Birdwatching in Athens: June's highlights!

On June 7th we had a splendid day birding around Athens, mainly small wetlands together with Hymettus Mt. Lots of interesting species, together with eating traditional gyros at lunch time.
We started from Hymettus Mt, were we encountered Rueppell's Warbler, Subalpine Warbler, surprisingly missed Blue Rock Thrush and Rock Nuthatch.
We continued in Spata fields, which are still full of water, so this helped us to see a nice Whiskered Tern! Other species were Glossy Ibis, Purple Heron, Squacco herons, Black-winged Stilts.
Our next stop was Artemis (Loutsa) lagoon, were we heard the monotonous flight song of Zitting Cisticolas. It was only until we reached Vravrona Estuary that we managed to have great looks of this tiny little bird.

Zitting Cisticola at Vravrona fields, performing gymnastics!

The highlights of the day were:
a. Two Rufous Scrub Robins, at their ordinary patch, displaying and singing non stop, at Vravrona fields, close to Athens Airport.

Rufous Scrub Robin at Vravrona fields

 b. A beautiful Hoopoe that was following our car in Spata fields, together with Black-headed Buntings, the typical summer singer in Attica fields.

Black-headed Bunting singing on a thirstle

The full species list of June 7th bird trip:

Little Grebe
Black-winged Stilt
Glossy Ibis
Little Egret
Squacco heron
Purple heron
Moorhen
Coot
Common Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Common Kestrel
Yellow-legged Gull
Whiskered Tern
Stonechat
Common Swift
House Martin
Barn Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
Crested Lark
Sardinian Warbler
Rueppell's Warbler
Subalpine Warbler
Zitting Cisticola
Olivaceous Warbler (heard)
Sedge Warbler (heard)
Reed Warbler (heard) Woodchat Shrike
Lesser Grey Shrike
Rufous Bush Robin
Hoopoe
Jay
Magpie
Great Tit
Collared Dove
Hooded Crow
House Sparrow
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Chaffinch
Black-headed Bunting
Corn Bunting