Highlight Species Winter visitor Egyptian Vulture Lesser Spotted Eagle Booted Eagle Lanner Falcon Levant Sparrowhawk Black Kite Long-legged Buzzard Black Stork White-backed Woodpecker Middle Spotted Woodpecker
O GET
UTE RO
146
ERE TH
HOW T
Blue Rock Thrush
Summer visitor
• • • • • • •
Resident
Passage migrant
•
• • •
The town of Kalampaka is located 22 km northwest of the city of Trikala, 350 km northwest of Athens and 230 km southwest of Thessaloniki. From Athens, you have to take the Athens-Lamia National Road and follow the signs for Trikala. From Thessaloniki, take the Egnatia Motorway, towards Igoumenitsa, and get off Grevena West-Kalampaka Interchange.
The imposing rocks of Meteora (1), famous for their monasteries, host some very rare species, like the Egyptian Vulture. In the past this area held the largest population of this vulture in Greece. More than 50 pairs used to nest in the area and they often visited the waste tip of Kalampaka to feed, offering excellent views to birdwatchers. Unfortunately, these numbers do no longer exist as this is a really difficult period for the Egyptian Vulture globally. Nowadays, less than five pairs still survive. But you can still watch them in flight in spring and summer, along with the Black Kite, the Lesser Spotted Eagle, the Short-toed Eagle, the Raven and the numerous Hooded Crows and Jackdaws. The area is also well known for the Black Stork, the nesting grounds of which are visible from the asphalt road, thankfully at a safe height for the birds, as well as for the Lanner Falcon and the Peregrine Falcon. The Rock Nuthatch, the Blue Rock Thrush, the Kestrel, the Alpine Swift
and the Crag Martin are common sights at the rocks of Meteora and at Theopetra (2), while in oak woodland and at the smooth slopes of Antichasia you can look for Booted Eagles, Levant Sparrowhawks, Honey Buzzards, Green Woodpeckers, Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. The area also holds Eagle Owls, Rock Partridges and Rollers. At Tzertsi, close to the village of Vlachava (3) and opposite the recreation area, is a feeding station for vultures. When the feeding station is in operation you may be lucky and see Egyptian Vultures, Lesser Spotted Eagles, Black Kites as well as Common Buzzards, Ravens and other corvids that come for a meal. The route you will definitely enjoy in Antichasia is the one leading to Longas village, where there is a small dam, and then to Foteino village (4). You will probably see the Egyptian Vulture, the Lesser Spotted Eagle,