Lesvos features high in HRC 2008 rarities report

Juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper, Polichnitos Saltpans, 20 Sept 08. © Steve Dudley
This first record for Lesvos and only the fourth record for Greece was found by Terry Robinson and was present for just one day.

The Hellenic Rarities Committee has just published the Greek rarities report for 2008.

Among the many records in the report are plenty of accepted records from Lesvos from 2008 and previous years. These include at seven (!) new species for the island such as the above Pectoral Sandpiper, plus Steppe Eagle, Dotterel, Knot, Little Swift, Bluethroat and Southern Steppe Shrike.

Your Lesvos bird records for 2008

Nikos Probonas (Hellenic Rarities Committee) and I would like to encourage all those who visited Lesvos this year to report their more important bird records, including –

Greek national rarities
Scarce passage and breeding migrants
Out of range (for the island) breeding/territory records
Any confirmed breeding records (all species)

Greek national rarities
The Hellenic Rarities Committee have asked me to request on their behalf, descriptions of Greek national rarities reported from Lesvos this spring. All sightings of the following species (known to be reported this spring) -

Cattle Egret
Imperial Eagle
Black-winged Pratincole
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (lots of them!)
Scarlet (Common) Rosefinch

Plus any other species listed by HRC in their previous reports (see here).

Please report your records to HRC here.

Scarce passage and breeding migrants
In addition, I am collating records of scarcer migrants. Please supply details of the following species in particular (also any species down as scarce passage migrant (sPM) or scarce migrant breeder (sMB) on the list here) –

Great Bittern
Little Bittern
Night-heron
Purple Heron
Glossy Ibis
Black Kite
All vultures
All eagles apart from Short-toed Eagle (Imperial Eagle records to HRC as above)
Pallid Harrier
Montagu's Harrier
Hen Harrier
Levant Sparrowhawk
Honey-buzzard
Lanner
Eleanora's Falcon
All crakes
Collared Pratincole
Spur-winged Plover
Great Snipe
Great Spotted Cuckoo
Roller
Wryneck
Citrine Wagtail
Rufous Bush Chat
Thrush Nightingale
(Rufous-tailed) Rock Thrush
River Warbler
Savi’s Warbler
Marsh Warbler
Olive Tree Warbler (away from known breeding sites)
Barred Warbler
Sardinian Warbler
Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler (away from known breeding sites)
Red-breasted Flycatcher
Semi-collared Flycatcher
Collared Flycatcher
Penduline Tit
Lesser Grey Shrike

Please submit these records (species, number, date, location, observer, notes) either direct to me at (steve at toadsnatcher dot com) or via OrnithoTopos.

Out of range breeding/territory records (e.g. Cinereous Bunting) or confirmed breeding records (e.g. feeding young, fledged young, etc) of any species, can be submitted via OrnithoTopos or sent to me direct at (steve at toadsnatcher dot com) .

Many thanks in advance.

Reporting your birds records

I encourage everyone to submit their bird records. You can do this as follows:

For the Lesvos annual bird report - you can send your records direct to me by email. I prefer records to be sent as Excel files and should preferably include columns as follows - species name, number of birds, date, location, your name and other observers. I will let you know if the Lesvos Bird Records Committee (of which I am a member) require any further details of any particular record.

You can also submit your records via OrnithoTopos which is an Internet-based spatial database about birds, their science and their distribution, that allows users from anywhere in the world to input and query Greek bird data.

For nationally rare species, these should be submitted to the Hellenic Rarities Committee (Greek equivelant of BBRC). Check the HRC website for species it covers.

The Hellenic (Greek) Rarities Committee (HRC) was founded in 2004 and publishes its annual reports online -

HRC report for 2008

HRC report for 2007

HRC report for 2006

HRC report for 2005

From Nikos Probonas (HRC secretary) -

HRC are in the process of re-organizing our archives, especially the photo material, and we would like to ask for assistance regarding photos of rare species in Greece. If you are aware of such photos, not appearing on the HRC website gallery, we would appreciate if you informed us of their existence and the way to obtain them (URL of website or email of phorographer). We are interested even in the oldest photos.

The full list of the rare species for Greece can be seen here.

HRC would like to thank all those who have already submitted their records of rare birds seen in Greece.

Please do not hesitate to ask for any clarification on birds@ornithologiki.gr or hellenicbirds@yahoo.gr

Good birding.

Nikos Probonas
HRC Secretary

Go to the HRC website