Bird Survey in Kissamos – Mid Winter

A group of local birdwatchers went out on a dry Saturday morning in mid-January to take part in the International Waterbird Census, a worldwide effort to survey mostly water bird populations.

Colin, Dave and Manuel checked out the two designated survey areas closer to Kissamos, one at the Tyflos river mouth near the big olive factory in the middle of Kissamos bay coastline, and the other one around Viglia beach, between Kissamos port and the village of Kalyviani.

Both areas were quite dry. The Tyflos river was not only very low on water, but also very black, seemingly from olive waste. It didn’t look capable of supporting life.

So water birds were not around in big numbers. A big flock of gulls near the factory, a buzzard, a kestrel, goldfinches, serins, a Kentish plover, stonechats, white wagtails, a couple of shags near Kalyviani, among the sights. You can see a map of the bird survey route with bird names.

When looking around Kissamos port, a recently dead sub-adult sea turtle was spotted on the rocks. Archelon was informed.

Colin, who took the bird images on this page, has more pictures and a lot of information about birds and other wildlife in Kissamos here: http://www.crete-birding.co.uk/blogjanuary2016.htm

All the birders of Greece go out in January to collect data about birds present in the winter. Collected data is then sent to the Hellenic Ornithological Society.