Aegean Birds and Wildlife: Tailormade Tours to Lesbos

Lesbos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea near the coast of Turkey, is a beautiful destination for nature enthusiasts. It is home to a diverse selection of bird life and other wildlife. Tailormade tours to the island take bird watchers to an ideal vantage point to observe the spring migration of birds on their way to Africa, as well as an impressive number of breeding species. Highlights include the migrant Collared Pratincoles and Lanner Falcon and the breeding Cinereous Bunting and Krüper's Nuthatch. To enable the best sightings of the wildlife, tailormade tours arrange expert ornithologists to lead the group.

The island

The island of Lesbos has a long history. It is most famous for its lyric poet, Sappho, who wrote in the 7th century BC. Its culture flourished through the ancient Greek and Roman periods, of which ruins and numerous artefacts remain. Today it is a major producer of high quality olive oil, an industry that makes a conspicuous mark on the countryside of Lesbos. It also produces ouzo, which can be enjoyed at the island’s many tavernas, and remains a centre of fishing. There is a great deal to enjoy on Lesbos, even before taking into account its wildlife. Tailormade tours introduce naturalists to the island as a whole, allowing them to experience the local cuisine, culture and history, while focusing on the most important matter - the bird life.

Birds of Lesbos

From its rugged mountains to the spectacular coastline, Lesbos has a lot to offer birds. One good base is Skala Kallonis, a fishing village on a shallow inlet from the sea. Nearby saltpans, marshes and pools offer a fine stopping point for a high concentration of migrant birds, particularly waders, herons, egrets and marsh terns. The ever-shifting population warrants daily visits to these areas — alongside excursions to the other prime sighting areas on the island. It is also possible to see rural uses of the mammals on Lesbos, and visitors can explore parts of the island where goats browse on hillsides and donkeys are used in place of cars or trucks.

Whether watching the waders and egrets in marsh pools or enjoying a sighting of Cretzschmar’s Buntings and Blackeared Wheatears on the rocky hillsides, Lesbos is a haven for lovers of wildlife. Tailormade tours take visitors in search of rare breeding birds, including Cinereous Bunting and the local Kruper’s Nuthatch, but many other species are possible to sight, including Ruppell’s and Olive-tree Warblers, Rock Nuthatch, Lesser Grey and Masked Shrikes and Long-legged Buzzard. The joy of bird watching during a migration season is the daily change in species present on the island, some staying for only a few days — such as Red-footed Falcons, Collared Pratincoles and Black-winged Stilts — and others for longer.

Marissa Ellis-Snow is a freelance nature writer. If you’re passionate about wildlife, tailormade tours with Naturetrek include expert-led natural history and wildlife tours worldwide. Naturetrek brings over 25 years of experience to polar expeditions and tours to other spectacular regions on Earth.

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