Birds of Lake Kerkini and surroundings

Lake Kerkini is an astonishing place in northern Greece. Mrs Sciencebase and I visited in June 2024. I’ve put together galleries of the butterflies and moths we saw on our trip, trekking and boating in the area.

Lake Kerkini fishermen
Lake Kerkini fishermen

I took rather a lot of photos and have only now got around to processing the birds. We saw a lot of birds, tens of thousands of them were Common Cormorant, hundreds were Great White Pelican and Dalmation Pelican, lots were herons and egrets of various species, Spoonbills, a handful of Nightingales, fleeting glimpses of Hoopoe (sadly), a solitary Glossy Ibis, and just the vocalisations of Sardinian Warbler, Cirl Bunting, and a few others no solid sightings. Merlin app also picked up a few that we didn’t see nor hear, and are possibles but questions that will never be answered, such as Wryneck, Thrush Nightingale, Hawfinch, Red Crossbill.

Grey Heron and chicks
Grey Heron and chicks

Here’s a list of the 90+ bird species we saw and heard. I suspect we also saw Lesser Kestrel and Eleanora’s Falcon at some point without getting positive IDs on those two:

  1. Bee-eater, European (Merops apiaster)
  2. Blackbird, Common (Turdus merula)
  3. Blackcap, Eurasian (Sylvia atricapilla)
  4. Bunting, Cirl (Emberiza cirlus) (heard only or Merlin)
  5. Buzzard, Common (Buteo buteo)
  6. Buzzard, Honey (Pernis apivorus)
  7. Chaffinch, Eurasian (Fringilla coelebs)
  8. Chiffchaff, Common (Phylloscopus collybita)
  9. Coot, Eurasian (Fulica atra)
  10. Cormorant, Great (Phalacrocorax carbo)
  11. Cormorant, Pygmy (Microcarbo pygmaeus)
  12. Crossbill, Red (Loxia curvirostra) (heard only or Merlin)
  13. Crow, Carrion (Corvus corone)
  14. Crow, Hooded (Corvus cornix)
  15. Cuckoo, Common (Cuculus canorus)
  16. Dove, Collared (Streptopelia decaocto)
  17. Dove, Turtle (Streptopelia turtur)
  18. Eagle, Booted (Hieraaetus pennatus) Michael d only
  19. Egret, Little (Egretta garzetta)
  20. Firecrest, Common (Regulus ignicapillus)
  21. Flamingo, Greater (Phoenicopterus roseus)
  22. Flycatcher, Spotted (Muscicapa striata)
  23. Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)
  24. Goldfinch, European (Carduelis carduelis)
  25. Grebe, Great Crested (Podiceps cristatus)
  26. Greenfinch, European (Chloris chloris) (heard only or Merlin)
  27. Gull, Black-headed (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
  28. Gull, Caspian (Larus cachinnans)
  29. Gull, Yellow-legged (Larus michahellis)
  30. Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) (heard only or Merlin)
  31. Heron, Grey (Ardea cinerea)
  32. Heron, Night (Nycticorax nycticorax)
  33. Heron, Purple (Ardea purpurea) Niko the skipper only
  34. Heron, Squacco (Ardeola ralloides)
  35. Hobby, Eurasian (Falco subbuteo)
  36. Hoopoe, Eurasian (Upupa epops)
  37. Ibis, Glossy (Plegadis falcinellus)
  38. Jackdaw, Eurasian (Corvus monedula)
  39. Jay, Eurasian (Garrulus glandarius)
  40. Kestrel, Common (Falco tinnunculus)
  41. Kingfisher, Common (Alcedo atthis) (heard only or Merlin)
  42. Lark, Crested (Galerida cristata)
  43. Linnet, Common (Linaria cannabina)
  44. Martin, House (Delichon urbicum)
  45. Moorhen, Common (Gallinula chloropus)
  46. NightingaleLuscinia megarhynchos(Luscinia megarhynchos)
  47. Nightingale, Thrush (Luscinia luscinia) (heard only or Merlin)
  48. Oriole, Golden (Oriolus oriolus)
  49. Owl, Little (Athene noctua)
  50. Pelican, Dalmatian (Pelecanus crispus)
  51. Pelican, Great White (Pelecanus onocrotalus)
  52. Pigeon, Common Wood (Columba palumbus)
  53. Pigeon, Stock (Columba oenas)
  54. Raven, Common (Corvus corax)
  55. Redstart, Black (Phoenicurus ochruros) (heard only or Merlin)
  56. Robin, European (Erithacus rubecula)
  57. Shrike, Masked (Lanius nubicus)
  58. Shrike, Red-backed (Lanius collurio)
  59. Skylark, Eurasian (Alauda arvensis)
  60. Sparrow, House (Passer domesticus)
  61. Sparrow, Spanish (Passer hispaniolensis)
  62. Sparrow, Eurasian Tree (Passer montanus)
  63. Sparrowhawk, Eurasian (Accipiter nisus)
  64. Sparrowhawk, Levant (Accipiter brevipes)
  65. Spoonbill, Eurasian (Platalea leucorodia)
  66. Starling, Common (Sturnus vulgaris)
  67. Stork, Black (Ciconia nigra)
  68. Stork, White (Ciconia ciconia)
  69. Swallow, Barn (Hirundo rustica)
  70. Swallow, Red-rumped (Cecropis daurica)
  71. Swan, Mute (Cygnus olor)
  72. Swift, Pallid (Apus pallidus)
  73. Tern, Common (Sterna hirundo)
  74. Tit, Blue (Cyanistes caeruleus)
  75. Tit, Coal (Periparus ater)
  76. Tit, Great (Parus major)
  77. Tit, Long-tailed (Aegithalos caudatus)
  78. Treecreeper, Eurasian (Certhia familiaris)
  79. Wagtail, Grey (Motacilla cinerea)
  80. Wagtail, White (Motacilla alba) (heard only or Merlin)
  81. Warbler, Cetti’s (Cettia cetti)
  82. Warbler, Eastern Olivaceous (Iduna pallida) (heard only or Merlin)
  83. Warbler, Great Reed (Acrocephalus arundinaceus)
  84. Warbler, Moustached (Acrocephalus melanopogon) (heard only or Merlin)
  85. Warbler, Sardinian (Sylvia melanocephala) (heard only or Merlin)
  86. Wheatear, Northern (Oenanthe oenanthe)
  87. Woodpecker, Great Spotted (Dendrocopos major)
  88. Woodpecker, Green (Picus viridis)
  89. Woodpecker, Middle Spotted (Dendrocopos medius)
  90. Wren, Eurasian (Troglodytes troglodytes)
  91. Wryneck, Eurasian (Jynx torquilla) (heard only or Merlin)

All my blog posts about our Greece24 trip can be found here. The bird gallery is over on my Imaging Storm site.

With thanks to Tricia, Michael “d”, Martine, and Niko for many of the first sightings and IDs of birds, butterflies, moths, and other creatures. I have added photos of several of the various invertebrates we encountered to the introductory blog posts on our 2024 trip to Greece.