Krüper’s nuthatches and orchids

This video is called Birds & Wildlife encountered on the Greek Island of Lesvos in April/May 2015.

After the early morning of 10 May, our bus heads to the east of Lesbos island.

We pass the salt pans. In a coastal wetland more to the east, little egrets, grey herons, and ruddy shelducks.

Near a parking lot is a tree which is missing its upper half. It supports an electricity wire. And, most importantly: two Krüper’s nuthatches are nesting in it. This rare songbird lives only in Turkey and Lesbos.

This is a Krüper’s nuthatch video, recorded on Lesbos island.

Every now and then, the birds enter or leave the nest hole. One sits down on a branch to clean its feathers.

A masked shrike on the electricity wire.

A male chaffinch on the forest floor.

Further inland, near Agiasos, a rare orchid grows along the forest road: Comperia comperiana.

Blackbird and subalpine warbler singing.

A male serin sings, while the female serin builds their nest. European serin photos are here. And here.

Another orchid: white helleborine.

About orchids on Lesbos: here.

A cuckoo sound. Soon, we are back in the wetland between Achladeri and the Kalloni salt pans.

Ruddy shelducks. Great and little egrets. Many crabs and fish, brought in by the marine high tide.

Our last visit to the salt pans.

A squacco heron. Little stints.

Greater flamingos.

A lone black-tailed godwit.

Big caterpillars on fennel plants. They are of old world swallowtail butterflies.

This morning, someone has seen small pincertail dragonfly.

Rare British orchid gets police protection from overzealous collectors: here.

The breeding pairs of the Algerian Nuthatch have been censused in the Guerrouch forest (Taza National Park, Jijel, Algeria). A decrease in numbers was assessed when comparing with data collected in the early 1990s. The main reason is the habitat degradation by human activities. First data were obtained by studying a nest located in a Zeen Oak. The clutch size was of 6 eggs. Incubation time was estimated to last 17 days and the nestling period likely to last 21 days. The breeding season stretched from April to early June. No evidence of second clutch: here.

New breeding site of the Algerian Nuthatch discovered in Algeria: here.