Back in Western Macedonia!

 

In mid-summer, Southern Greece is not the most attractive place in this part of Europe. I would recommend the north of Greece instead. But this year it was really, really dry and hot; an extreme water stress year.

My good friend, Professor Maarten Vanhove from Belgium, came down for a visit. We visited Western Macedonia and we share some pics here. 

Our focus was on surveying, inventory and documenting the nature of both the artificial lakes and natural lakes in the area. We are studying Lake Ilarion (the new lake - born 2012) and its downstream older cousin, Lake Polyphytos. We also visited the Prespas and Lake Kastoria. 

It was way too hot for electrofishing, the water conditions too shallow.  

Some few images from our five-day sojourn, 1800 kilometers round-trip from Athens! 

Lake Kastoria

Lake Prespa

Lake Polyphitos

Lake Ilarion

The Aliakmon river upstream of Lake Ilarion

Sri Lanka: Best wildlife-watching & cultural combo in South Asia!

July 2024

Colombo Sri Lanka!

Back in Sri Lanka during their off-season, their so-called rainy season. It was not rainy everywhere and it was well worth the three-weeks away! We did a loop around the south, mostly going to reservoirs where we applied an assessment protocol and counted birds. Zipping around and meeting people...it was work!   

Part of my stay was with a  voluteer research initiative between HCMR and the University of Ruhuna; the rest was a wonderful homestay at a resort complex in the southern provence. 

Some notes on why you should consider visiting Sri Lanka....

-The country is still absolutly authentic; nearly everything still is. Tourism is still low-key and does not destroy the vibe although this unfortunately is changing. So go now before its too late. 

-Wildlife watching is good in Sri Lanka. You really see a lot even outside protected areas. Things are very photograph-able... 

-Birding is not easy in the jungle (find a good guide if you want to see all the endemics; we missed many....), otherwise 'slow birding' on your own is fine. 

- Find the elephants! Wild ones. 

Some LIKES etc! 

• Best Herp (i.e. herpetological) find: Salt-water crocs (salties!) in the Pulwatta river, Weligama.
• Next-best Herp: The monitors, they are everywhere. Cuter than any puppy dog....
• Best bird: Changeable Hawk Eagle (photo below...).
• Second best bird: Malabar Hornbill. 
• Stupidest bird ID error - flagged on Ebird: Sirka imm. (photo below), we thought was Basra. 
• Nemesis Bird not found: Sri Lanka Bush Warbler (one of many excuses to go back...). 
• Best Mammal: Asian Elephant - hand's down. Better than leopard any day. 
• Best Elephant: A bull, a really old tusker - behind electric fence of the Udawalawe (see photo).
• Best other animals: Fishes in streams in Kithulgala! Also in Udawalawe river!!!
• My 'spirit animal': Asian Water Buffallo (one of SL two native species- see photos below).
• Most wonderful landscape: Impossible to say! Sooo many scenic landscapes....
• Best wild plant: Ceylon Rhododendron, perfect bright pink-red flowers at Horton Plains N.P.
• Best walk (or hike): 9 km loop-walk at Horton Plains National Park.
• Best spirtual moment: Poya (moon-day) at Buddhist shrine near Malabar Hill, Weligama.
• Alternative reason to visit Sri Lanka: the food! 
• Even more alternative reason to visit Sri Lanka: Talking with the locals (smiles, laughter). 
• Most beautiful human-made element in Sri Lanka: Happy children.
• Best shopping: An outlet with "Moose" brand clothes at Tissa; also Tropical Linen in Colombo.
• Best shopping experience vibe: Barefoot, Colombo.
• Best urban environment: Galle, nothing like it anywhere in the world. 
• Erroneous shortfall: Not walking out in the jungle at night with a flashlight (night safari). 
• Worst weather: Nuwara Eliya -cold and rain (also shockingly difficult to find birds there).
• Biggest tourism-generated landscape degradation: Mirissa Beach (but still beautiful). 
• Saddest realization: Large-scale urban sprawl and agricultural changes in the south coast.
• Missed opportunity: No mask & snorkel for fishwatching in clear-water streams at Kithulgala.
• Biggest fright: Knowing I was swimming in estuary waters (Matara) where Salties live.
• Scariest momment: None. It's one of the safest countries in the world.
• Thing I didn't expect: How interesting and wonderful Colombo is. Well worth some time.
• Worst beast bite: Leaches at Kithulgala. We didn't disinfect, the wounds got infected. Careful! 
• Weirdest habitat enhancement: Concrete ponds, Galway's Land National Park (photo below).
• Most disappointing National Park: Galway's Land National Park (something's wrong, no birds!)
• Favorite Protected Area: Udawalawe National Park. 
• Worst ever tourism experience: Traffic jam in Yala National Park (and not seeing the leopard).
• Arty-culty experience not to be missed: Walking through open-air fruit markets.
• Favorite hotel: Kalus Hideaway, Udawalawe.
• Favorite resort area: Malarbar Hill Sri Lanka, Weligama.
• Favorite home-stay place: Ayubowan Homestay Katunayake (very close to the Colombo Airport)
• Favorite car-rental agency: "rent a private driver in sri lanka".

Here I share just a very few of our photos, taken this summer during the trip. 

 

info@rentaprivatedriverinsrilanka.com

Special thanks to our car-rental service; highly recommended! 

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And finally the round-up of birds seen. Trip count: 136 species, 44 lifers! 81 checklists added.

With my warmest thanks to eBird for all its help in promoting wildlife conservation and citizen science! 

Yellow line on eBird map superimposed to show general clock-wise loop-itinerary taken, stating and ending at the Colombo airport (top-Left). 

Greece's Breeding Bird Atlas: A survey at Ilarion Lake and Dam, Northern Greece

Lakes Polyphytos and Ilarion, Western Macedonia (near Deskati and Kozani, Northern Greece)

June 2024

Our HCMR study team is working on understanding the nature of two high-dam reservoirs, Polyphytos and Ilarion Lakes and the surrounding landscapes. Birds are good indicators of environmental qualities and conditions. Breeding birds are especially sensitive to site and landscape characteristics.

In one long-weekend, blistering hot (14th to 16th June), we did a census search, bird recording in the study area. 

We are participating in the Greek Breeding Bird Atlas Project coordinated by the 

Hellenic Ornithological Society. The breeding birds census idea has a long history and many applications powered by citizen science. The methodology based on a European Scheme, EBCC, is simple and standardized, and has been adapted for use with the Greek Grid system, which includes more than 160 50x50km squares and at least 2,000 10x10 km squares!

We worked on five of these 10X10 km squares in the Region of Western Macedonia, around the two lakes these days.  

We located 97 species of birds and gathered data on breeding evidence. All our data was also made available through the Ebird database platform. 

Some photos from the trip follow. 

APPROX. 2000 10x10km SQUARES COVERING THE TERRITORY OF GREECE 

RECORDING ON EBIRD PLATFORM: EXAMPLES FROM INPUT FEATURES