Bird Watching - Wetlands

On  the steep cliffs of mount “Kochylas”  and to the  nearest   small islands  make nests the Mavropetritis (Falco eleonorae), a migratory hawk,  which is globally the  specie of endangered.

Skyrosis  the largest colony of Eleonora  worldwide with more than 1,000 couples of them.  This   hawk comes in Skyros in  April and late of October.

The wetlands of the island,   as  “Kalamitsa” and   “Palamari”, are important places  for aquatic migratory birds like:

- The Kalamokirkos (marsh harrier),

- Mavrokirkinezo (red-footed falcon),

- Herons,

- Egret,

- The purple heron,

- The squacco heron

- The niktokokoras

Also the wetlands offer   valuable habitat once for other native animals such as water- turtles, etc.

On  the  uninhabited small-islands around  Skyros and Skyropoula- island   protected seabirds live and reproduce such as:

- Artemis  (Calonectrisdiomedea),

- Mychos  (Puffinusyelkouan),

- Aigaioglaros  (Larus audouinii) and

- Thalassokorakas  (Phalacrocorax aristotelis desmarestii).

Bird watching Tours in Skyros

The first organized group of visitors for the observation of Skyros bird watching come  from Great Britain and together with Phil Knott who specialises in  creating ecotourism routes, visited Skyros from  27 April  to 4  May 2013. Mavropetritis (Falcons), seabirds, herons,   egrets, Black-winged Stilt, kestrels, bee-eater, and dentrospourgitia  are some of the many species recorded.