Crete Birding

January 2007

1st January

Our year started off with Raven , Stonechat, Sardinian Warbler, Great Tit, 3 Linnets, 1 Chaffinch, 28 Yellow Legged Gulls, Blue Tit, Black Redstart, Dark form Booted Eagle, Goldfinch, Robin, Buzzard, 4 Griffon Vultures, 2 Kestrel along with a dark form Booted Eagle[ probably the same one as earlier ] and a Sparrowhawk .14 Hooded Crow

2nd

Our resident band of Hooded Crow , 20+ Yellow Legged Gull, Sardinian Warbler, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Spanish Sparrow, a loose flock of Meadow Pipit, Kingfisher along the coast, Goldfinch, Stonechat.

4th

Blue Tit, Peregrine Falcon, Buzzard, Chaffinch, Sparrow, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, a small flock of Siskin feeding nearby, Raven, Yellow Legged Gulls, Hooded Crows.

5th

Black Redstart, 18 Hooded Crow, Spanish Sparrow, Yellow legged Gulls, A single Cormorant, Kestrel, Buzzard and Sardinian Warbler.

6th

Today we set off to India for a 19 day birding trip on the way we saw Chaffinch , Willow warbler, Siskin , a number of common Buzzard and a light form Booted Eagle, Hooded Crow, Yellow Legged Gull.

Hopefully, Roy permitting, a full trip report will appear on this site later.

30th

We are back having enjoyed a fantastic birding/wildlife holiday, sighting  265 species of bird, numerous mammals and  reptiles, some very rare sights  including mating Tiger, Tiger & Tigress stalking Elephant , wonderful hospitality , as stated before a full trip report will be forthcoming .

So back to birding our patch

Loose flocks of goldfinch woke us this morning whilst feeding on the seed heads in what is to be our wildlife patch. 4 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk all in sight together, a large number of yellow Legged Gulls rafted on the sea later taking off towards Falasarna, later whist driving in the hills a short distance away a Badger was dusting itself in daylight along an agricultural track, we have seen badgers here before but never in daylight. A large flock of White wagtail 50+ escorted us home along the coast road

Our wild anemones are still flowering and other wild flowers are starting to bloom early this year.

31st

Our day dawned sunny with no wind , we saw Blackbird , Sardinian Warbler. 20+ Yellow Legged gulls, 4 Buzzard circling the house together, Chaffinch, Sparrowhawk, 2 Kestrel, and a dark form Booted eagle flew around in the distance. Our first wild Iris’s are in bloom , we have spotted their flowers in two locations on our site, very early this year , our family of House Sparrow have started to rebuild their condo on our bathroom window ledge and the Chaffinch are starting their spring song. We think along with the flowers that the bird world  spring migration will or has started early this year.