Description of the Habitat

Georgioupolis has a sandy beach with two small streams running into the Sea. One of the streams is fed from a lake about 1 mile away. This lake holds typical birds like Little Bittern and Squacco Heron. This year however it also held a male Ferrugnous Duck. The garden of the apartment typically had Goldinch, Greenfinch, Sardinian Warbler and surprisingly Stonechat.

Typical birds of the town and surrounding Countryside

Most thick scrub had a Olivaceous Warbler singing from it! Serin were very common as was the standard crow, in this case the Hooded Crow. Buzzards were seen daily around the village and Alpine Swift were always hawking insects overhead. Interestingly Blue Rock Thrush visited farm fields near the apartment daily!

Weather

Hot the first week up to 32° C, second week cooler about 26° C!

Raptors

Crete has two mountain ranges with peaks of about 9800 feet. Gorges run from the mountains to the coast. These gorges hold interesting birds like Chough, Crag Martin, Ruppells warbler, Blue Rock Thrush, Raven and many birds of Prey!.

Presses Gorge

Near to Georgioupolis and easy access off the main cast road is Presses Gorge. Looking up from the road is an impressive rock face, Choughs, Raven and Rock Dove nest here, but it is the birds of prey that are of greatest interest. Long legged Buzzard show very well right up to the early evening, their distinctive long wings and light patch underwing give good comparisons with the common Buzzard. Sometimes there can be up to three Peregrines in the air at once, while Kestrel are common, and the Lesser Kestrel also nest here, allowing for comparisons. Lanner Falcon was also observed mobbing a Long legged Buzzard! The highlight however has to see the Griffon Vulture roost. These birds roost high up in the gorge and probably the best time to see them is about 1.5 hours before sunset as they come into roost. At Presses there can be double figures of Griffon Vultures.

Kourtallotiko Gorge

This gorge lies close to the South Coast of Crete and is found by taking the road to Spilli from Rethimno, the route follows over hills before turning right some 3 miles from Spilli. It is worth stopping in the hill farm area of this route as typical birds here are Cirl Bunting, Wood lark, Crested lark and a smattering of Black Headed Buntings! Small coppice areas of Walnut hold Orphean Warblers.

The gorge is spectacular and there are two easy stop points. Chough, Crag Martin, Blue Rock Thrush and Wren are common. Raptors include Long legged Buzzard, Lesser Kestrel and Common Kestrel, Golden Eagle and Griffon Vulture in good numbers.

Kospillos Gorge

As you leave Koutallotiko gorge the road passes close to the coast and eventually returns to the Spilli road via the Kospillos Gorge. This gorge is not so spectacular, but holds a special bird: the Bearded Vulture. We set up position at the entrance to the gorge; it is important to realise that the best time to see these bird is between about 11-00-14-00, or when the heat builds up forming air currants. A Pair of Bearded Vultures were spotted by Lynne to our right their long thin wings and wedge tail very conspicuous. The Bearded Vulture flight is majestic, a true master of the skies, with wings held flat it glides over the mountain slopes its head held down looking for food. One of the special feeding techniques of the Bearded Vulture is the eating of bones. the Vulture breaks the bones by dropping them from a great height and plunges to retrieve them from the ground.

After viewing the pair of Bearded Vultures for some time they were joined by a third bird hunting along a ridge. It is estimated that there are less then 500 pairs of Bearded Vulture in the world, and on Crete there is a estimated 20-30 birds.

We were finally treated to views of Bearded Vulture perched next to their cave nesting area. The male looked splendid with its reddish body feathers, a colour achieved by rubbing itself against iron oxide rocks!.

Imbros Gorge

Imbros gorge is a spectacular gorge found by taking the Vrisses –Chora Sfaklon road. Although you could walk the gorge, it is normally viewed from the various parking spots that are on the road above it. Peregrine Falcon is very evident in this gorge, but the highlight is Bonellis Eagle; we were fortunate to view a bird circling overhead.

There are other raptor watching points in Crete which we have visited in the past these include Omalos Plateau and Samaria Gorge. This is a top area for Griffon and Bearded Vulture ,Eagles and falcons.

If you want to see birds of prey especially the unique Bearded Vulture then visit Crete!

Derek Lister, June 2006

Holiday base

We stayed at the Irene studios in Georgioupolis a small village on the North coast about 40kms from Hania. The advantage of this location is that it is easy to access the gorges and mountains of Crete that are so good for Birds of Prey.