Volunteering at Antikythira

Yesterday we got the Melodious Warbler (Hippolais polyglotta, Ορφεοστριτσίδα) which was the second observation for Greece but  today we got the first Icterine Warbler (Hippolais icterina, Κιτρινοστριτσίδα). If everything runs according to the plan many more will come. A big wave of Flycatchers arrived today! The number of the birds belonging to the genus Ficedula […]

A new species for the Antikythira species list were added today! At the first glance, when the bird were still in the nets we thought it the first Icterine Warbler (Hippolais icterina, Κιτρινοστριτσίδα) for the season, but at the ringing table it turned out to be was Melodious Warbler (Hippolais polyglotta, Ορφεοστριτσίδα). Juan, from Spain […]

It was in fact the first good day since the beginning of the season! Even though the wind was not gone completely it was not enough to affect our trapping. We started our day with our first Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus, Γιδοβύζι; they have been around for two days) and a Scops Owl (Otus scops, Γκιώνης). […]

The exceptionally bad weather we are experiencing this spring is to blame for the fact that we did not have any Semi-collared Flycatcher (Ficedula semitorquata, Δρυομυγοχάφτης) up to now. Most probably the male Semi-collared Flycatchers massed the previous weak when we were not fully operative because of the weather and we lost them.  Al least […]

The winds delayed us a couple of hours from opening the nets but eventually we could work today. We trapped a lot of Willow Warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus, Θαμνοφυλλοσκόπος) and Pied Flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca, Μαυρομυγοχάφτης). We also had two Hoopoes (Upupa epops, Τσαλαπετεινός), three Golden Orioles (Oriolus oriolus, Συκοφάγος) and two  Turtle Doves (Streptopelia turtur, Τρυγόνι) […]

Yet another day of extremely strong winds. The prevailing western winds seem to have brought to the island a lot of birds that struggle to eat and fly.

This morning was extremely windy as well, but we were lucky and the afternoon forecast was quite wrong, so we could open the nets for a couple of hours. We hope that tomorrow will be windless and we’ll be able to get into our daily routine. Species trapped today were: Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus, Φοινίκουρος), Garden Warbler […]

The strong winds are still present. We managed though to open the nets for three hours and we got out first Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata, Σταχτομυγοχάφτης). Unfortunately the weather prediction is not good for tomorrow either but we cannot do anything more about it than to wait. Other species trapped were: Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos, Αηδόνι), […]

Winds were also strong today, but fortunately for us Easter Sunday is the only official day without ringing. We celebrated it with goat (katsikaki), red eggs and Greek Easter cookies, prepared by Ariadni and Dionisia. We are eager to wake up early again tomorrow and ring some pretty birds!

New species for the ringing season today! The Turtle Doves (Streptopelia turtur, Τρυγόνι) have been around for a few days but only today they seem to be more abundant and eventually one was trapped. It was quite a windy day that made our nets visible but in the end we had a decent number of […]