LBRC SPECIES LIST

Members of the Committee work on Lesvos Birding's 'A checklist of the birds of Lesvos' to produce an official list of birds recorded on Lesvos. LBRC therefore use this list is our baseline list for the island and the species listed below are based on our knowledge of the species based on the Lesvos Birding list.


RARE BIRDS ON LESVOS

In addition to all HRC species (see here - which can be submitted either via LBRC or direct to HRC), please provide supporting information (basic notes, photographs) for records of the following species (for status and notes on indvidual species see here) (with photos = only records with photos will be considered for these species):

Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus
Greylag Goose Anser anser 
Great White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons 
Red-breasted Goose Branta ruficollis 
Gadwall Anas strepera
Common Pochard Aythya ferina
Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca
Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula
Greater Scaup Aythya marila 
Red-crested Pochard Netta rufina 
Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula
Smew Mergellus albellus
White-headed Duck Oxyura leucocephala
Red-necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena
Western Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
Pelicans Pelecanus sp (details of all flocks)
Red Kite Milvus milvus
White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla
Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus
Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus
Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga
Eastern Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca
Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos 
Bonelli's Eagle Hieraaetus fasciatus 
Steppe Buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus (with photos)
Merlin Falco columbarius (April - September records)
In addition, please send in details of any groups/flocks of raptors (e.g. large flocks of social falcons, multiple eagles, movements of Honey-buzzards, etc)
Lanner Falcon Falco biarmicus 
Common Crane Grus grus 
Eurasian Dotterel Charadrius morinellus 
Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola 
Jack Snipe Limnocryptes minimus
Great Snipe Gallinago media
Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica
Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus
Red Knot Calidris canutus
Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus
Common Gull Larus canus
Caspian Gull Larus cachinnans 
Lesser Black-baked Gull Larus fuscus 
Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus
Stock Dove Columba oenas
Eagle Owl Bubo bubo 
Tawny Owl Strix aluco 
Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus 
Great Grey Shrike Lanius excubitor
Eurasian Magpie Pica pica
Spotted Nutcracker Nucifraga caryocatactes
Red-billed Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
Rook Corvus frugilegus
Bohemian Waxwing Bombycilla garrulus
Eurasian Penduline Tit Remiz pendulinus
Bearded Tit Panurus biarmicus
Calandra Lark Melanocorypha calandra
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica (records of birds resembling H. r. savignii or H. r. transitive).
Moustached Warbler Acrocephalus melanopogon (outside of winter - with photos)
Firecrest Regulus ignicapilla
Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus
Pied Wheatear Oenanthe pleschanka
Semicollared Flycatcher Ficedula semitorquata (with photos)
White-throated Dipper Cinclus cinclus aquaticus
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus
Western Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava
All records of the following races (or birds resembling these races):
Yellow-headed Wagtail M. f. lutea
Syke’s Yellow Wagtail M. f. beema
‘Romanian’ Yellow Wagtail M. f. ‘dombrowski’ (flava-feldegg intergrade)
‘Russian’ Yellow Wagtail M. f. ‘superciliaris’ (thunbergi variant)
‘British’ Yellow Wagtail M. f. flavissima
‘xanthophyrs’ Yellow Wagtail M. f. xanthophyrs
Red-fronted Serin Serinus pusillus
Eurasian Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula 
Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus
Red Crossbill Loxia curvirostra
Eurasian Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula
Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella
Rock Bunting Emberiza cia 

LESVOS RARE AND SCARCE BREEDING SPECIES
All records unless otherwise stated

Shelduck Tadorna tadorna
Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea
Scopoli’s Shearwater Calonectris diomedea
Black Stork Ciconia nigra
European Honey-buzzard Pernis apivorus
Levant Sparrowhawk Accipiter brevipes
Eleonora’s Falcon Falco eleonorae
Audouin’s Gull Ichthyaetus audouinii
Great Spotted Cuckoo Clamator glandarius
Eagle Owl Bubo bubo
Long-eared Owl Asio otus
Tawny Owl Strix aluco
Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis
Eurasian Penduline Tit Remiz pendulinus
Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler Phylloscopus orientalis
Olive-tree Warbler Hippolais olivetorum
Fan-tailed Warbler Cisticola juncidis
Barred Warbler Sylvia nisoria
Rüppell’s Warbler Sylvia rueppelli
Krüper’s Nuthatch Sitta krueperi (records outside the central pine forest area where the species is common (e.g. forest areas north and west of Kalloni, etc)
European Robin Erithacus rubecula
Song Thrush Turdus philomelos
Cinereous Bunting Emberiza cineracea (records away from known breeding sites of the western island)
Hawfinch Coccothraustes coccothraustes


Email your records to lesvosbirdrecords@gmail.com

Reference
Dudley, S.P. 2009. A Birdwatching Guide to Lesvos. Arlequin Press. ISBN 978 1 905268 06 1.

