Lake Trichonis

 

Lake Trichonis, June 21st to 24th 2022

When on expedition its always nice to fine a few minutes to post something...

Lake Trichonis in western Greece, near Agrinio. 

It is a beautiful place for snorkeling and nearly nobody knows it! 

Of course I am not here to promote the touristic virtues of our Natura sites, I think its something that should be done with care. This is not an organized park recreation area - it is a natural and fairly well preserved mega-lake landscape. The shorelines and riparian zone has suffered and is threatened by various micro developments as nearly everywhere. 

But when in the water you cannot sense this. 

Scardinius acarnanicus, the Trichonis Rudd

Scardinius acarnanicus, the Trichonis Rudd

Scardinius acarnanicus, the Trichonis Rudd

Rutilus panosi, the Acheloos Roach (photo by Dimitris Zogaris).

Rutilus panosi, the Acheloos Roach.

Rutilus panosi, the Acheloos Roach.

Salaria economidisi, the Trichonis Blenny.

Cobitis trichonica, Trichonis spined loach, a scarce species, not common even in its restricted range and poory known, globally endangered.

Luciobarbus albanicus, Albanian Barbel, these being young fishes in a stream near Trichonis Lake. One fo the most abundant and most migratory of the local fishes. 

East of Loutra Mirtias. Always love the effect of the Phragmites.

Your's truly snorkeling just east of Loutra Mirtias. 

Feasting on an Aristotle's Catfish.

This time an eel.

My first Coypu sighting at Dogri Village on the north shore; this is a young specimen (don't know if it has been recorded in the lake before).

The emblematic tiny goby of Trichonis and Lysimachia Lakes: Trichonis Goby - Economidichthys trichonis. 

Trichonida and Lysimachia: Twin Lakes. Our new book, co-written by Nikos Petrou, Kostas Vidakis and me in late 2023 (ISBN 978-618-85104-2-5). Try to find it at NECCA (Hellenic Ministry of Environment) or at the Offices of NECCA in Aitoliko before copies vanish.

Pikrodaphne Stream: Visit with Erasmus+ teachers

Mid May 2022 - Pikrodaphne Stream, Athens

Outdoor classrooms are important. 

Pikrodaphne stream is one of the few streams running through the metropolitan Athens area. 

Here we share some photos from an outing with teachers who visited from Malta and Spain within an Erasmus training programme. 

We talked about natural history, naturalists and field-guiding. We used our tools: Notebook, Binoculars, Telephoto camara and Drone. We documented biodiversity and gained knowledge and experience of urban streams as linear oases. 

Finally, we enjoyed nature and had some wildlife experiences too. I tallied 14 birds species on the 2 hour walk and a surprisingly large number of native striped-necked terrapins- with only 2 or 3  'American' turtles among them. The total number of native terrapins spotted was about 15 individuals (this is the larges number I have counted). Also wonderful frogs and toads (and their tadpoles) and a breeding pair of grey wagtails (which I did'nt know about). 

For more about Pikrodaphne stream in Athens please see former posts:

zogaris.blogspot.com/2012/11

zogaris.blogspot.com/2012/01/

The visit was organized by ΜΙΟ-ECSDE/Environmental Education Network 'MEdIES' through ERASMUS Education for alternative water resources) on 5-21 May 2022 in Athens. Our thanks to:  ΜΙΟ-ECSDE and ERASMUS+ KA1 Mobility (School Education)

Enough said, this is the walk-path we took and some snap shots and pics from the drone flight. 

 

Costa Rica 2021...and New Paper on Landscape Assessment Method

 

Costa Rica, August 4th to 18th 2021

Some thoughts on birding in Costa Rica after a two week "workation" with my partner Vassiliki Vlami. I would have loved to just "bird" this country but it was our first trip and we were doing field work  (see below). The work went good, the landscapes beautiful, the driving long and hard. 

I enjoy "slow birding"; waking early and searching-out birds on my own time, not guided. I do not usually "twitch" after rarities but I will take advice and really try to see as many birds as possible.  

I'm interested in finding the birds that characterize a "life zone", ecoregion, ecosystem, etc. I've very recently become an amateur photographer, usually just documenting the experience. However, don't expect to see lots and lots of species this way. 

Vasso and I tallied 137 spp in Costa Rica during the 14 days there in  August; we avoided wetlands but travelled a lot. I would say, we could have done much better...with a list of 903 species in CR's bird guidebook. But rainforest birding is not easy and although we did live spectacular experiences everywhere, we "missed" a lot of species. Some notes from this trip follow.

Itinerary and key places:

1. Cerro Lodge Hotel near the Tarcoles river estuary. Absolutely spectacular place to stay! We had the jet-lag issue to deal with and six nights here at the begining of the trip was a good idea and well worth it. However, we did travel a lot from this place and quite far (Nicoya peninsula, Manuel Antonio, etc). 

2. Savegre Lodge, in the Savegre Valley. Amazing cloud oak forests, home to many species restricted to the high mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama, these are known as “Chiriquí endemics”. The trails are fantastic but we had a bad experience with a rainstorm on the trail and car-battery went out (car replaced). We also visited the lower elevations of the Dota region (Santa Maria de Dota) for coffee.

3. Rancho Naturalista near Turrialba. Excellent guides and wonderfully diverse landscape full of birds (many lifers!). I slept badly the first night, but after that we really enjoyed the informed guides who let us in on the secrets of the forest. 

4. Puerto Viejo del Talamanca. Rainforest by the sea, absolutely fantastic. Trails muddy (bring wellies next time). We stayed at a nice rather family-style hotel at Cocles Beach, Villas de Carribe. It has a nice bar with a sea-view and on the beach is a tiny lagoon-like cove in the coral. 

On departure we stayed at the excellent, Villa San Ignacio Hotel in Alejuela, near the airport. 

Some comments/ recommendations for travelers during the wet season:

 Try to stay at least two days at each overnight location; can't see much wildlife just driving....Car travel is very slow; you absolutely need a 4X4 if you do a cross-country tour. Don't drive at night.Seek out eco-lodges with good feeders and good reputations to learn about the birds; Wake early, every day, we did. Take a scope (we didn't). Hire professional local guides (we didn't). Expect muddy trails. Do take time to smell the flowers... Lastly, we were really impressed with the use of a Canon PowerShot SX70 HS zoom-lens camera for birding-photography; it really helped document species we often glimpsed at for just a few seconds. The quality of the video in this camera is also, to our minds, exceptional. But use a tripod (we didn't). 

Finally, if you would like to see more of our work in Costa Rica please read here:

Landscape Conservation Assessment in the Latin American Tropics: Application and Insights from Costa Rica

Warmest thanks to all Ticos and new-found friends who helped us in this wonderful project! 

Some pics from the trip taken by myself and Vassiliki Vlami follow:

 

In Costa Rica we use Vamos Rent-A-Car. Just contact our amigos at: https://vamosrentacar.com/