1st Nov.   At Neo Chorio. A pair of honey buzzards.  Unusually the local buzzards did not mob them at all.                  

2nd Nov.  At Nembros. A lesser grey shrike.  A much commoner migrant species in spring rather than Autumn.
                  At Tavronitis. A flock of 13 starlings.

7th Nov.  At Neo Chorio. The bonellis eagle again.  It has now moulted so many feathers that it will soon have to either walk or catch a bus!  It really is a sorry sight.
                  At Minithiana. A single marsh harrier - a few seem to winter along this coast.  Lots of flocks of  those 'little brown jobs' -finches and pipits that elude identification.  When the weather allows I must get my mist nets out and catch a few to find out what they are.           

8th Nov.   At Neo Chorio. A single Steppe buzzard and a pair of honey buzzards cirled with a pair of very noisy local buzzards before drifting to the south.  Just behind our house a flock of chukkars.  No wonder they are becoming much less common, they are so noisy that it is little wonder that so many get shot.

10th Nov.  At Neo Chorio. There are now plenty of wintering robins and black redstarts.  Do black redstarts have winter territories?  When they first arrive they are very aggressive to each other.  I have seen several fighting with much posturing and scolding.  They seem eventually to space themselves out so that the available food is shared evenly.   A juvenile griffon vulture circled with a pair of local buzzards and was later replaced by an adult in beautiful plumage.  The bonellis eagle again.

11th Nov.  Kestrels at Tavronitis; Maleme and Xamdouchori.  Probably migrants, we see many more in Autumn and spring than there is a resident population.  Also a male goshawk at Xamdouchori chasing a flock of goldfinches.  I rightly put my money on the goldfinches - they dived, went into overdrive and eventually scattered leaving the hawk confused and hungry.  At Neo Chorio (home) the black redstarts were still fighting...

13th Nov.  At Neo Chorio. A flock of 57 hooded crows gathered high overhead, calling continually as they formed up to finally slip to roost somewhere on the hill behind our house.  This is a regular winter phenomenon.  They gather just above shotgun range so it is no wonder there are so many of them.

Note: To avoid misunderstandings, Paul does not shoot birds.  He does, however, live in an agricultural community, surrounded by farmers who may well shoot any wildlife which they may see as threats.

19th Nov.  At Neo Chorio. A pair of steppe buzzards circled with a pair of local buzzards for nearly an hour.  Again, the steppe buzzard, easily identified when seen in the company of common buzzards is much more difficult to identify when seen alone.

20th Nov.  At Neo Chorio. A pair of rough legged buzzards circled with a pair of local buzzards that were very agitated, reapeatedly calling aggressively and 'dive-bombing' the intruders.  For a species that is not supposed to occur on Crete this makes five rough legged buzzards we have seen this autumn.

21st Nov.  At Neo Chorio. The bonellis eagle again.  The local buzzards must have given up mobbing it, just lazily circled and ignored it.  Later a pair of honey buzzards were overhead for half an hour whilst the local buzzards did not put in an appearance at all.

23rd Nov.  At Tavronitis. A group of 3 gadwall; a kingfisher and several flocks of pipits, up to 50 in each flock.

24th Nov.  At Neo Chorio. 100+ hooded crows gathered at dusk again and were just as noisy.

25th Nov.  At Neo Chorio. The bonellis eagle no longer needs a bus passas it is now sprouting new primary and secondary feathers in each wing so now flies much better. 

26nd Nov.  At Tavronitis. 3 sandwich terns were hawking for food over the sea.  At home (Neo Chorio) a single steppe buzzard which instead of lazily drifting by was in powered flight travelling fast in a straight line to the south.  It must have known that yet another storm was coming.