Pbarch0602

MY BIRDWATCHING HIGHLIGHTS FOR JUNE 2002

	1^stJune. At Tavronitis. A light phase eleonoras falcon. At Neo Chorio. A flock of 3 red footed falcons and an eleonoras falcon.
	4^thJune. At Neo Chorio. 2 eleonoras falcons at dusk.
	5^th June. At Neo Chorio. A flock of bee eaters could be heard but were too high up too see. Their trilling call is unmistakable and carries a long way. A flock of 3 eleonoras falcons hunted over the valley below us at dusk.
	6^thJune. At Neo Chorio. A single eleonoras falcon at dusk.
	7^thJune. At Tavronitis. A little ringed plover. At Neo Chorio. An eleonoras falcon at dusk.
	8^thJune. At Neo Chorio. A hobby in perfect plumage chased swallows over our garden.
	9^thJune. At Neo Chorio. 2 female hen harriers, a female sparrow hawk, a male golden oriole and a sub-alpine warbler.
	12^thJune. At Maleme. 3 dolphins swam lazily westwards (an observation which shows how bad June was for bird-watching!). At Tavronitis. We managed to find a shag and a greenshank.
	13^thJune. At Neo Chorio. A hedgehog was rooting among our geraniums after dark. We rarely see or hear them here and the cats were fascinated.
	14^thJune. At Neo Chorio. A single eleonoras falcon at dusk.
	15^thJune. At Neo Chorio. A single eleonoras falcon at dusk.
	17^thJune. At Tavronitis. A grey heron skulking in the undergrowth while an eleonoras falcon hunted along the river.
	19^thJune. At Tavronitis. A flock of 17 pallid swifts came to drink from the river pools. We were able to get good close-up views of them.
	21^stJune. At Tavronitis. 5 common swifts and an alpine swift were drinking from a swimming pool whilst there were bathers in it.....
	22^nd June. At Neo Chorio. A flock of bee eaters could be heard but not seen.
	23^rdJune. At Neo Chorio. 2 eleonoras falcons at dusk.
	24^thJune. At Tavronitis. The grey heron again. Presumably a non-breeder or one that just got lost on migration - they do not breed here on Crete. At Maleme. A malt marsh harrier was vigorously attacking a hooded crow. They often mob each other but this was a determined attack by the harrier as it easily out-flew the crow and repeatedly dived on it. Unfortunately we did not see the outcome. There was also a flock of 3 bee eaters.
	25^thJune.At Nembros. There was a hoopoe.
	28^th June. At Nembros. A single short toed eagle was calling repeatedly as it mobbed a buzzard. At Neo Chorio. A pair of short toed eagles were calling and mobbing 3 buzzards. Usually it is the buzzards who mob the eagles.
	29^th June. At Neo Chorio. A pair of short toed eagles were calling and circling. A pair of hoopoes were calling for almost an hour and almost but not quite managed to duet their calls.
	30^th June. At Neo Chorio. An eleonoras falcon at dusk and a pair of scops owls in the garden. Very few scops owls about this year, perhaps they were decimated by the extreme winter weather we had.

And a few final words for June..... A very poor month for birds with just the residents present and they are all busy breeding and many by now will be in moult and so keeping well under cover. A few intriguing thoughts though:-

Why are we only seeing eleonoras falcons at dusk? They must be somewhere during the day but we rarely see one. Are we seeing the same ones time and time again or are they different ones? In previous years we have regularly seen flocks of them during the day, but this year we are seeing mainly singles and then mainly at dusk.

The short toed eagles are interesting. They bred on the island for the first time last year and they did so in our valley. The aggressive behaviour of this pair suggests that they might be breeding again, though I am surprised that we have not spotted them earlier in the breeding season. They would be hard to miss as they stand out so clearly against our clear blue skies and unless you were deaf you could not fail to hear them! We will keep a close watch for them through July and see what happens.

The scops owls seem to have been wiped out in our valley. Last year they were very common - there were several nests within just a couple of hundred metres of us. One of the nests was just behind our house and we took great pleasure in watching them come out and forage at dusk. Their calls could be heard right across the valley as different pairs proclaimed their territories. But not now - all we get is the occasional single call. There has been non of the lovely duetting that they are famous for.

That the swallows have been reduced to drinking from swimming pools shows just how dry the island has become this summer. This is why autumn migration is so different from the spring. In spring there is plenty of food and water so migrants can take a leisurely course and stock up regularly. In autumn there is hardly any food or water so migrants may take a different route - or those that do come pass through very quickly to get to more hospitable regions.

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