It is hard to imagine autumn migration in Greece without at least one visit to the wetlands of Messolonghi. This year I managed to make two visits there, although these were only short daily visits and there was not enough time to search all the hotspots of the vast wetland area in and around the city of Messolonghi.
My purpose was to take pictures of some less common bird species (for Greece), mainly waders. The basic targets were (as always) the Broad-billed Sandpiper, the Red Knot, the Bar-tailed Godwit, the Greater Sand Plover and the Osprey. Finally even though I tried hard, I didn’t find any Greater Sand Plovers or Bar-tailed Godwits, but I did have some good photo oportunities with a couple of Broad-billed Sandpipers and some Red Knots.
In addition I may have missed the Ospreys but I did find the nice young Peregrine Falcon shown in the picture below.
However the most rare species I found was two Red-necked Phalaropes. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get any good pictures to post here due to the great distance and the harsh light. Nevertheless the wetland was full of life and I did saw and photograph many wader species. My favorite bird was this Grey Plover still in his breeding plumage although it was late September.
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