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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. I can hear the mooing of cows, interrupted by gunshots, while two scared flocks of ducks fly above the delta.

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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. I am checking the grass for any flash of white and soon my suspicion is confirmed: Cattle Egrets (cover photo)!

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BIRDING ACHERON: 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. I can hear the mooing of cows, interrupted by gunshots, while two scared flocks of ducks fly above the delta.

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Birds and Us: A 12,000 Year History from Cave Art to Conservation–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

He continues with images found in illuminated manuscripts such as Catherine of Cleves’s Book of Hours and Frederick II of Germany’s On the Art of Hunting With Birds. Egyptian tomb painting depicting duck hunting in the marshes, from the eBook version of Birds and Us, © 2022, Tim Birkhead and Princeton University Press.

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Could have done better? Confessions of a year-lister.

10,000 Birds

I also travelled to Kerkini in Northern Greece in June and Kefalonia in south-east Greece in October, so my overall year list was a more satisfactory 272 species. Big flocks of Long-tailed Ducks were a delight, but our target bird, Steller’s Eider, let us down – we found just a single female, not the flocks we were expecting.

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A winter miscellany

10,000 Birds

There’s Lynford Water, a scenic tree-fringed former gravel working that today is popular with Great Crested Grebes, Tufted Ducks and wild swimmers (yes, they even swim in December). Hawfinches have declined in the UK in recent years and become harder to see, though they remain common on the Continent: this year I’ve only seen them in Greece.

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My Year so Far – Modest but Satisfactory

10,000 Birds

The next couple of months will of course see a boost to my British list, as summer migrants flood into England, while forthcoming trips to Cyprus, Greece and northern Spain will also turbocharge the European list. A lone Whooper Swan on a grey January day in Norfolk As for the ducks – I’m now up to 15 species.

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