Records wanted by LBRC

We welcome records of all species on the island. In particular we are interested in the following -

> HRC species (Greek national rarities) - submit direct to HRC
> LBRC (Lesvos local rarities) - see list and details of how to submit
> Breeding records, particularly of scarcer breeding species - see list

You can send us your general birding records and breeding records (as above) via three ways:
via Birdtrack ,
via Observation (Observado)
or in an Excel spreadsheet (column heads: species, date, location, number of birds, Observer (your name), Observer 2 (list other observers), note 1 (detailing any intersting activity or behaviour) and note 2 (description of the bird). Please provide us details of which map [212 Road Editions map of the island or the Freytag & Berndt map]). If you would like a stencil to follow then email the address below to request one.

Email: lesvosbirdrecords@gmail.com

LBRC members

The LBRC members are:


Nikos Probonas (LBRC Chairman)
Nikos is Secretary of the Hellenic Rarities Committee and provides a direct link between LBRC and HRC. He has served in the board of the Hellenic Ornithological Society. His mother comes from Mesotopos on Lesvos, and he regularly holidays on the island. He has been a member of HOS since 1993, and is currently working on a new book The Birds of Naxos (in press) while has been co-writer in the book The Birds of the Aegean. His favourite birding destination is the island of Naxos, Cyclades, and his second wildlife love is reptiles. He is also a member of the Hellenic Working Group for the Slender-billed Curlew.

Eleni Galinou (LBRC Secretary)
Eleni lives in Agia Paraskevi (central Lesvos). She is an environmentalist based on Lesvos and has worked for surveys and projects for birds all over Greece and Cyprus, as a researcher of the Dept of Environmental Studies- University of the Aegean and a freelance professional. She is currently working for the WWF Greece for the program "Volunteer Network for the Monitoring of Wetlands". She is also a bird ringer and a member of the Hellenic Bird Ringing Center.


Steve Dudley (Recorder)
An annual visitor to Lesvos, Steve is the author of the highly acclaimed guide A Birdwatching Guide to Lesvos (Arlequin Press, 2009) and the Lesvos annual bird reports (latest Lesvos Birds 2013). He runs Lesvos Birding, a website dedicated to birding on Lesvos, and is one of Lesvos' most experienced bird and wildlife guides leading holidays and day excursions on the island for Lesvos Birding and other bird and wildlife holiday companies. Steve's day job is running the British Ornithologists' Union including managing the BOU's Records Committee (BOURC) which maintains the British List. His second love is dragonflies and he is author of Watching British Dragonflies.

Terry Robinson
Terry, and wife Sue, retired from Derbyshire in the UK to Skala Polichnitou, Lesvos in 2007. He birds the Polichnitos Saltpans most days and covers the wider Polichnitos area regularly. He also has a ringing station in his garden and undertakes ringing elsewhere in his local area. His records make up over 40% of the Lesvos bird database each year!

Steven Wytema
Steven is a Dutch tour group leader and visits Lesvos annually, but he’s been addicted to the island since his first visit in 2001. In the Netherlands, he runs the Dutch archive of all rarities, www.dutchavifauna.nl, but more important he is the administrator of the Lesvos part of www.observado.org (lesvos.observado.org), an international sightings database for all wildlife mainly used by Dutch and Belgian birders. The website contributes c.20% to the Lesvos annual reports.

About LBRC

The LBRC has been formed at the request of the Hellenic Rarities Committee (HRC) to encourage birders to submit records of nationally rare species seen on Lesvos. During discussions it became apparent that the Committee could have a wider role in recording the birds of Lesvos, something which has been sadly lacking until now.

The role of the Committee will be –
1. to maintain an official list of birds recorded on Lesvos
2. to encourage visiting birders to submit bird records, in particular
a. Greek national rarities to HRC
b. Local Lesvos rarities to LBRC
c. Records of breeding birds on Lesvos

The Committee’s current members are Eleni Galinou (LBRC Secretary - Lesvos/Samos), Steve Dudley (UK), Nikos Probonas (Athens, Greece) and Terry Robinson (Lesvos).