Birding the outskirts of Athens, Greece
birding in Athens

I love birds. I like to travel. And – I hate flying! Does that make sense? If you do not see packing as the part of travel itself, than the trip starts with landing. And customs. The sky over a new city. Although I visit Greece every year, this is my first time in Athens.

What am I doing there? Visiting stone ruins? Nope. I am a birder in search of the feathery attractions of Greece. And April is the spring migration season; hence, instead of waiting for them at home, I went south to greet the returning flocks. Half an hour after landing in Athens, I was in the Vravronas bay. Mediterranean scented vegetation, especially strong after the morning shower that made the local river spill over the road and flood the vineyards that once quenched the thirst of Plato and Socrates… At first, only Grey Heron and two Little Egrets show in the lagoon, with Yellow-legged Gulls overflying every now and then.  I am surrounded by yellow flower-covered bushes of the endemic Greek Spiny Spurge Euphorbia acanthothamnos from which Cetti’s Warblers sing, but not a single bird is willing to show itself… “Warblers always sing from the middle of a bush,” explains my guide Georgos Spiridakis. Sardinian Warblers do their best to support this claim – serenading us from every direction, but there is not a bird to be seen at the bushtop anywhere… A bird in low flight! Continue reading

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