The swimming pool

After visiting the same place many times, you know exactly where the best spots are and what you will probably find there. In addition there are always some spots that stand out of the rest and even in a “less than perfect” day, usually provide some special photographic moments. One of those places for me is Kalamas river estuaries. I went there during the holiday season after visiting Lake Kerkini (I did not manage to post anything for this visit due to the minimal free time I’ve had since then).

Kalamas River estuaries are one of the less popular wetlands of Greece for birdwatchers and nature photographers and this is probably due to their location. They are crammed in the northwest of the country and quite far away from Athens and Thessaloniki. After making many visits there during the last years I have come to the conclusion that it is one of the best places in Greece to photograph wildlife. It combines easy access to many spots of the wetland (since there are several roads crossing it) and several interesting species.

One of my favorite spots there is a small lake with enough fish and with great light for photography especially in the mornings. Due to its small size and because of the fact that the water is always calm, I have given it the nickname “the swimming pool”. You can usually find there Egrets, gulls, terns and even Kingfishers fishing. During my last visit I even found a nice flock of European Spoonbills feeding there! The best thing is that the birds do not seem to be bothered with my presence and as a result there are good chances for nice pictures.

The above pictures are only a small sample from my last visit there.