Kefalonia is the most beautiful of Greek Islands and the scenery certainly makes up for the lack of birds.  We travelled out to Kefalonia with Thomas Cook on the early morning flight from Manchester Airport. On arrival we picked a car up at the airport from Pefkos Car Hire, they were the cheapest at the airport and cost £109 for the week.  The car with a very small Diathatsu, four doors and very cheap to run.  Petrol cost just over 1 euro a litre and we did nearly 600 km in the week.  We stayed in Sami on the East Coast at the Hotel Pericles.  The hotel suited us very well, it was a half hour walk through the olive groves to the harbour where we had the choice of about 10 Tavernas to eat in.  The information we used was from www.foi.org.uk  Friends of the Ionians, and www.birdtours.co.uk  (which we forgot to take with us, but used an Internet café in Sami to find the info, pity the printer did not work!)

The places  we visited were

Karavomiles Lake – This spring fed lake in the next village to Sami has a few domestic ducks and geese, but in the reeds at the back of the pond was a Little Bittern and Common Sandpiper.  The next morning the Little Bittern was walking on the beach in front on the lake.

Mount Aenos – This is the highest point on Kefalonia. The summit of the Mount is  covered in pines and we found Firecrest and Mistle Thrushes common here.  On the lower reaches, near the satellite dishes, we found Black-eared Wheatear, Linnets and a Siberian Stonechat. 

Lake Avithos -  this small lake near Aghios Nikolas it is hidden by reeds in a deep valley.  The only bird on the lake was a Moorhen.  The surrounding countryside was wonderful, but the only other birds were Chaffinchs, Great Tits and Blue Tits.

Katelios – This small seaside resort has a marsh area along the beach.  The marsh was dried up when we visited, but we did see  Whinchat and Red-rumped Swallow.

Lourdata Beach – We went down to this beach to see if Bee eaters were present, unfortunately they were not there.  We did find Sand Martins over the Beach and Turtle doves in the woods at the rear of the beach.

Argostoli Lagoon – This is a parkland and nature reserve near the bridge which crosses the Lagoon. (The bridge is closed for repair work and the road now goes around the edge on the Lagoon) We had the usual domesticated Geese and Ducks here, but also about 10 Mute Swans which were nesting in the reeds.  There was seen Squacco Heron  and Grey Heron on the edge of the Lagoon.  There is a pond on the reserve which had a Great Reed Warbler and Spotted Flycatchers.  There was also a Wryneck present.

Tzanata Reservoir   - This newly built reservoir, best accessed from the Argostoli Road, South of the village, is at the moment a featureless body of water.  We only had 4 birds here, Purple Heron, Little Bittern, Common Sandpiper and Grey Heron. The reeds are just starting to grow on the edge of the reservoir, so in time this may be a better site to watch.

Livadi Marsh – This was the best place on Kefalonia is see birds.  To observe this marsh drive down the mountain road and just before you get into the valley there is a track to the right on the hairpin bend.  Park on the track next to the concrete parapet and you will have views on the whole of the Marsh.  From this vantage point you can see Great White Egrets, Little Egrets, Purple Heron, Grey Heron, Squacco Heron, Marsh Harriers, Montague’s Harrier, Whiskered Tern, Coots, Garganey and wonderful views of Elenora’s Falcon. Travel down onto the coast road and we had Crested Larks, Black headed Yellow Wagtails, Ringed Plovers, Hoopoe, Corn Bunting, Cettis Warbler all observed on the farmland and the beach alongside the Marsh.

Lixouri – In Lixouri there is a storm drain – at the time there was only a small trickle of water, but there was a Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint wading in the stream.

South of Lixouri there are Headlands and beaches where Black headed Buntings had just arrived, more Stonechats, Whinchats, Red Rumped Swallows, Northern Wheatear.

In our opinion staying in Lixouri would be the best place to stay on Kefalonia to view most birds without travelling too far.

The commonest birds on the Island are Chaffinch, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Jays and Blackbird.  We had 68 species of Birds and here is our list

Bird	Where Seen
Little Bittern	Karavomiles Lake and Tzanata  Reservoir
Squacco Heron	Livadi Marsh and Argostoli Lagoon
Little Egret	Seen on the Coast and Livadi Marsh
Great White Egret	Livadi Marsh
Purple Heron	Livadi Marsh and Tzanata Resovoir
Grey Heron	Livadi Marsh
Glossy Ibis	Livadi Marsh
Garganey	Livadi Marsh
Marsh Harrier	Livadi Marsh
Montagu’s Harrier	Livadi Marsh
Common Buzzard	See on Hillsides throughout the island
Common Kestrel	Livadi Marsh
Peregrine Falcon	Mount Aenos
Elenora’s Falcon	Livadi Marsh & Sth Lixouri
Moorhen	Lake Avithos
Black Winged Stilt	Livadi Marsh
Ringed Plover	Beach Livadi Marsh
Little Stint	Lixouri – storm Drain
Curlew Sandpiper	Lixouri – Storm Drain
Common Sandpiper	Lake Karvomiles
Mute Swan	Argostoli Lagoon
Yellow legged Gull	Sami and other coastal villages
Collared Dove	Common
Feral Pigeon	Few seen
Turtle Dove	Lave Avithos and Lourdata
Whiskered Tern	Livadi Marsh
Scops Owl	Heard in Olive Groves – Sami
Alpine Swift	Potamianta & Cape Dafnoudi
Common Swift	Cape Dafnoudi & Faraklata
Hoopoe	Farmland
Wryneck	Argostoli Lagoon
Crested  Lark	Livadi Marsh
Sand Martin	Lourdata Beach
Swallow	Common
Red Rumped Swallow	Katelios, Sami and Lixouri
House Martin	Common
Yellow Wagtail	Livadi Marsh and Assos
Whinchat	Headland – West of Xi
Stonechat	Headlands – West of Xi
Siberian Stonechat	Road to Mount Aenos Nr Satellite dish
Northern Wheatear	Road to Mount Aenos and W. of Xi
Black Eared Wheatear	Road to Mount Aenos nr Satellite dish
Blackbird	Common
Mistle Thrush	Mount Aenos
Cetti’s Warbler	Few heard
Zitting Cisticola	Several South of Lixouri
Great Reed Warbler	Reeds in Drain S Lixouri and Argostoli Lagoon
Icterine Warbler	Olive Trees, nr Soullari
Subalpine Warbler	Roadside Sami to Argostoli
Sardinian Warbler	Common
Lesser Whitethroat	S. Lixouri near Soullari
Firecrest	Mount Aenos
Goldcrest	Mout Aenos
Spotted Flycatcher	Livadi Marsh, Xi and Argostoli Lagoon
Blue Tit	Common
Great Tit	Common
Woodchat Shrike	Sami and Common
Jay	Common
Hooded Crow	Livadi Marsh
House Sparrow	Common
Chaffinch	Common
Greenfinch	Common
Goldfinch	Common
Linnet	Road to Mount Aenos, Nr Satellite Dish
Cirl Bunting	Few seen
Black Headed Bunting	Headlands S of Lixouri
Corn Bunting	Farmland nr Minata (Robola Winery) others heard on farmland