hell is Closed for Renovation

10,000 Birds

And here I am now, avoiding the two barking dogs trying to bite my tires while I am driving through pre-dawn darkness towards the delta of the river Styx, or Acheron , as it is known today at the Ionian Sea coast of Greece. This is possibly the only European wetland I’ve birded where Common Moorhens outnumber Eurasian Coots.

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Kerkini in Winter

10,000 Birds

Back in July, my fellow 10,000 Birds contributor Dragan wrote a delightful piece about birding Lake Kerkini in spring. I first visited Kerkini and this bird-rich region of northern Greece 15 years ago, and have been returning regularly ever since. My photograph below is of a captive bird).

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What is killing birds at Karla Lake (Greece)?

10,000 Birds

There should be thousands of birds at this time of the year, Dimitris Michalakis from the Karla Lake management authority told me. In the northern section, the water was deep, interspersed by reed-islets, but the only birds were a few Little Egrets and Black-headed Gulls. Lesser Kestrel. I am trying to count them all!

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Pelican Lake (Greece): Magic Revisited

10,000 Birds

The sun rises over the village of Chrysochorafa, by Kerkini Lake in the north of Greece, not far from the triple border with Bulgaria and FYRO Macedonia. Before this trip, I asked Steve Mills, the author of ‘ Birdwatching in Northern Greece ’, which sites would he recommend at this time of the year. Early September morning.

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Only for Dogs and Birders – Kalamas Delta, Greece

10,000 Birds

“The estuary and the delta of the River Kalamas form the most important wetland of northwest Greece”, so the “ Birding in Greece ” guidebook claims for the area where I am heading, a bit late since I overslept this morning. Yet, beside a few Little and one Great Egret , a raft of Eurasian Coots , no birds.

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Birding without a phone

10,000 Birds

If you are old enough, you will remember birding without a phone? Later I carried it because of a stash of bird songs I compiled in it. And now I carry it for the same reason, only now they are a part of the bird ID app. Anyway, I don’t even have an app for the European birds at the moment, but for the Birds of Southern Africa.

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The Six Good Birds of Christmas

10,000 Birds

Usually only several birds overwinter in Serbia – the biggest count ever was less than 10. I observed my first GS eagles in India some 8 years ago, then the first for Europe in Greece only last December , and finally I have them in my home country list. There weren’t that many birds at all, they hated the sounds as much as I did.

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